Since I was old enough to vote I have been a registered Republican. The Republican Party was once the political party of big ideas but has become the party of “No,” weakening the democratic system it pledged to uphold.
Elise Stefanik, Lee Zeldin and many Republican candidates running for public office have drunk the Kool-Aid and are supporting and defending Donald Trump’s “big lie” concerning the results of the 2020 election, all having been proven to be false and baseless. By doing this and whitewashing the Jan. 6 insurrection, they have broken their sacred oath of office by failing to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. How can they proclaim to “Support the Blue” with their silence on the violent attack on the Capitol, its police and the American rule of law?
It is the extreme vitriol of politicians that has triggered the significant increase in domestic terrorism — even calling for the killing of FBI agents and VP of the United States. At Charlottesville, Trump gave oxygen to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — the neo-Nazi militias of hate, white supremacy, white nationalism and anti-Semitism.
Don’t forget the barrage of right-wing unfounded conspiracy theories from “pizza gate,” that antifa was the cause of the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Great Replacement Theory, QAnon, climate change denial, the COVID hoax and more
We are witnessing our United States slowly trending toward authoritarianism, taking chapters from the fascist playbook of Nazi Germany.
True patriots don’t fuel racist or religious divisions. True patriots don’t ban books or prevent teaching about our past. True patriots don’t incite an insurrection and support an attempted coup.
Real patriotism strengthens our democracy and lifts the voices of all Americans and this is what we must strive for — before it is too late! ####
Roger Friedman, Schroon Lake (published in the Post Star, Glens Falls, NY)
For What It's Worth 