While reading the story about the Republican gathering of the lunatic fringe in Colorado Springs, I had to fight off the tears of laughter as each speaker floundered in their primordial ooze of sedition. Each speaker was genuflecting to anyone willing to embrace The Big Lie. And, BTW, 60 jurists rejected Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell because they had no evidence of voter fraud.

The Republican Party – taken over by the lunatic fringe – believes in autocratic rule, not for the sake of democracy, but in defiance of it. The Heritage Foundation's mission statement is founded on “one-party rule in perpetuity,” so said their CEO on NPR's Morning Edition with Steve Inskeep.

This has been the party’s trend-line since Newt Gingrich shut down the government in 1995 in a fit of pique, prompting the NYC shock jock Don Imus to accurately describe the Republican Party’s new mantra: “What’s the point of having power if you can’t abuse it?”

We must also remember the words from the eminent presidential historian, Michael Beschloss, who warned, “If Trump is re-elected, our democracy will die within a year.” While We the People dodged that bullet on Nov. 3, 2020, the Colorado Republican assembly in Colorado Springs should be a reminder that our democracy is on life support.

Thus, we have a clear choice between saving our democracy, or giving it up to charlatans and corruption mirroring the previous administration. Do not give in to white nationalism, and the strategy of fear.

David Ohman

Durango