Sunday, March 26, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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The leading presidential candidates from the Republican Party today are former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The leading media voice for Republicans is Tucker Carlson. Republican voters see them as “strong men” because they attack their political opponents rather than negotiating and compromising with them.
Strongmen leaders, like those in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, don’t negotiate and compromise with their opponents, either. They use government power to jail and kill their political opponents; they use government power to oppress the rights of racial, religious and cultural minorities; they are “anti-woke.” That form of government is not democracy, it is autocracy.
America fought two world wars to defeat fascism around the globe. We can’t surrender our freedom and liberty by voting autocracy into power. We don’t want to turn America into China, Russia, Iran or North Korea by voting “strong men” into power.
I disagreed with Ronald Reagan on nearly everything except for his belief that America is the “shining city on a hill” where freedom and liberty must be defended. Where are all those Reagan Republicans today?
