To the Editor:
Over a year and a half ago we began to write letters to the editor seeking to clarify our positions as Democrats. This has often brought us into conflict with the philosophy of this newspaper and, yet, most of our letters were published. The concept of journalistic fairness by Dennis Warden and his staff superseded the opportunity of passive censorship and we are very appreciative of that principled stance. It is such basic fairness that has given us hope to establish “common ground” with Republican members of the community through open and frank discussion. However, it has been challenging as we have confronted not just natural differences of viewpoint but a White House that has abused the prestige of the office of the Presidency to mislead centrists and radicalize fringe elements of its own party. In the hands of a showman this has been a powerful force. But that force, as non-truth always does, has come in open conflict with too many contradictions to be sustainable. The coronavirus, for instance, is growing more lethal by the day despite the doubledown denial by the President. What’s truly sad, bordering on criminal, is that so many people have been put at risk, grown ill or died due to one man choosing to ignore the urgent measures suggested by our best medical minds because they might make the electorate skittish. The economy has fallen in domino fashion and with it the quality of life for millions of Americans, particularly those most vulnerable...paycheck to paycheck ordinary families and the poor. Following an unfortunate pattern, the latest relief package for these people has been held up despite financial experts’ warnings that this could delay an eventual economic recovery by years. Pandemics punish by their very nature, but we’ve heaped misery on ourselves through the selfish bad judgement and inaction of a man we trustingly chose to lead us. No amount of escaping to the remotest corners of social media, where distractive conspiracy theories thrive in anonymity, can alter that catastrophic reality.
Another conflict of reality with bad judgement is standing by as forest fires decimate our western states and heat-fueled hurricanes batter our coasts while maintaining, against all reputable science, that climate change is an aberration. We may wish it so, but if we are to survive we must cut back short run profit margins and gear ourselves for the long haul. It’s not popular with the “get yours while the getting’s good set” but it’s as relentlessly serious as COVID.
Misrepresentation has reached ridiculous levels in the desperate runup to the election. The well respected Dr. Fauci has been branded as “disastrous” and we have been told that if Joe Biden is elected there will be socialists and criminals running wild in our neighborhoods. This is the same Joe Biden who has spent over 50 years of his life as a moderate and won his nomination by defeating the candidate of the left wing of his party, the same Joe Biden who came out immediately against “defunding the police” and has absolutely no tolerance for looters regardless of whether they try to piggyback on peaceful protests.
Still, if repeating lies often enough will make them stick, one man finds that strategy familiarly comfortable and certainly within the limits of his moral code.
Our country is drained. We can’t stand more deception, divisiveness, and dereliction of duty. Each side, in its own way, has tried to “Make America Great Again”. But the Democratic interpretation is a return to the principles that have served us for over 200 years. Those ideals have been golden for us. Now we are asked to worship a crude and inept man because he has a gold toilet.
Gasconade County Democrats Club
gasconadedems.org
