Democracy is not a partisan philosophy, and it’s not an economic system.
It’s a form of government that our freedom-loving people have fought and died to defend for nearly 250 years.
In the U.S., the power resides with the people, not a monarch, not the military, not a dictator or authoritarian oligarch.
The power is ours and we express it by voting.
The U.S. is also a republic.
We elect representatives who govern in accordance with the law.
The law follows our Constitution, which we can amend, as we recognize the need, to better reflect our professed principles of equality, freedom and justice.
It’s a dynamic system, worth both living up to and dying for.
The basis of all of it is the vote.
On Jan. 6, 2021, a group of misinformed dissidents who thought they were acting as patriots violently broke into the U.S. Capitol and tried to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Based on charges of voter fraud that were never verified, they literally trampled on the safeguards that have protected voting rights and outcomes in our country.
They and their supporters in nearly 20 state legislatures are now working to limit access to voting.
Voter suppression and violent insurrection threaten the essence of our democratic republic.
We need to strengthen democracy by demanding accuracy in media reporting, enhancing laws that safeguard our elections and expanding, not undermining, voting rights.
Defense of democracy serves us all.
Marsha Maguire
Sequim