Letter to the Editor: Lee and Stewart are complicit in tearing apart our founding principles

Composite image. Left photo by Rick Bowmer/AP shows Sen. Mike Lee speaking in Sandy, Utah, April 25, 2014; right photo by Jeff Richards/Cedar City News shows Rep. Chris Stewart speaking in Cedar City, Utah, Utah, Feb. 12, 2022.

OPINION — America is at a political crossroads. In one direction is the democracy our founders formed,  generations of Americans have upheld and hundreds of thousands have died to preserve. The other direction leads to chaos and autocracy.

Our democracy has had 58 uncontested presidential elections. America has withstood civil war, world wars, a cold war, foreign wars, economic downturns and a worldwide depression. All of these threats unified Americans to meet the challenges head on.

We now face an internal crisis coming from segments in our own society who want to have the ability to overturn election results. If that day happens, it will be a stake through the heart of our democracy. Our great republic and experiment in self-government would cease to exist.

As the old saying goes: “Be careful what you wish for – it may come true.” If either political party were able to gain power by overturning election results, do you think they would ever surrender power? No. On paper Vladimir Putin was “elected” by the Russian people. Do you believe he will ever surrender power to a legitimate election?

Unfortunately, Utah has two politicians: Chris Stewart and Mike Lee that are central to the effort to destroy the bedrock of our democracy by refusing to accept election results.

How can anyone trust Stewart? He has undertaken an oath twice as a military officer and a congressman to “uphold and defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Yet, he voted to decertify the results of the last presidential election. At least 63 lawsuits were filed contesting the election – they were all dismissed due to lack of evidence and as “frivolous” and without merit, many were thrown out by judges the president had himself appointed. Yet, those facts didn’t deter Stewart from voting to decertify.

Likewise, as was recently reported in the Deseret News, Lee was in the thick of trying to come up with a way to decertify the election results: “Newly revealed text messages between Sen. Mike Lee and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows show how far the Utah Republican went in exploring avenues for the Trump administration to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”

We cannot support these two conspirators. We have other options with people of character.

Erin Rider, a lifelong republican who is challenging Stewart feels the Republican Party needs to get back to its core values, including fiscal responsibility, reducing the national debt and balancing the budget. Becky Edwards who is challenging Lee has served as a respected Republican in the Utah House of Representatives for ten years. Evan McMullin is also running against Lee as an Independent. McMullin is a former undercover CIA officer and chief policy director in congress, advising both Republicans and Democrats on national security issues.

Let’s do what we can to preserve our democracy and the Republican Party by sending clean, honorable representatives to Washington, D.C., to represent Utah.

Submitted by GORDON HUNTSMAN, Kanab.

Letters to the Editor are not the product of St. George News, its editors, staff or news contributors. The matters stated and opinions given are the responsibility of the person submitting them. They do not reflect the product or opinion of St. George News and are given only light edit for technical style and formatting.

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