Sanctuary cities an election loser

Why are Democrats losing elections and seats in Congress? A look at a map of sanctuary cities and counties shows a heavy concentration of havens for illegals in the northwest of the United States, Minnesota, Chicago and the northeast. In the rest of the country, where there few if any sanctuary cities and counties, Republicans have become the dominant political party.

When are Democrats going to wise up and realize that most Americans do not want their tax dollars used to provide shelter, education and health care for people who have broken the law by entering the country illegally?

Victor Darst, Huntley

Religion no excuse for discrimination

A USA Today story in the Sun-Times, “GOP seeks shield for religious liberty,” says many Republicans believe the “free exercise of religion,” guaranteed by the First Amendment, includes a heretofore unknown religious right to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Religion-based discrimination conflicts with the “equal protection of the laws,” guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Ultimately, that’s a conflict the Supreme Court will have to resolve. It will also test the “originalist” philosophy of Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has claimed he would decide cases “based on the literal words of the law, not its purpose or how it has been interpreted by lower courts.”

Bob Barth, Edgewater