Mary Ann Drapcho: Americans must fight again to maintain a peaceful democracy

To The Daily Sun,

My father, a lifelong Republican, was a kind and gentle man. His hands trembled his entire life from PTSD caused from defending democracy in WWII. His daily mantra of “this is the greatest country on Earth and don't you ever forget it” still rings in my ears.

I grew up with a steady diet of watching and listening to politicians from both parties. Not once did I hear them call for protestors to be hurt. Not once did I hear them joke about people being hit with a hammer or a gavel. Not once did I hear them spread conspiracies. We were not fed lies daily. Republicans and Democrats knew that accepting the will of the people's election results was at the very heart of democracy. It was and is the rock that We the People stand on.

In 2022, we are desensitized to lies, conspiracy theories and calls for violence, all for the purpose of gaining and holding onto power. Leaders, instead of collectively standing up and stopping indecent power grabs, are pathetically performative.

“Of course, we pray for him or her, but here is the real problem” is heard, with intentionality, in the halls of power. “But” is the shining light that distracts from the real problem that no body of power should tolerate lies, promote conspiracy theories, egg on violence, and condone hatred. We are now seeing in real time that this tolerance comes with the price of violence.

Americans, We the People, must once again fight for our peaceful democracy. We must insist our leaders in our schools, our places of worship, in the halls of every power, must collectively act on the truth that tolerance of hatred spreads hatred. We the People must preserve our peaceful democracy at the ballot box.

Mary Ann Drapcho

Center Sandwich