Supporters of democracy needed

To the Editor:

When the former leader of a country refuses to accept his defeat in an election which was upheld by its election officials, judicial system, and highest courts, and then the leaders of his political party are complicit in this, that country’s democracy is threatened.

I believe we’re now under such a threat in America. The current leaders of the Republican Party demoted a leader of theirs who calls out this lie (Liz Cheney), and are declining to fully investigate a violent attack upon our electoral process by those who intended to overturn it on Jan. 6. And state party leaders are working to give power to partisan state legislatures to overturn electoral results.

The Republicans that I know personally are principled people of integrity who want what is best for our country. To Republican friends, it is my hope and prayer that you will help move your party in a better direction than the path its current leaders are on. That you will recognize me and my Democratic party as a political opponent, not an enemy of the country to be defeated at all costs including the loss of democracy. That together we will support laws that uphold democracy so that, as Lincoln, our first Republican president said, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Ray Mueller

Byram Township