To Sen. Mike Lee:
I thought we valued democracy in America, Mike. I thought it was what made us so free. Yet now, at the height of a pivotal election year, your party is taking steps to curb democracy at every turn; your incendiary tweet only serves to highlight that fact. Polling places are being shut down, registration rolls are being purged, Republicans are spreading lies about voter fraud, and the president is encouraging his supporters to intimidate voters and poll workers. We’re now aware of massive and successful voter suppression by the Trump campaign in 2016 of Black voters; will this year be any different?
Conservatives have long sought to maintain control even when in the minority. During the civil rights struggle of the ’50s and ’60s, radicals in the conservative movement sought to disparage “democracy” in the same way as you did to maintain racist power structures and Black disenfranchisement. Protesters marched in opposition to racial integration, holding signs that said, “Race mixing is communism.” Hiding your true feelings about democracy behind their rhetoric is not a good look, Sen. Lee. To you and most other conservatives in our government, anything to the left of Trumpism is communism, and democracy is something to be feared.
Corey Williams, Salt Lake City
