This is a sad day for our country. When I say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, I am pledging allegiance to the republic for which it stands. The Republican majority obviously has no idea what the difference is between a republic and a democracy. The republic is supposed to have laws that guard the rights of the minority. A party in power is not supposed to be able to run roughshod over the minority. But that is no longer the case. I believe historians will look back at this as the end of the great experiment beginning in 1776. We are a republic no more. And I am very sad.

Kathleen Foster
Green Creek, N.C.