Elections and democracy

To the Editor:

We tend to ignore political talk until just before an election. If you are paying attention now, you know this is a turning point in our history, and democracy itself is in jeopardy.

In the current political climate of lies and extreme partisanship, we can’t afford to ignore what is happening and must check more than one source of reliable information about the issues and candidates. Repeating something a hundred times does not make it true. Politicians are now saying that our legislators should be able to expel officials that have been elected by the people (in our state the newly elected State Supreme Court justice, for example), use law enforcement agencies to attack the political opponents of powerful people, and call news networks “enemies of the people.” 

Candidates who say this don’t want voters to be heard and want autocratic government, ruled by one or a few people.

If it is important to a majority of Wisconsin voters to have the freedom for a woman and her doctor to make decisions considering all reasonable options in a difficult pregnancy without restrictive laws, then the will of the people should prevail. This is how a democracy should function.

Several democracies have become autocracies because of power being consolidated in one or a few people: ancient Rome, Nazi Germany, Russia, India, Turkey, Egypt, and Hungary. This happens because of intimidation, chaos created in government, lies, and control over the press.

All of these are now happening here. 

As extraordinary as this seems, we must not let the U.S. become a dictatorship. The only way to protect against this is to make sure we vote, and that we vote only for people who support our democratic way of life, with the people in control. 

We can’t vote based on our party affiliation alone, not this time. We can’t afford to fall for lies; we must verify what they say. 

If our votes become meaningless and can be ignored, how will we ever regain the power of our votes?

Sandra McKitrick

Rhinelander