Letter to the Editor: 'Am I a danger to our democratic constitutional republic?'

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As the signature block below indicates, I am a retired Army colonel. I earned that rank with my blood, sweat and tears, along with deployments to Bosnia, Africa, Kuwait and Afghanistan. During those deployments, I missed birthdays, holidays and graduations, knowing that I was proudly serving my country.

Listening to snippets of President Joe Biden’s speech from Philadelphia on Sept. 1, I find myself asking, “Am I, as a believer in ‘Making America Great Again,’ a danger to our democratic constitutional republic?” That blatant campaign speech, given against a satanic backdrop, made me feel extremely threatened because I don’t believe in his fiscal or monetary policies. Based on his words, what’s to stop the FBI or Department of Justice from now looking at me or anyone else as an extremist, which is a classification of someone who is one step away from being called a terrorist?

While the president keeps referring to the dangers to our democracy from those of us who supported the former president’s policies, he sadly shows his ignorance to the fact that, while we have always referred to ourselves as a democracy, we are truly a democratic constitutional republic. As a graduate of law school, it is a tidbit of information he should understand and know.

I truly believe there are a lot of retired military personnel who think like me and are wondering the same question: What did we do to cause our president to label us as extremists and a danger to our democratic constitutional republic? The words of the president were far from those of a unifier. His vitriolic and hateful comments were meant to scare and intimidate anyone who doesn’t believe as he does. I believe those were words of someone who believes in a democratic republic. As I recall, East Germany was called a democratic republic. And how is North Korea identified?

What are the policies of Make American Great Again and why are they so diametrically opposed to those of our current president? First and foremost, I believe it means that every American citizen has an equal opportunity to actually partake in fulfilling the American dream. Under the fiscal and monetary policies of our current president, the idea of aspiring to the American dream is being destroyed by, among other things, ultra-high inflation, lawlessness, an open border, a drug crisis, reckless government spending, the complete and utter failure of our secondary school system, and the politicization of our FBI, Justice Department and intelligence apparatus.

What concerns me more than the president’s comments is the absolute silence by the three elected individuals who represent me in Washington. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester and Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper, all D-Del., are absolute and total staunch supporters of President Biden. They have voted for every piece of legislation he’s championed.

Unfortunately, when our president gave his Sept. 1 speech in Philadelphia — one I consider one of the worst presidential campaign speeches ever made — the collective silence of my three Washington representatives gives some credibility to the fact that they probably believe that the use of such vitriolic and hateful speech, made against over 70 million-plus Americans, is OK. Biden may have won Delaware in 2020, but I believe there are thousands of MAGA-believing Americans in Delaware. What should Congresswoman Blunt Rochester and Sens. Coons and Carper say to all of us? I suspect they will say nothing.

The midterms are fewer than 60 days away. Unfortunately, neither of our senators are up for reelection. However, Congresswoman Blunt Rochester is. I strongly urge every Delawarean to vote for Lee Murphy for Congress. He will bring a realistic view to what should be the appropriate size of our government, champion for smarter fiscal and monetary policy, and push the government to end what I see as its vigorous attempt to destroy our First and Second amendment rights.

Retired U.S. Army Reserve Col. Frank Daniels

Dover

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