6 • The Beacon December 24 , 2020
Letter to the Editor
A warning shot has been fired across the bow of the ship Democracy . We should all be most grateful for the courage and strength of election officials , governors , legislators and judges for honoring their oath to protect the law and the Constitution as our leader does his utmost to hang on to power .
Coups are relatively common overseas , but not here . Donald Trump has attempted a coup . He has asked state officials to throw out valid ballots . He has asked state legislators to dismiss voterchosen electoral college electors and install others who are favorable to him . Strangely , he claimed the election in 2016 was rigged when he won . He himself has introduced fraud into the 2020 election . With his own words he invited Russia , China and Ukraine to meddle in it . Now he has continued his dishonest drumbeat of fraud . His own appointee declared this a most secure election .
Votes have been counted and recounted by his insistence with no change in the outcome . He has filed around 50 lawsuits . Nearly all have been thrown out of court because of lack of evidence . He implied in an address that the Supreme Court would support him in the lawsuit sent there by his supporters . It could have happened . His administration with the help of a Republican Senate have been stacking federal courts and the Supreme Court . The Supreme Court resisted .
The conservative values of the Republican Party have been hollowed out . The Republican National Convention could not come up with a platform for the 2020 election , abdicating their responsibility and simply turning the party over to Trump ’ s agenda . Does this sound like democracy ?
Democracy is messy . It requires people to think honestly and critically , to discuss and debate , to listen to each other ’ s point of view , thus arriving at what is good for the whole country , not just some special-interest group . The Republican Party has become a cult of personality instead . With persistent dishonesty and spinelessness , they are undermining democracy ’ s existence . One-hundred-twenty-six Republican congressmen and 17 Republican state attorneys general signed on to the Illegal suit sent to the Supreme Court . They knowingly added their names to a document of voter fraud and an attack on state ’ s rights . This anti-democracy act should cause them to be voted out of office .
Freedom House is a bipartisan think tank formed in 1941 . It is nonprofit and nongovernmental and has headquarters in Washington , D . C . It has tracked the health of democracies for decades . The United States was rated 94 out of 100 in 2009 . Its score has declined to 86 at the present . The health of democracies around the world has declined steadily in the last 14 years .
Our present leader is doing his utmost to boycott our peaceful transfer of power envied around the world . He appears to be sabotaging his successor ’ s term in office by a flurry of last-minute executive orders , replacement of personnel with inexperienced people ( Pentagon advisory board ), blocking information and security briefings from being available to the new administration , suggesting he will boycott the inauguration and hold his own rally at the same time , etcetera . This continues to uselessly divide the country .
Our leader ’ s thirst for power is reminiscent of the rise of fascism in Germany and Italy in the 1930s and 1940s . The warnings are clear . He has taken Putin ’ s word over U . S . Intelligence sources . He has surrounded himself with corrupt officials for whom he pardons , commutes sentences or stops investigations . He has encouraged or allowed the attorney general to spin reports , stop investigations of loyal supporters and start investigations of those who disagree with him . He ruins careers and reputations of honorable people
who try to speak truth to power by name calling , slanderous and dishonest tweets .
His attitude toward COVID-19 has cost thousands of people their lives . He played favorites , threatening to withhold funding and supplies from “ blue states ” unless they were “ nice ” to him . He has bonded with dictators while pushing our allies away . He has called the media “ the enemy of the people ” when in fact it guards democracy , yet he controls the narrative on certain news platforms . He has invited further violence and encouraged white supremacy and racism . His tax cuts benefited the wealthy , some of whom contribute to his fundraising . His policies have tried to take healthcare away from millions .
These are all tactics of dictators and authoritarians . So many people have been misled by his lies and his supposed charm and charisma . They have become captive to the “ cult of personality .” Admittedly , our leader has tapped into a large segment of the discontented and angry in our society , yet his policies have not benefited most of them . His disregard for the rules and traditions of our democracy are inexcusable .
Let us all take a deep breath , honor the will of the American voters and give the new administration a chance to return our nation to its rightful place as a world leader , to make our nation a place of refuge , honesty , respect , moral values and civility .
Richard and Alice Hoover
Coshocton