Independent Editor,
Stop being a victim.
How strange it is to see so many in this community claim to be victims in their search for support and comfort. The national trend of those who once claimed to be conservative and now embrace the snowflake label is at the same time both troubling and comical.
The real victims of democracy lay naked and beaten in prisons around the world, placed there by those Donald Trump admires such as Vladimir Putin (Russia), Kim Jong-un (North Korea) and Xi Jinping (China). Victims are not those who feel a need to assert their undisputed rights through acts such as refusing to wear masks or brandish firearms to the discomfort of those around them. True Patriots fight for the rights of all and understand that our freedom depends on the mutual respect and compassion for the needs and interests of all.
For far too long, despots, monarchies and religious leaders enriched themselves and controlled the peoples of the world. The Age of Enlightenment freed us from the chains of those who sought to use our ignorance against us. It was a belief in the Enlightenment that formed the basis from which our Founding Fathers established this country. They rightfully placed freedom, science, rule of law and the right to pursue happiness above political and religious interests. Now some want you to believe this nation is some sort of theocracy, which our founders never intended. Others seek to promote an individual leader over our democratic system, flying flags in the name of a man and not our nation. Many in our country now take their rights for granted, not having read nor understood our United States Constitution.
We do not follow a man, we support a Constitution and an ethos. Our system, as originally enacted, was not perfect but those who established it knew as much. They trusted that we would continue to seek improvement and provided us the mechanisms to do so, in order to pursue a more perfect union of the people, by the people and for the people.
We need to stop being victims and again become leaders for all those seeking the same freedoms we claimed from those who ruled over us long ago. Our nation cannot stand alone against tyranny but rather must stand with others around the world to fight for the rights of all people, even when we may disagree. If we do not stand together for the rights of all people, our rights will fall at the feet of those who hope that democracy will not long endure.
Brian True, Corunna (Ukraine)