Jay Newton: Choose Biden and democracy or soon you won’t be able to choose anything

To The Daily Sun,

We just celebrated D-Day, a very costly in human lives event that turned the course of World War II against the Germans and their authoritarian form of government.

Ukraine is being attacked by Russia and President Joe Biden has done a masterful job of getting 50 countries to work together to help protect them.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, withheld military aid from Ukraine and sides with Vladimir Putin, a Russian dictator who kills people in his own country who disagree with him.

From Psychology Today, “Authoritarians follow a key principle in marketing — identify a problem, create negative emotions, and offer a solution to the problem.

Authoritarian leaders, in turn, create fear and anger by identifying certain groups — whether identified by their politics, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or nationality — as being responsible for their suffering.

Anger directs our attention outward and, in doing so, constricts our openness for the self-reflection that is essential for increased awareness and understanding of our feelings and desires. Additionally, higher levels of anger blind us to the kind of flexible thinking essential for problem-solving.”

This makes people less able to think about better ways to be governed.

From the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, “The principal difference between a democracy and an authoritarian government is that in a democracy, people have a greater say in political affairs, get to choose who leads them, and there are checks and balances on executive power.

In an authoritarian government, power is more closely tied to one person or group of people who restrict the ability of the population to decide their own future. Typically, the state places limits on the free press, on the judiciary's independence, or on the powers of the parliament.”

Choose Biden and democracy or soon you won’t be able to choose anything.

Jay Newton

Gilford