Editor:

In doing a research of old newspapers, looking for stories of railroad life from the section camps of Wyoming, I’d always wondered what Theodore Roosevelt had to say to the good people of Evanston when he made his visit on May 29, 1903.

As I have always been curious about what he had to say to the estimated 7,000 to 9,000 people gathered around the Union Pacific Depot, I went looking for any information I could find. | found his speech in a supplement of the Wyoming Press.

As I read the article, I envisioned my great-grandfather standing in the large crowd, himself an immigrant from Scotland, among the many others. How proud he must have been at the acknowledgment the president gave the “gallant and robust” soldiers of the Spanish-American War. He gave his third son, William, to the Spanish-American War effort — he had contracted malaria in Florida and came home to finally pass on Christmas Day in 1898.

I think about today and the lackluster leadership of our president. A president who wants to build walls to keep immigrants out. A President who I believe has been enabled by the Republican Party to represent the wealthy oligarchs of Russia and Saudi Arabia and to destroy our democracy.

I’m a fourth-generation Democrat, and I have been elected before in this red state. I know the history of many more Democrats being elected. I think I know the good people of Wyoming. But I also detect a major shift in the Republican Party over the last 20 years.

Is it now the Tea Party or the Freedom Caucus Party? I think the Grand Old Party is gone. What happened to the Republican Party? Even our Legislature has no good ideas for Wyoming. It seems like the Koch family or ALEC is writing all the laws for the state now days.

Wayne Morrow

Evanston