To the editor:
I am writing to tell the voters of Lysander to get out and vote. While some may think this is a minor election and not important, every election is important. Vote Democratic for every office, up and down the ballot, every time. This year, vote for Democrats Kevin Rode and Will Stowell for Lysander Town Board and Democrat Justin Neal for Onondaga County Legislature. It’s time to break the Republican stranglehold on our town and our county.
I have serious concerns about Republican candidates currently serving on the Lysander Town Board, one of whom is running for re-election this year.
Here are the problems:
One: We have elected officials in the Town of Lysander who are either a) unsure of who won the 2020 presidential election, or b) and most likely, they are just too afraid of their voters to tell them the truth.
We constantly hear that elected R officials privately say they know there was no fraud, but they can’t say it publicly because they don’t want to alienate their R voters. That’s conventional wisdom. We know that’s why they do it. The question is: “Why don’t they have the moral character to speak the truth?” Republicans could have shut down the Trump train before it got going if they had spoken truth in the beginning, after Trump alleged that the Iowa caucus was fraudulent and there was no way Ted Cruz had beat him. But they didn’t do it. They kept feeding the monster until he almost destroyed our democracy. Why don’t they have the moral courage to tell the truth? Is losing their precious election that important that they would rather lie to their constituents so they can appease them and keep winning?
Two: Lysander is blue. Our community voted for Biden in 2020 and Clinton in 2016. Yet our town board is controlled by Republicans. Onondaga County is blue and went for Biden in 2020 and Clinton in 2016, yet our county legislature is controlled by Republicans. Why is this? How can a blue town and a blue county be dominated by red officials?
Because Rs get out and vote every time. They fall in line and vote for whoever the Rs put up. But most people don’t get out and vote in what they consider “less important” elections. I’m writing to tell you Every. Election. Is. Important.
Republicans have succeeded in gerrymandering our county and states across the country by taking over from the ground up. For decades, they infiltrated the school boards, the village boards, town boards, county government, state government, until now when they are granting themselves the right to overturn elections in which they don’t like the outcome. Unless those who don’t support the Republican agenda get to the polls and vote in every election, a shrinking minority will further entrench itself and the growing majority will be rendered voiceless. Apathy and resignation are our greatest enemies.
Vote like your very life depends on it. Because it does.
