Doing nothing harms democracy

To the editor:

Today, May 28, 2021, the United States Senate drove yet another nail into the coffin holding the remains of America’s Democratic Republic.

Seized in the jaws of political expediency and gripped by a craven abdication of truth, or the fear thereof, the Senate, once again, put party politics above the defense of the Constitution it is sworn to protect and uphold over enemies both foreign and domestic.

David French, who is a writer for the National Review, said in an article in Time Magazine: “The nation that hates, too often ignores the nation that mourns.”

I think today, perhaps, we might mourn.

Edmund Burke, one of the oft-quoted philosophers and political thinkers of the 18th century said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for a few good men to do nothing.”

Today’s Senate vote is exemplary of Mr. Burke’s observation. I would amend Burke’s quotation thusly: “The only thing necessary for the death of democracy is for a few good men and women to do nothing.”

Today, a few good men and women, chose to do, nothing.

Michael S. Kinser

Portland