Republican Leaders are Waging War Against Democracy

Larry Feldman, Letter to the Editor, 05/03/2022

Editor,

With every passing day, the Republican party solidifies its identity as an enemy of democracy.

The national leader of the party, disgraced former president Donald Trump, continues to spread his blatantly false claim that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. His Republican legislative supporters, at both the national and state levels, echo and amplify his lies. They do this despite the fact that Trump’s claims of “widespread voter fraud” have been rejected over and over again by multiple audits and multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Republican National Committee recently issued a statement claiming that the violent assault on our democracy carried out by Trump supporters on January 6th, 2021, was “legitimate political discourse.”

In Michigan, a co-chair of the state Republican party, Meshawn Maddock, was recently revealed to be one of 16 state Republicans who signed and submitted false certificates claiming to be Michigan’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. All of those who participated in this anti-democracy scheme are currently being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for fraud and forgery.

The other Michigan Republican co-chair, Ronald Weiser, gave a speech in 2021 in which he referred to Governor Whitmer, Attorney General Nessel, and Secretary of State Benson as “three witches who are ready for burning at the stake”. He also brought up the concept of “assassination” when asked what could be done about Republican U.S. Representatives Peter Meijer and Fred Upton, who voted in favor of impeaching Donald Trump.

Michigan Republican legislators are currently organizing a petition campaign for a voter suppression bill deceptively titled Secure MI Vote. The purpose of this petition is to pass legislation to make voting more difficult for Michiganders. If this petition receives a sufficient number of signatures and is passed by the legislature, it will automatically become law. It is a devious and anti-democratic maneuver to avoid the governor’s veto.

A second, and very different, petition is being circulated by a coalition of pro-voting groups. This petition, titled Promote the Vote 2022, is designed to make voting easier for all Michiganders.

There are two major political parties in our nation and our state. The leaders and candidates of one of those parties, the Democratic party, are working for the survival of our democracy. The leaders and candidates of the other party, the Republican party, are, with very few exceptions, working to dismantle our democracy. The contrast could not be more clear.

Please keep this in mind when you cast your votes in November.

Larry Feldman

Lakeside