Letter: How is this happening?

Russia passes law threatening 15 years in prison for calling the Ukrainian conflict a “war” or an “invasion.” “The truth is not truth,” apparently.” Does that quote sound familiar? How does an American political party go so far that they parrot Russian propaganda and let it swell on their news outlets? When large blocks of our population believe conspiracy theory over objective facts, maybe we’ve failed as a society. When we can’t see that dictatorship is bad, voter suppression is bad, that science is real, that public health requires cooperation and sacrifice, that education means teaching our historical faults along with our accomplishments rather than hiding them, then what took mankind thousands of years to establish (democracy) will die. We have been a beacon of democracy and opportunity for the world for over two centuries. If our democracy dies then you will usher in the decline of America and if we don’t stand for democracy, then our entire history is for naught and then we are left with the question of “Who are we”?

George Wen

Delavan, Wisconsin