X

Opinion: Offended by barely concealed xenophobia, Potsdam resident says

Posted 9/13/18

To the Editor: The Letter to the Editor “Use Voting to Get Country Out of Crisis” which appeared in the Sept. 5-11 issue of North Country This Week presents a belief in the consummate evil of a …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Opinion: Offended by barely concealed xenophobia, Potsdam resident says

Posted

To the Editor:

The Letter to the Editor “Use Voting to Get Country Out of Crisis” which appeared in the Sept. 5-11 issue of North Country This Week presents a belief in the consummate evil of a large part of the voting body of our country.

For many, Rudy Gulianni’s recent statement “Truth isn’t truth,” was shocking. Maybe it’s more accurate than we think. As Harry Nilsson once put it, “The thing is, you see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear.”

Obviously, the author has chosen to see the bogeyman of bogeymen personified in many wonderful, thoughtful, law-abiding, tax-paying, family-raising, regular folk and community members and just maybe, some of his neighbors, who happen to exercise the right we all need to exercise, which is to vote. It’s just that some of us may have divergent viewpoints and vote Democratic.

What was disturbing about the letter is that there are many unsubstantiated statements which could easily characterize numerous policies being enacted by the current administration: attempted suppression of the press; curtailing of voting rights through gerrymandering and other voter suppression tactics; the packing of the courts by activist judges in nearly unprecedented numbers; the cultural and political assault on black and brown peoples and other groups who may not fit the author’s definition of “real Americans;” numerous examples of the misuse of taxpayer funds; abuse of the public trust and the very real possibility of the selling out our country to a hostile nation.

I fully recognize that many of these offenses are not the sole purview of one party or the other, but to characterize them as purely Democrat, or for that matter, Republican is offensive.

As a Democrat, I care deeply about the future of our country. As a Democrat and son of a Mexican immigrant, I am offended by the characterization of my family as “animals” and “rapists” by our president, a man who ostensibly was elected to uphold the constitution and the rights of all Americans.

As a Democrat I am offended by the comment that the “worst Republican is better that any Democrat.” The author doesn’t know me from Adam and has no idea what or who I am or how I contribute to our community. As a Democrat, who believes in the wonder of possibility for all those who make up our nation, I am offended by the author’s barely concealed xenophobia and racism. As a Democrat, I vote.

Don Borsh

Potsdam