Goodbye my sweet democracy in America — land of the free and home of the brave.
It has been a blessing loving you and being a part of your family. I have enjoyed hiking and hunting on your open spaces of public lands.
I have been thrilled by the beauty of your parks and monuments that spoke of our respect for beauty and nature. That’s all going away.
I served in your military and was proud of how you took care of your warriors who answered your call to serve. That care is going away.
I am retired and I was proud of how you saw to the welfare of your elders and poor. Going away fast.
When my fellow humans and citizens are denied freedom (and brutalized) by the equivalent of “brown shirts,” it is denied to me and to all Americans.
I listened to our wise founders when they set out a course of moral dignity and freedom for all who sought to better themselves through honesty and wisdom. I never thought, at any time in my life, that we would allow ourselves to lose our precious democracy; but it is going — and going fast.
Those in power do not seem to care.
It’s been an honor to be a citizen in a country that has been the beacon of hope for a good part of the world for centuries. At my age, I am lucky that I won’t feel this awful indignity and shame of what we are becoming for too long. I wish us all good luck in the future, but I don’t think luck will help us out of our crisis.
I think using and protecting the ballot box is our only hope.
Larry B. Milligan, Salt Lake City
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