Allan Gilmour’s letter published Sunday struck home in several ways just as Steven Roberts column “Voting Rights is job one” strikes a major concern.

Will the U.S. democratic republic be “losted”? Voting rights are being most seriously threatened as most states are enacting laws to further curtail your right to vote and the assurance of fair elections. A democracy is government by the people, for the people and of the people. While the U.S. democracy is not a perfect one, we do not want it to be overthrown by autocracy, fascism, etc. The Jan. 6 violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was a failed coup attempt that attempted to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power after a fair democratic election.

While there remains too many people who still believe the big lie of fraud and that the former guy twice impeached had the 2020 election stolen from him, numerous courts and processes found no evidence of fraud. The election was fair and true. Those many states who are enacting laws with excessive voter suppression are acting on those lies there was fraud in hopes of denying the popular vote that might not be in their favor.

Steven Roberts is correct that voting rights must be the top priority. If those prohibitive laws are allowed to live, the U.S. democracy will most probably be “losted,” as Gilmour said. The  voting rights act was gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court years ago, enabling racism, voter suppression, etc. to thrive and bring us to this point where our democracy is on the brink of disaster.

Restoring and maintaining voting rights for all people must be the major goal for all of us if our country is to survive, maintain its democratic republic and work toward overcoming its problems to be a more perfect union. Does anyone teach and learn civics in school anymore or is that just another of the “losted” things?

— Pat Bullard
China Grove