Even though I don’t often agree with Jim Fossel, I usually find his columns to be articulate, but his commentary on Aug. 25 stooped to a low level (“Democratic Party not living up to its name”). The Republicans are trying desperately to recover from Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, lashing out in every way they can to deflect attention on their own egregious record of the past 40-plus years. Meanwhile the Harris/Walz ticket works toward the preservation of democracy and the return of personal freedoms stripped by Trump, et al. Fossel has joined the fracas, and it isn’t pretty.

Fossel defines Democrats’ commitment to “educating the public and protecting the constitutional rights of citizens” as “Orwellian newspeak.” He admits that attempts to get Cornel West on the ballot were “shady,” but claims Democrats “limit democracy” when he and other third-party candidates do not meet criteria to be on the ballot. RFK Jr.’s failure to disclose his actual permanent residence removes him from the ballot; no nefarious deeds by Democrats were undertaken. Only in many Republicans’ minds can Democrats’ drive to preserve democracy be deemed “shady.”

Conservative former U.S. circuit judge J. Michael Luttig has endorsed Harris and in so doing stated, “In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own, but I am indifferent in this election on any issues other than America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, as I believe all Americans should be.” There are many other Republicans doing the same, having seen the threat inherent in Trump, Project 2025, and the personal freedoms being chipped away by the archconservative SCOTUS. This is not a “simple contest between different ideologies.”

It is a battle for the good of this country.

Robin Johnson

Waterville