When the Republican right says the state legislature is weak on law enforcement, what they secretly mean is they oppose reforms that increase police accountability and decrease the unnecessary use of force. Left-leaners see “We Support our Law Enforcement” lawn signs as a politically-correct translation of “we don’t care if blacks and browns are arrested disproportionally or mishandled while in police care.” Scare tactics from Fox News about BLM and Antifa have succeeded. 

Local Republican candidates dismayed by being “dismissed summarily” because there is an “R” by their name on the ballot…the letter “R” has become synonymous for many voters with misogyny, racism, bigotry, hatred, anti-climate change, intolerance, election denial, insurrection, suppression of voter rights, tax cuts for the wealthy, white nationalism, Christian nationalism, and opposition to social security, Medicare and health care. While some Republicans may want to distance themselves from Trump on Jan. 6 or state abortion laws, odds are they still voted for a convicted felon, a political opportunist and round-the-clock liar.  

It was written in the Opinion pages of the Dec. 11 Leader that Republican voters, like most Democrat voters, also fear governmental overreach and the end of democracy. What exactly was done in the Biden administration to cause that feeling? Gun control efforts in the House that went nowhere? Supreme Court packing of liberal judges? Unelected bureaucrats running the country? (Do you mean like Musk and Ramaswamy?)  Or maybe it stems from the Obama administration, with Republican control of the Senate and House? I believe the roots of this fear are nourished by Fox.

And a final observation about those who refer to this newspaper as “The Misleader” due to its liberal slant and readership. These are the same people getting their “news” from Fox, Newsmax, X and a host of websites, all firehoses of deceit and constant misinformation. For that, there is no end in sight.

Steve Chappuis

Port Townsend