“We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately.” That quote, often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, is so important, now more than ever. Both Democrats and Republicans have extremists in their parties. One of those, I believe, is Donald Trump. He and his allies continue to push these lies of election fraud. The problem is that people believe this when there is no proven evidence, and this false claim is what led up to the events of January 6, 2021. A twice- impeached, former president will not accept that he lost, while dragging down the country with him. Then-U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, Ivanka Trump, then-Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs, and others all told Donald Trump the election was not stolen, and he still would not believe them.
All that is just about January 6. What about the more than 300 mass shootings we’ve had so far in 2022? Or the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade? Or inflation? I don’t blame the people of this country for starting to lose hope in the government, but we must recognize that if we don’t do anything now we may lose our country forever. We must rally together and work with both parties. We have to fight for what we believe in, and the best way to do that is to call your senators, representatives and mayors, but most importantly to vote. Democracy is never guaranteed. We have to fight for it. There is not a single thing we can’t do if we do it together. The time is now.
Taliek Lopez-DuBoff, Beaverton
