By Diana Vance
Monroe
As an American I can no longer be silent. I am doing what I hope every American will do and that is to ask Merrick Garland, Attorney General at the Justice Department, Washington DC, to gather all the evidence against Donald J. Trump, our former president, and prosecute him for trying to overthrow the government of the United States of America on January 6, 2021.
The evidence against him is piling up by the minute. I have read opinions from two constitutional professors who say in essence he is guilty. As an American citizen I want Donald J. Trump, who apparently spent his entire time as president planning this attack on our government in the hopes he will rule again, to be prosecuted as a traitor to the Constitution and the people in this country and democracy itself.
For me the thought of losing democracy was like a death sentence. Gone would be my freedoms and my rights. I thought of my grandson, serving in the military, and would take an oath to serve a country ruled by a despot. I haven’t talked with him as yet. He just returned from serving overseas.
I also think of the five policemen who died as a result of the attack on the Capitol and the staff members who were so brave and one of them grabbed the papers containing the Electoral College votes to protect them. They deserve a better boss than loser and liar Donald Trump.
As for Donald Trump’s supporters, I think their punishment is too lean. Trying to overthrow the government in our nation is an attempt to fatally annihilate our democracy. That is the reason to convict Donald Trump and be tough on anyone who participated.
As I see it, Donald J. Trump is a traitor to this nation and our Constitution and deserves the stated punishment for a traitor. According to the Constitution that is death. That will be the deterrent necessary for those who want to follow him.
It is also for the world to see that we punish traitors according to the Constitution. Our Founders’ obviously believed democracy is priceless and the punishment for someone who tried to overthrow it should be severe.
As a former American History teacher, I think civics should be taught again in all public and private schools. Jon Meacham’s book “The Soul of America” also needs to be explored. In it he helps us understand we have had critical moments in our history when we overcame division and fear. He writes that Americans need to reach inside for their “better angels” and begin to appreciate once more that we have a heart, a core, a soul and an essence of what it means to have faith in our nation.
All we have to do is look inside our souls and see once again we have these strengths and beliefs in a government where democracy is the best way to govern our country.
