What is at stake in this election? Our democracy is at stake.

My father and many other fathers and mothers in this nation fought for our democracy against fascism in World War II — against hate mongers like Hitler and Mussolini and Hirohito. And if World War III begins it will be a fight against present day fascist dictators Putin, Lukashenko of Belarus, Erdogan of Turkey, al-Asaad of Syria and Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabian. All leaders whom the far right seeks to emulate in its method of ruling.

And so we are currently at battle with the domestic terrorism of the far right agenda.

It’s time to stop being disdainful of the truth. The truth is Joe Biden was legally elected president. The truth is Trump and his cohorts tried to illegally stage a coup using lies and any devious corrupt means they could — illegal electors, suppression of voters, even denying people the right to give water to voters standing for hours in the South’s heat. And lies. They try to threaten and intimidate and scorn anyone they deem to be the enemy. They do not project any real methods to help the people of American with health care or reasonable housing. There’s no agenda save one: control. For those of us listening to the Jan. 6 Committee and its findings, we see the truth. Our greatest war is from within, from liars who ruthlessly staged an attempted coup, and we must all use our intelligence and reasoning to win this battle, to deny them power.

The truth is Biden and his policies are not responsible for high oil prices and inflation. The claim an unbuilt pipeline is responsible for high oil prices is false — how could that be the cause when the entire world is dealing with those same prices because oil producers are selfishly earning the highest profits ever. One reports states, “The average net profit margin for oil and gas production was 4.7% in 2021 and 31.3% in Q4 2021.” [https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/012015/what-average-profit-margin-company-oil-gas-drilling-sector.asp] And ” . . . a new analysis [is] showing that eight of the largest oil companies in the country made a record-breaking $51 billion in profit in the second quarter of 2022. This marks a 235% increase over the same quarter in 2021.” [https://accountable.us/report-big-oil-companies-see-235-increase-in-profits-thanks-to-months-of-sky-high-gas-prices]

And those profits, and profits earned by the meat industry and car companies and our willingness to pay those prices drives inflation.

But inflation is not the issue here. Abortion is not the issue here, nor immigration, nor taxes, nor LBGTQ rights, nor banning books. All of those are important. But the issue is the desire of the minority far right republican party to remove rights, starting with voting rights. The issue now is that of the minority controlling the majority through gerrymandering, lies, corruption, and an attempted coup. That is the end of democracy.

America’s most important proof of its being a democracy is its right to vote, and to vote without fear of intimidation. The far right instills fear and hate in cultures and nationalities. America must resist that fear and hate.

Democracy is hard. It means being inclusive, it means being unselfish, it means being courageous in accepting those different from you and facing truth. And it means educating yourself to tell the difference between a lie and the truth. Some lack the courage to attain those things. So there is nothing more important than every eligible person being able to vote in a society whose emphasis is on those positive qualities.

The American men and women who fought the fascists in the 1940s and the people who remained here at home in the US putting up with rationing and the terror of losing their children to those fascist leaders trying to control the world–those men and women are relying on today’s Americans to recognize the grave threat from the fascists within and without, from the far right domestic terrorists, from those who want to limit and not include, from those who lie and demean and espouse cruelty.

Please vote as though your democracy is depending on it.

Diane Andrasik is a Dunkirk resident.