Democracy or despotism. Voting or violence. With every recent election the choices become more serious. It is coming down to these. After years of being told that democrats are anti-capitalism socialists, that they want to take away everyone’s guns; which are both wild exaggerations; the lies and fearmongering get worse and worse as fringe extremes are soaking into the mainstream of media and politics.

There has admittedly been some violence on the left, but that is in reaction to the frustration of years of social, economic, and political inequality. There have been no elected officials on the left encouraging this. Rather they try to calm the tensions and work to pass laws that advance equality and opportunity for all. In the “what about” rationale, the right brings up the riots that erupted as a result of the George Floyd murder when defending the attack on the Capitol.

The 2020 Minneapolis protests began peacefully, but unlawful elements moved in to cause damage and loss in the city. Two deaths resulted. Law enforcement took control of the situation. Arrests and convictions followed. This protest sprang from a just cause. Justice was served with the subsequent investigation and trial of the officers to blame. But this led to another misnomer, that the left wants to “defund” the police, as in get rid of law enforcement. In actuality, Democratic lawmakers seek to improve law enforcement with more funding for mental support intervention and revamping of how officers are trained in crisis and de-escalation to prevent situations that end in deaths.

The Jan. 6 riot was a planned attack. The Congressional hearings have shown that publicly. It was encouraged by the rhetoric and political sabotage of President Donald Trump and his minions in his staff and in Congress. It did not spring from an organic inequality. It was orchestrated.

From the time he declared his candidacy in 2015, he was on a plan to erode the system of democratic voting that has been our gift from our founders and the cornerstone of our democratic republic. Infusing the American public with ideas that the election process is corrupt gained momentum with the immense help of Fox news pontificators and the unregulated forums of social media, where anyone can say anything, pretend they know what they’re talking about, and build a following.

The recent break-in and injuring of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband shows how someone can be convinced that one person who has been a target of the right for a long time, is the cause of all their problems.

Once captured by a fanatical cult, there is no telling how far individuals will go to carry out their missions. The quasi-militia groups and sheep that followed believed they were directed by their president to “stop the steal” to disrupt the lawful process of peaceful transition of power, thinking they were saving the country rather than attacking it. Law enforcement has been working to bring perpetrators to justice for the damage they caused to the Capitol, an icon of what represents the United States of America. That damage is as real as the buildings in Minneapolis. The threats to the lives and safety of our elected leaders are real crimes. The attempt to overthrow the government itself- that’s treason. Five lives were lost due to this assault, three of them police officers. An estimated 150 law enforcement sustained injuries that day. A party cannot profess to support the police and condone that.

There has been a current undermining our democratic process for some time. Newt Gingrich and Mitch McConnell’s policy of simply thwarting anything supported by Democrats, the Tea Party, strategies to gerrymander voting districts and restrict voting opportunities in mostly Democratic areas has taken on a more violent aspect. Vigilantes are stalking drop boxes around the country. Here locally there has been reports of groups not affiliated with the board of elections or any state-acknowledged organization passing themselves off as official. Half of the Republican candidates running in this election nationwide are supporters of Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 election, even though court after court threw it out, and all attempts to prove the election was stolen were dismissed.

This is what is concerning. If the GOP no longer believes our system of electing our representatives is, or should be, free and fair; if they don’t believe in the vote; then what do they want? What remains then? Dictatorships across the globe know what remains. The insurrection is as close as we have come to losing our rule of law, constitution based, democratic form of government. If Congress turns red after this election, we have ample warning of what we can expect. More erosion of democracy, and if you are worried about your pocketbooks now, wait till they jeopardize our social security and Medicare, our health benefits, and rescind recently approved drug price regulations.

If the only freedom you are worried about is the Second Amendment, then enjoy it because the others will not be so easy to hold on to. Why would you want your country to be a place where a gun is necessary to have a reasonable sense of security anyway? Fox would have you believe that crime is rampant, but only in cities where there is Democratic leadership. Not true. The red state of Oklahoma has a higher per capita crime rate than either California or New York.

Gov. Kathy Hochul maybe has not done everything exactly right, made some missteps, but isn’t a governor who directs her concerns to the citizens of state preferable to a candidate who voted to overturn the presidential election and is beholden to a Mar a Lago wannabe dictator? Max Della Pia is a retired Air Force Colonel, he understands guns and the right to bear arms but he also understands that they don’t belong in the hands of those who will use them to cause harm. Preferable to a career political aide, whose expertise lies in the skills necessary to get elected, legal or otherwise.

If you haven’t already voted early, please consider how you vote Tuesday, if you want to continue to have that right in the future.

Susan Bigler is a Sheridan resident.