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To the Editor,

In response to the Jan. 23 letter to the editor and Mr. Culpepper’s article, I will be as brief as a long-winded person can be. I will preface my opinions with this: For the last four-and-a-half years, I have read, listened to and watched people I know and people in powerful positions rail against a sitting president. I did this mostly quietly because I was under the impression that in America, dissent is a God-given, protected right under the constitution.

To Mr. Peel, I ready your letter and decided that you were either brilliantly sarcastic in your writing to attack Rep. Keith Kidwell and Congressman Murphy along with other national Republican leaders; or you have no clue as to the way the Constitution can be amended and the thought of federal control of elections and schools is absolutely an essential part of all totalitarian regimes and abhorrent to all freedom-loving people. I’m going with brilliant sarcasm because I was taught not to argue with fools. I would think that all Americans would want to ensure our elections are honest regardless of the outcome. If the outcome of the November election was reversed, do you think the 25,000 National Guard troops may have been a little busier on Jan. 20? Based on last summer and the nonsense during and after the 2017 inauguration, I’m guessing those men and women would have had their hands full.

To Mr. Culpepper: “Millions of violent and unhinged insurrectionists …” Painting with a pretty broad brush there, don’t you think? If you really want to lump the good, bad and ugly into the lost category why not lump all 74 million-plus voters in and be done with it? Attacking Christians of any denomination is always easy; they turn the other cheek, easy targets. Let’s drop the religious shroud and talk straight politics for one paragraph.

Unity will require compromise from both sides. Compliance from all, to whoever is in charge is a recipe for disaster. When dissent is considered hate speech and no court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, heard any evidence regarding voting irregularities, the country has a problem. By not at least hearing the argument anywhere, 36 million to 75 million people are left not knowing if something really bad happened. Speaking for myself, I don’t care who won the presidency last November. I want to know why state laws in multiple states including North Carolina were changed prior to the election by governors, secretaries of state and, even worse, unelected election officials, That, sir, is very unconstitutional. Read it while we still can.

Don DiStefano

Blounts Creek