Opponents of electoral process morally bankrupt
Just because you have a right does not mean its right to exercise that right. Right? Sens. Hawley and Cruz knew that their political objections to electoral certification was doomed. No Democratic congress would remove a duly elected Democratic president. But with an unfathomably deep cynicism they went forward only to anchor their far right base. Hopefully, voters will remember these highly educated lawyers took the low road for one reason only — for personal political gain. They will soon be hiring counsel to assist them in filing ethical and moral bankruptcy.
Tagging along behind these highly educated cynics comes our barely Montanan Representative Rosendale, who has now served in the House long enough to find the executive washroom. To Montana’s disgrace he (and other Republicans) voted on the “fool’s errand” not to certify the electoral vote. To what end?
What happened to the giants like Mansfield, Metcalf and Wheeler that we used to send to Washington? Now we send flunkies and toadies. Sen. Tester excepted.
A wholly appropriate, if cruel and unusual, fate should befall our soon to be self-pardoned president whose conduct includes sedition, election tampering, and incitement to riot. Congress should enact legislation prohibiting Trump’s portrait from hanging in the halls of the White House. There should be a blank space and a small plaque next to President Obama stating, in small letters, the 45th president. That’s it.
Mike Zell
Bozeman
Support of lunacy put country in danger’s path
Sen. Daines and Rep. Rosendale: Please don’t confuse your behavior this week with either rationality or bravery. Eyes wide open, you could not resist jumping on Hawley’s meritless attack on the election results. Eyes wide open, you joined the attack knowing Trump has been unable to produce any evidence of fraud sufficient to change the fact that Biden won the Electoral College and the popular vote. Eyes wide open, you got to be on the receiving end of a murderous mob.
Your conduct subjected our country to nearly the same fate. Your support of this lunacy put you and our cherished republic in danger’s path. Shame on both of you.
Dorie Refling
Bozeman
Country’s moral compass is spinning out of control
Hot heads and cold hearts never solve anything. Following the events of Jan. 6, the sacking of nation’s Capitol building by a mob of Trump supporters, an exclamation was heard from several
prominent politicians expressing their outrage, “This is not America; this is not who we are.”
Well, regretfully this is who we have become. Our country’s moral compass is spinning uncontrollably, disorienting our beliefs and understanding of our democracy and ourselves as citizens.
The barbarians at the gate of US capital attacked the world’s icon of democracy. The shattering of glass left broken shards of our democracy under the feet the disenfranchised and angry howling at the vaulted ceiling of the dome, a symbol of democratic enlightenment.
Our own senator, Steve Daines, has become a Faustian character, selling his soul to expediency, ignoring principle, indulging the anger of Trump supporters without really understanding how to help assuage their anger. Daines stood prominently on a platform of untruths and distortions and this will become an indelible stain on his reputation.
So let us reflect for a moment and observe how relationships with our neighbors often devolves into intolerance and distrust. See how our fundamental behaviors toward each other have become toxic; when verbal cruelty is reframed as freedom of speech, when empathy is a sign of weakness, when facts are merely opinion, when scientific expertise is condescension, and a devastating
pandemic a political con job dividing us instead of uniting us. While the country’s leadership has failed to lead, so have we as citizens. We put these people into power, they reflect who we are and what we have become. We need to do better. What kind of America do we want? Our democracy’s survival depends on the answer.
Stephen Badenhop
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 1/16/21