I was alarmed by the recent survey by the Washington Post and University of Maryland showing 34% of the respondents agree there are times when violence against government is justified. How did we become an uncivilized country? A real patriot recognizes that America is a democracy which chooses its leaders with free and fair elections, that his or her preferred candidate will not always win, and would never use or promote violence to attempt to subvert a legitimate election.
I believe this survey result has much to do with Donald Trump continuing to spout his bogus claim that massive voter fraud cost him the 2020 election despite no evidence of this. He undertook a gargantuan effort to overturn the outcome, but dozens of lawsuits and countless recounts and audits in multiple states failed to uncover evidence of widespread fraud. Then-Attorney General Barr admitted the Justice Department had found no such evidence. Even the partisan recount in Maricopa County, Arizona, initiated by Republican state legislators affirmed that President Biden won that county by even more votes than originally counted.
Unfortunately, despite this failure to find widespread voter fraud, Republican-controlled state legislatures in several states are using the unproven fraud allegations to justify their attempts to further suppress voting and, most disturbing, giving themselves the power to decide whose votes count and overturn results they don’t like. If nothing is done to stop this, it may be the end of our democracy.
Carole Mataya, Rochester
