Linda Terwilliger: Vote for candidates who will support public schools, health care

To The Daily Sun,

Recently, I learned that 150 Republicans in our New Hampshire Legislature received the highest approval rating for their voting records from an anti-government extremist organization.

They include members of the Free State Project and their allies, including 14 representatives from all nine Belknap County districts.

When radical-right politicians mention “individual liberties,” they clearly do not mean yours or mine. They mock our Constitution and our American democracy. Our Republican-controlled legislature has already passed laws to disrupt our free and fair election system, our public schools, and our public health system.

In addition, they have undermined our constitutional guarantee of equal rights by restricting the rights of voters, women, union workers, kids in school and the LGBTQ community. They are attempting to upend the careful balance of power between all levels of government, one of the cornerstones of our democracy. They disparage the integrity of our election workers, judges, and teachers. Thirteen Republican legislators even voted for New Hampshire to secede from the United States.

To gain more political power, the Republican party has more closely aligned its agenda with the Libertarian-right, the religious-right and many anti-government, anti-democratic organizations. As a result, they have gained support from white supremacists, ultra-nationalists, conspiracy theorists and other hate groups vying for political control in our state and nation.

These groups purposefully foster distrust in our democratic government, which requires bi-partisanship, goodwill and cooperation to work. Their leaders’ ultimate goal is to replace our American democracy with political disorder and lawlessness, paving the way to dangerous autocratic rule.

We can’t afford another NH legislature controlled by Free Staters and their enablers who have passed hundreds of really bad bills. In the fall, vote for those candidates who will fight to support our public schools and health system and protect our American democracy.

Linda Terwilliger

Gilford