Michael Adkins
Open letter to local elected Republicans:
Are you mutes? I don’t believe so yet your silence is deafening. Your voice is needed. The citizens you represent should be informed, by you personally, as to which side of the fence you are standing. The people of Hancock County want, nay, they need to know, do you stand with mainstream Republicans, the traditional conservatives and moderates of the GOP, or are you standing with the illiberal MAGA segment of your party?
If you do not believe in Donald Trump’s Big Lie, that the election was stolen from him, you owe it to the community to say so. But as yet, not a single elected Republican representing Hancock County has spoken out publicly against the Big Lie. If you side with MAGA, it is imperative that you tell us on what grounds you believe it.
To this very day I still do not know your thoughts on the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. For that matter, I have not heard you speak out on the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. These are not minor issues. Rather, they are the most significant issues you have faced as members of your political party. For that matter, they are the most important issues you have faced to date as Americans.
Let us know your frank and honest opinions on the divisive, hateful and violent rhetoric of the MAGA members of Congress and state legislatures across the land. Are you in lockstep with the Congressional candidate whose ad shows him, weapon in hand, hunting down RHINOS? Do you share the love affair for Viktor Orban, Hungary’s despot, so loved by Tucker Carlson and the crowd at the CPAC Convention? Are you among the Republicans who said military rule would be good for America? Are you among the one-third of the Republican Party who, when polled, say they prefer a strong leader to democracy? If not, then for God’s sake speak up!
If you do not favor book banning, let your constituents know it. Otherwise, just admit you are a member of the MAGA wing of the GOP. Are you in support of the anti-CRT bills that MAGA legislators are pitching, even though no such subject has ever been taught in our public schools? We want to know.
If you are upset that President Biden called the MAGA crowd fascists, please explain yourself. The President was crystal clear that he was not speaking about mainstream Republicans, but his description of the MAGA folk was spot on. Their support for overturning the election was but one of many traditional democratic norms they could care less about. Democracies survive only where their constitutions are reinforced by unwritten democratic norms. Until recently, those norms have kept our democracy strong. Trump and his millions of MAGA supporters have severely damaged those norms and in the process have severely stressed our democracy.
The illiberal MAGA bunch need lies and hatred to fuel their movement. Will you allow their lies to stand? Will you call them out for their hatred? I know the temptation is to say, I’m not involved in national politics, but all politics is local as the saying goes. If you won’t speak out who will? If you don’t let the public know you don’t stand with the MAGA bunch, the public will likely assume you do, and that, in effect, is the same as vocally supporting this fascist group.
The future of your political party is in your hands and the hands of hundreds of thousands like you. Speak out now before the MAGA crowd changes the GOP forever.
Michael Adkins formerly was chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party. Send comments to [email protected].
