Here is the letter:
Dear Senators Sinema and Manchin,
Please vote for the voting rights bills now in Congress. Donald Trump is supported by people who call themselves Nazis. They praise Adolf Hitler and glorify war. If Trump wins again he will declare himself dictator, ending democracy forever. We must assume this because they will kill people we love.
Senators Manchin and Sinema, when they start killing Democrats and minorities, the Republicans will let you join their party. You and your loved ones will be safe. For the love of my family and millions of families worldwide, please pass the voting rights bills.
Thank you,
His letter certainly expresses the fear he is feeling, not only for himself and his family, but for all of us. He sent it to awaken the conscience of these Senators, so they’d finally help put out the flames that are burning this nation and our world ⎼ or so they’d at least stop fueling the fires with their opposition to crucial legislation.
There is no doubt our nation and world are on fire. We know this, or many of us do. I think secretly we all know this. It’s hard to miss the fires that burned forests and homes in much of the western part of our nation this year and the recent past. It’s hard to miss sidewalks and roads that melted this past summer, record droughts, record windstorms and tornadoes that struck just a few weeks ago. Unless maybe we think they will only happen to someone else. They happen to all of us, one way or another, one disaster or another.
It is hard to miss the hate that too often walks our streets, or even our schools and workplaces. People shot or attacked. For being Black, Brown, Asian, HGBTQ, Jewish, Muslim, Native American ⎼ or a woman. They attack women who just want a choice as to what happens with their own body, or who want healthcare and rights equal to men. In Texas, the GOP passed a bill that could lead to mob violence against women and those who support them..
Or they attack Democrats, or even Republicans who speak truthfully and act to rightfully protect our democratic processes, like Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose life has been threatened ever since he wouldn’t allow a would-be dictator to steal the election. They attack government officials, like Michigan Governor Gretchen Witmer for saying everyone must protect not only themselves but others by wearing a mask.
They attack innocent, conscientious poll workers like Ruby Freeman, who were just doing their jobs, in a nefarious effort to make it seem the poll workers were doing something nefarious. Why do they do this? To make people afraid of volunteering to count ballots fairly and thus make democratic elections impossible. To burn the constitution. Burn the Bill of Rights. The DJT GOP are trying to set fire to our voting rights as they undermine the ability of the nation to accurately count ballots.
Jason Lemon wrote an article for Newsweek on a year-end report released this week from the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center. The report outlined more than 260 bills the GOP have introduced to “subvert” free and fair elections in states across the country.
The former President’s lies and hate speech have fueled violence and deaths all across this nation. Only by protecting our voting rights do we stand a chance of preventing him or others like him from taking office once again. Only by protecting our voting rights can we stop this increase in White Nationalist and Nazis-inspired politics and violence.
The former President also lied and misled us repeatedly about the pandemic. These lies are being used to keep the pandemic going, create fear and disruption, death and sickness, all to blame President Biden and undermine his administration.
And while the nation burns, 2 Democrats play political games. Nero probably did not fiddle as Rome burned, but these 2 Senators, just like the GOP, play their own games for political power while our nation burns.
So, hopefully thousands of letters will be handwritten or typed, sent to the offices of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, to awaken their conscience. The letters can talk of our fears, whatever they are, maybe of our once growing democracy becoming an autocracy or Fascist state. Of our pain over all the hurt and hate.
They will urge action to pass Build Back Better to protect our world and economy. To end the filibuster so the Voting Rights Protection Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can pass to protect and advance our constitutional democracy.
And we will feel the thousands, the millions who share our concern and are ready to speak and act. That would be spectacular, wouldn’t it? A new session of the Senate starts January 3rd. Let’s start the new year right.
If our lives were at stake, would we act? I think so. Well, our lives are at stake. Will we, you, act?
**Here is my letter:
Dear Senator Manchin/Sinema,
I am writing to tell you of a deep fear that I and my family have that you could alleviate. We fear for our lives and what will happen to our nation if the former President or one of his followers ever again occupies the White House.
The nation is on fire, and you can help put out those flames. The Build Back Better bill can help prevent the droughts that feed the fires and lessen the heat that melts sidewalks and causes deaths. You can support this bill and so diminish my fear and lessen the threat from climate change.
Have you heard of the 260 bills* the GOP are introducing in many states to subvert elections and threaten democracy? You can lessen the fear of our rights being stolen by acting to end the filibuster so the Voting Rights Protection Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can become law.
So, please. I think you, too, feel this pain. But time is quickly running out. Our anxiety and fear are high. The threat is increasing. Please act. Now.
I do not live in West Virginia/Arizona. I do live in the United States of America. Thank you.
*Lemon, Jason, GOP Introduced More Than 260 Bills to Subvert Elections After Trump’s 2020 Loss: Report, Newsweek, 12/24/21.
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Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash
