Expelling duly elected members was just too extreme
EDITOR:
I write in response to Mr. Samuel Foust’s recent letter.
First, he states that “the Founding Fathers eschewed a ‘democracy’ in favor of a republic.” He doesn’t seem to understand that they are not mutually exclusive. The founders created a republic styled as a representative democracy. A pure democracy means that every decision for governance would have to be decided by every citizen (which would be unworkable). Instead, we elect representatives who are supposed to reflect the opinions and desires of their constituents when making governing decisions. Unless, of course, you live in Nashville where extreme Republican gerrymandering has robbed many of their voices.
I do agree with Mr. Foust that our democracy is in trouble, but I see the problem quite differently. Here in Tennessee we have elected people from the extreme right wing of the Republican Party who are NOT representing the wishes of the majority of our citizens.
Tennessee citizens do NOT want our public schools to be privatized; yet our Tennessee legislature just expanded vouchers. Huge majorities of parents and educators pleaded with legislators to repeal the harmful third-grade retention bill; they refused. Tennessee citizens DO want common sense gun safety measures; yet our Tennessee legislature keeps refusing to even vote on gun safety bills proposed by Democrats. In a functioning democracy, the super-majority Republicans would not be silencing the loyal opposition by turning off their microphones and/or refusing to call on them to speak. As a result of this authoritarian behavior, the recent brouhaha in Nashville is certainly “predictable” but was certainly NOT “mob rule.” There were peaceful (but loud) protests during which three Democratic representatives broke the rules of House decorum by speaking without permission. Breaking the rules should have consequences; however, expelling duly elected members was just too extreme and an example of Republican authoritarianism.
Mr. Foust accuses the Democratic Party of “selling revisionist history,” but it’s the Republican party [that] doesn’t want students to know about the Tulsa race massacre and other events of the struggle for civil rights in this country. It’s the Republican Party along with Fox News [that] has tried to convince our country that the 2020 election was fraudulent. It should be obvious to all (except Fox News viewers) that the recent settlement for $787.5 million, which was negotiated in the Dominion voting machines lawsuit, proves that Fox News knowingly lied to [its] viewers. That’s some pretty expensive revisionist history.
Today’s Democratic Party hardly feasts on “crime, chaos, poverty and destruction” as Mr. Foust claims. It has clearly defined policies addressing the key issues facing our nation: upgrading our infrastructure, making the minimum wage a livable wage, extending affordable health care to more Americans, and fighting climate change. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is busy obsessing over things like who should use which bathroom and who should read which book. It is these culture war issues [that] feed divisiveness in our country.
Mr. Foust accuses Democrats of playing the “bigoted” card. Perhaps he is unaware that by referencing George Soros in his letter, he was playing the antisemitism card.
Finally, I will quote another of our Founding Fathers, James Madison in the Federalist Papers in 1788. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” I worry that we are reaching that tyranny in Tennessee.
Marsha Livingston
Clinton