I recently read a letter in the Deseret News (“Letter: This year’s presidential election is between democracy and socialism,” June 23) where the writer ended his piece with, “This election is not between Democrats and Republicans, it is between democracy and socialism. Ask this question: What is more important, your country or your party? If socialism prevails, what is next, communism?”
Politics in America is not that simple, and it has never been. From our country’s beginning, George Washington, in his farewell address, strongly warned us to avoid the “party spirit.” It is good that the writer of the letter is asking people to not vote for party, if that were as far as he went. But he strongly infers that if you vote for Democrat Joe Biden, you are not voting for your country, that you are voting for socialism.
And while he fears that voting for Biden could lead to socialism, many others are concerned that voting for the Republican candidate, who demands total approval by his party for anything he does and fires many of his staff who dare to not approve of his actions, could lead to a loss of democratic freedom. The writer’s final question might just as well be, “If unchecked leadership continues, what is next, dictatorship?”
What is important is that all of us look at the candidates, not from the party standpoint, but by how we feel each candidate will best work with both sides of Congress, who will best work to get both parties to work together for the betterment of our country, not against each other as has been the case so often since Washington served as president.
Fred Ash
Sandy