Democracy isn’t perfect, but it’s the best system

Glenn Whitaker

RtB Writers Group

Letter to the Editor

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

September 11, 2024

When obviously intelligent people like Gene Dreher start denigrating democracy as a fraud, I worry for our republic.

He blithely dismisses the vote of the majority as a “virtue signaling elite” who pad the vote with non-citizens. This is another example of the lies that have pervaded our politics since the advent of Donald Trump.

Non-citizens cannot vote for president and Democrats do not support abortion at nine months. Yet we continue to hear about stolen elections and unrestricted abortion despite all of the facts to the contrary. “Alternative facts” have invaded our politics and have made civil discourse almost impossible. It’s very hard to have a rational discussion about policy when we can’t agree on basic facts.

Donald Trump treats us with a daily firehose of lies ranging from his claim that he won the 2020 election to his recent claim that Vice President Harris’ crowds are AI-generated.

Apparently, Mr. Dreher thinks that any majority decision he doesn’t agree with is a “fringe decision.”

In a democracy, we don’t always get what we want. I can’t think of anything worse than an election which puts Trump back in office, but if that’s what the electorate wants,

we will all have to live with the consequences.

The current administration will not foment an insurrection and will gracefully accept the results of the election because that’s what we do in a democracy.

As a democracy, this country has become the most successful and admired nation in the world culturally, economically and militarily. Democracy isn’t perfect, but it is, objectively, the best system on earth.

GLENN WHITAKER

Glade Park