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To the editor:

Last week I wrote about the danger of believing people who demonize others rather than inspire unity and cooperation. We have been severely divided as a nation. Sadly, too many of our nation’s people no longer believe verifiable facts, because they have accepted the false version of reality and conspiracy theories being used to manipulate us to vote against our own best interests. For instance, a well-meaning Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury,  travelled to DC in December 2016 with weapons to protect non-existent children he was told by propagandists were being exploited in the non-existent basement of a pizza restaurant.

People who wanted to demonize Hillary Clinton started this lie, and others. The popular chant and sentiment “Lock Her Up” was based upon the false accusations against Clinton. If in fact, Clinton had broken any laws, there would have been legal proceedings against candidate Clinton under the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice and with the Republican controlled Congress, but there was absolutely no evidence she violated the law. Unfortunately, repeated lies worked to divide and conquer the American people, proving Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels who said, “if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth.”

We the People must hold the liars accountable. Edgar Maddison Welch was sentenced to 4 years for shooting inside the pizza restaurant because he believed a lie. We must question every upsetting story we are told to verify the facts before allowing our emotions to compel us into action against our own interests. My rule of thumb is to seriously question any story that makes me angry or causes me to feel afraid. Devious people who want to manipulate well meaning patriots and people of faith, intentionally trigger emotions to upset us and make us less rational.

As a person of faith, I take great comfort from knowing that there is a higher power who has everything under control, and I do not have to be a self-appointed deputy, jailor, judge, jury or executioner. I trust that the truth shall set us free. John Chapter 8, verses 31 -45 in the New Testament of the Bible describe the efforts by Jesus to convince his fellow Jews that he was telling the truth, but they refused to hear him and chose instead to end his life.

For these reasons, I ask you to watch the US House Committee hearings investigating the events leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021 being broadcast nationally.  Those hearings are exposing the truth that all Americans need to know.  These hearings are not a “sham;”that is just one more lie designed to manipulate the public to avoid learning the facts.  The truth will set us free.

It hurts when we trust someone and they lie to us. It hurts when we realize that we have been manipulated and misled. That pain will be small in comparison to the pain you will feel if you continue to believe lies and take actions that will actually destroy the foundation upon which this nation was built. Our nation was built upon a vision of democracy with the values of freedom, justice, and the pursuit of happiness for all.  The founders did not want another all-powerful ruler, dictating what was expected and allowed for the masses.  The founders wanted We the People to establish a system of policies, laws and taxes to allow our country to grow stronger, with human and civil rights.  Manipulators want to be king, and that is frankly, un-American.

Bonnie D. Clark

Harmony