To the Journal editor:

I applaud your many efforts on behalf of the preservation of Lake Superior’s health, the economic benefits of a new lock, and your evident concern for our veterans. But these efforts ignore the elephant in the room. As the events of this past weekend make inarguably evident, we have a president bent on destroying — a term I do not use lightly — all that makes our democracy function.

His choices for important government positions are governed more by loyalty rather than relevant experience. His actions from the beginning have challenged the independence of institutions essential to a viable democracy, the press most venomously and now the FBI.

His decisions have harmed our relationship with allies while appearing to support dictators around the world. And all are executed with blatant disregard for the norms of civility and respect. These actions are well documented. You cannot fail to be aware of them.

But what you and your party seem to overlook is the very real fear we in your district are experiencing. We assume members of the House are not stupid. You know where the Trump presidency is headed. You know it bodes ill for the survival of our democracy. So why does no one challenge Trump’s egregious attacks on the press, the obvious unfitness of his cabinet appointments, his blatant attempt to derail the Mueller investigation, his crude and demeaning smears against everyone from Hillary Clinton to Robert Mueller?

We sent you to Washington to uphold the Constitution, to be the legally designated check on the presidency. Certainly during the Obama administration, Republicans left no stone unturned in their investigations of every perceived infraction. Why now the lack of oversight? Why now the lack of condemnation? Why now the craven failure to speak up for our democratic values?

If the answer is you are looking to November 2018 and reelection, please know we are too and we are terrified. If you and the House cannot stand firm against an autocratic president and his destructive administration, please know we will.

Frances O’Neill

Gwinn