It’s time to lower the temperature

We are in the midst of a very significant time in our country's history and I worry our democracy will not survive.

I worry we may become a fascist state. I worry we may return to expanded Jim Crow laws where women and all minorities will be relegated to a 'less than” state.

We have seen a journalist killed, and people our current President speaks poorly of sent pipe bombs. A shooter who wanted to kill blacks in their Baptist church had to settle for mowing down two black people at a grocery store, and 11 Jews were shot and killed as they gathered in their synagogue.

I believe Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley and Rep. Dave Loebsack should connect the dots and use their positions of power to help. They must speak up, speak out, call on our President to stop radicalizing his supporters. Someone (or some group, like our Legislators) needs to begin to shift the pervasive mood of our country. Maybe then, we can have the conversations we need to move forward.

If our elected officials ignore this time in our history and look the other way, then they are complicit in the hate crimes and terror that I'm afraid will continue. I urge our legislators to join with colleagues from both parties to begin to shift our journey to a better, more productive and loving path.

Stephanie Manning

Iowa City

' Editor's Note:

Due to an abundance of election-related community letters and limited newspaper space, some are being published only online in an effort to include as many voices as possible.