Letter to the editor about Let’s keep our democracy…

To the Editor,

Today’s Republican Party, centered in rural America, has strongly moved towards anti-democracy, anti-voting, anti-history, anti-facts, anti-vaccine, anti-mask, and is perhaps more pro-death than pro-life. Many have manufactured outrage over teaching factual history to high school students. Without understanding the past, the way forward lacks useful guidance. For some, ignorance is bliss. Horse paste and QAnon are poisoning bodies and minds. Groupthink leads to agreeing minds instead of thinking minds. From the attack on the Capitol, with about 1,000 assaults on the Capitol Police to threats at school board meetings, the right-wing radicals are increasingly out of control with their hatred of democracy.

This destruction of democracy features Trump’s Stop the Steal, The Big Lie, and the attempted coup against our government.

My Representative, Jim Hagedorn, along with many other Republicans, were fully complicit in this coup attempt by refusing to accept the votes of the America people. After the last election many election officials were under attack and threatened by right-wing thugs. Now Republicans have made voting more difficult in many states and a new ploy has begun with right-wing folks signing up to become election officials. Their reasoning is that if election results go against their candidate they will refuse to certify the election and throw the decision of a winner to a hopefully complicit state legislature.

I was stunned to see a new CNN poll that found 75% of Republicans were also worried about democracy’s future apparently because many actually believe The Big Lie. We live in strange and perilous times. Democracy is in grave danger.

Greg Rendahl

Ostrander, MN