Dear Editor: Encouraged by the outcome of the midterm elections

Dear Editor,

I am encouraged by the outcome of the midterm elections. Not because all the candidates and ballot issues I voted for succeeded, but because winners and losers alike were, for the most part, gracious and accepted the will of the people. Civility may be making a comeback in politics. In my opinion, Americans chose democracy over autocracy in this election.

So, why did a forecasted red wave turn into a red tide? Simply look at candidate quality. Swing voters certainly looked at candidate quality. They may have viewed Democrats as out of touch, and election deniers as out of their minds, and were forced to make an unsavory choice to prevent a further slide into autocracy.

Make no mistake, the slide toward autocracy may have lost momentum, but we are still inching closer to despotism. So how do we stop the slide? One option is to extinguish election denial and the worst parts of Trumpism from politics. It is time folks. It is time to move on for the good of our democratic republic. It is time to embrace Democracy.

Sincerely,

Don Lepinsky

Whitehall, Montana