Burke column reminds we get the government we deserve

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Reading Herald columnist Tom Burke’s excellent synopsis of the worst of the worst in the GOP made me wonder again why (“Should a GOP slate like ths really worry Democrats,” The Herald, March 14). Why is always the best question.

It has always seemed to me that in a genuine democracy like ours, we get the government we deserve. Jim Crow horribly oppressed our own citizens for many decades because Americans were wildly racist, especially in the South. It’s that simple and that true.

Today, we are living in a society with many so ignorant they are defined, like social philosopher Timothy Morton says, by lameness, hypocrisy and weakness. They literally think like gullible ignorant children while spouting off about love, patriotism, tradition and some sick, distorted understanding of Christianity similar to the Russian Orthodox Church, Putin’s greatest defenders.

We have these bizarre poiticians and a grossly inappropriate, amoral, incompetent expresident in Trump because people need to find some semblance of integrity. Blaming our present crisis, and it is a crisis to any intelligent sane person, on anything but the character of our electorate is hopelessly misguided and delusionally optimistic. A sickness must always be admitted and accepted before it can be healed.

Rick Walker

Snohomish