Today, politically Independent, ethically, and morally compelled to abandon the Republican Party after 30 years of faithful membership, I suffer with a heavy heart considering the fragileness of our republic, our ‘representative democracy.’ Yes, our democracy is fragile and damaged, even on the brink of possible destruction. This fragility and threat to our democracy stems from Trumpism and a “big lie” that former president Donald Trump told and is still telling; that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulently stolen from him by the Democrats.

Everywhere he goes he trumpets his baseless claim that the election was corrupt and rigged. This known “big lie” by former President Trump has taken root in about 70% of Republicans according to recent polls, causing them to profess that President Joe Biden is not the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election.

Despite the numerous audits and recounts and the fact that more than 60 judges including the US Supreme Court have looked at former President Trump ‘s allegations of fraudulent election claims and have determined that they were without any merit, most of the Republican Party still pretends to believe the ‘big lie.’ Trump ‘s unrelenting obsession with the ‘big lie’ has proven to be a clear and present danger to our democracy.

Already, we have seen an attempt on the part of Trump’s Republican supporters to overthrow our legitimate government and the results of the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021. Their collective effort is to install Donald Trump to a second term. This was truly an insurrection and a coup attempt on our nation, perpetrated, and led by the perpetrator and insurrectionist in chief himself former President Donald Trump.

Following the ‘big lie’ which Trump first raised before the election, new laws have been passed in Republican Led states that restrict voting. Over the previous year and a half, at least 19 states have passed laws limiting ballot access. Also, in battleground states Trump endorses candidates who are election deniers seeking powerful offices that control elections. If successful, they will attempt to fraudulently create Republicans’ victory in future elections. Also, many Republican-controlled state legislatures have moved to seize power over elections, to overrule voters and substitute their own slate of electors. This effort failed in 2020, but in 2024, they intend to install a Republican as the next president of the United States

“ BECAUSE OF THE BIG LIE NEW LAWS HAVE BEEN PASSED IN REPUBLICAN-LED STATES THAT RESTRICT VOTING. OVER THE PREVIOUS YEAR AND A HALF, AT LEAST 19 STATES HAVE PASSED LAWS LIMITING BALLOT ACCESS.”

Thus far, and sadly, our democratic led Congress has been unable to pass legislation to protect voting rights, mainly, because the Republicans are against the protection of voting rights. They know that when everyone has easy access to voting the Republicans lose. To avoid this end, Republicans are doing everything possible to disenfranchise Black and minority voters.

Trumpism is the cause of our fragile democracy. The term encompasses adjectives such as, racist, antisemitic, xenophobic, homophobic, chauvinistic, and more. Trumpism has hindered the proper functioning of our government because Donald Trump has held our Republican official’s hostage by threatening to destroy them politically if they work with the Democrats to get things done for the American people. Trump will continue to use this tactic and be a thorn in the side of our nation’s governance if the Republicans don’t stand up against him.

The problem is that our Republican officials are afraid of Donald Trump‘s base. Hopefully the electorate understands that our democracy is in peril, at risk of being destroyed unless we act quickly to rescue our nation. We must act now to save our democracy from the ‘big lie’ and Trumpism. Our democracy is hanging by a thread, and we must do our best to save it. Therefore, I am proposing a strategy to save our democracy. Our strategy should be for everyone, regardless of their party affiliation to vote for Democrat candidates only.

The strategy is to have only one issue in mind when voting and that is to save our democracy, because without it there is no right to vote and if voting is permitted it is meaningless. To save our Democracy, we must keep Republicans out of office They are doing all they can to weaken or destroy our democracy to please Donald Trump and his base for the purpose of gaining power.

Do not allow yourself to be deceived by the talking heads of the Republican Party and their propaganda outlets, like Fox News. They tell you that President Biden and his administration and the Democrats are the main reason for our weak economy, high inflation, and rising gas prices. The Republicans are falsely telling you that they would do a better Job with the economy. Don’t listen to their lies. Our economic issues are caused by a worldwide problem. Economists attribute the US inflation surge to product shortages resulting from the global supply-chain problems, largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Another cause cited includes strong consumer demand driven by historically robust Job growth and nominal wage growth. Remember, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shock to the world economy, disrupting supply chains and contributing to major delays in shipping. Labor shortages and surging consumer demand have only exacerbated this problem.

With many items in short supply and the cost of shipping going up, prices are increasing. Also, we need to understand that US presidents generally have little or nothing to do with the price of gasoline at the pump. They just take credit for it when the price is low. However, US presidents have few handles for impacting gasoline prices in the short term. Those handles are primarily 1). Release of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, which President Biden did several times already this year, 2). Changing the gasoline tax, 3). Involvement in a war with a major oil producer, which did cause gas prices to rise some because President Biden for a while stopped importing Russian oil to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.

Please cast your vote for Democrats only to save our democracy. Remember, the economy will always bounce back, but once you lose your democracy it will probably never come back. If you vote for Republicans, you are saying that you want an autocracy form of government, which is a system of government by one person with absolute power, and that person with power would be Donald Trump and whichever dictator would follow him.

Save Democracy: Vote for Democrats. Oneal Dozier pastorodozier@gmail.com