To the Editor:
When my wife and I had arrived to Wrangell 48 years ago (as fresh refugees from communist Czechoslovakia) we had only a very faint idea about democracy. I admit it took us some time to get over the inherited fear of being arrested for freely speaking our minds. I quickly learned the cornerstone of democracy is to respect everybody else`s opinion which should guarantee us the same. No room for a double standard or hypocrisy. I also realized democracy required a degree of self control and
civility, simply agree to disagree. I understood Democrats and Republicans differed on some issues but when it came to the important matters both major political parties would unite and get the job done. Taking turns to govern this great country appeared to be a good thing to refresh democracy as such.
Fast forward 40 years to 2008 when Mr. Obama promised Americans an unspecified “hope and change.” I liked this country the way it was, so why change anything? And to what? At least half of my fellow citizens had a different opinion which I respected. I am not aware of any sore losers trying to spoil Mr. Obama’s inauguration, breaking windows, burning cars, shouting insults and vulgarities, calling him Hitler, dressing up as vaginas, etc. To me that was how a peaceful transfer of power in a democratic republic should look like. Then political correctness began to raise its ugly head. Any critics of president Obama were immediately labeled racists, bigots, fascists, ridiculed, etc. while the democratic party showed less and less tolerance for any opinions but their own.
Enter 2016 presidential campaign. When listening to the speeches of both democratic party candidates I realized to my horror they sounded exactly like my former communist slave masters 50 years ago. Obviously those
dastardly Wall Street bankers Czech communist leaders were warning Czechs since 1948 were to blame for problems everywhere. Income inequality? Yes, I heard that one and other talking points previously as well.
Nov. 8, 2016 an “unexpected disaster” struck, Americans rejected democratic party vision of the “middle class paradise” and elected outsider Mr. D. Trump. Media compared it to the tragedy of 9/11 and to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Around inauguration time all hell broke loose, there were hysterical calls for martial law to prevent Mr. Trump from taking the presidential office (Rosie O’Donnell), Madonna decided it would be democratic to blow up the White House. The very same people preaching love and tolerance were spewing hate and bigotry feeling good about themselves. Congressman J. Lewis declared Mr. Trump to be an illegal president elected by sneaky Russians. Most celebrities refused to perform during inauguration and those who did were bombarded with death threats. Facebook and Twitter were full of calls for President Trump’s assassination. His supporters were called bigots, racists, Islamofobes, hitlerites, anti-Semites, etc. Even president Trump’s wife and children were verbally abused. Was that the “high road” Mrs. M. Obama was talking about in her famous speech?
I could not help wondering if this was the hidden ugly face of democracy I have not discovered in 48 years. Strangely enough it looked more like the communist one I thought I left behind in 1968.
Should not President Trump be given the same opportunity and courtesy as President Obama enjoyed? Or did the good old USA turn into some kind of banana republic where everything goes, with double standard and hypocrisy as a virtue? Perhaps the “democrats” who find it so difficult to accept the last presidential election result should remember President Obama’s words to Republicans: “We won, you lost. There are consequences.”
In a real democratic republic it should work both ways.
Disclaimer: I have no political affiliation.
Ivan Simonek
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