We can disagree on politics without becoming enemies
EDITOR:
I write to respond to Mr. Foust’s letter in The Courier News.
I am pleased to hear that he is not anti-Semitic; he just detests George Soros because he funds Democratic causes. Somehow that makes him a “menace to society.”
I personally am much more concerned about the right-wing billionaires who are funding lobbyists, think tanks, etc. to influence our government. Right here in TN the Koch network, Bill Gates and others are funding the push to privatize our schools, even though more than 70-percent of Tennesseans oppose that idea. We also see the will of the people being ignored when it comes to gun safety legislation.
A large majority of Tennessee citizens favor some sensible gun regulations, but the radical Republicans in Nashville have already announced that they will oppose any and all such ideas.
This is not how a democracy is supposed to function.
Speaking of democracy, Mr. Foust misinterpreted my previous letter.
I agreed with him that we have a republic, but I insist that we also have a democracy (even as it is surely endangered). I checked with my dictionary and also Google to get a better definition. “A republic is a nation in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.”
The key concept to the word republic is that the leader of this government is NOT a hereditary monarch but a president. Some republics are not considered to be democracies. North Korea is officially called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Its citizens “vote” but there is only one candidate.
However, the United States and France are considered both democracies and republics, because the power of governance rests in the people, and the exercise of that power is done through some sort of electoral representation. I cannot understand why Mr. Foust argues that we are not a democracy.
Does he see democratic processes as undesirable?
It will not surprise Mr. Foust to hear that I disagree with just about everything he said about the Democratic Party and President Biden.
I believe that former President Trump is the true “menace to society,” with unprecedented lies, corruption, self-enrichment and dereliction of duty. But since this is still the United States of America, we should be able to disagree on politics without becoming enemies.
I would like to believe that in the long run, Mr. Foust wants the same thing that I want: for the United States to continue to be the most wonderful and prosperous country on Earth.
Marsha Livingston
Clinton