Dear Representative Massie:
As a constituent of Kentucky’s 4th District, I am writing to voice my concern to you and my fellow constituents, the people whom you represent.
Your current political ad features you at home on a tractor, handling firearms and standing next to President Trump suited up for your work in Washington. The rhetoric in your ad clearly mimics that of our president, an explicit resolve on your part to divide us rather than unite us.
The narrative implies that there are only two groups of people in our district: the first group includes you, President Trump and evidently those amorphous constituents whom I assume you are relying on for their vote. The second group, another collection of amorphous constituents, you identify as “radical liberals.” This group, or so your commercial implies, is apparently bent upon tyranny and battling your group in a kind of coup d’etat, intent on taking away your “Constitutional” and “God-given” rights.
To be clear, Representative Massie, in Kentucky and in every state in our union, for that matter, we have a diverse people from many walks of life who do not fit into either of your groups. In other words, our district has people from the far right to the far left and everything in between. We have the formally educated, the self-educated and the uneducated. We have the affluent, the middle class and the poor. We have the community-minded, the family-oriented, and the self-serving. We have the straight, the bisexual, and the gay. We have the black, the brown, and the white.
Instead of working to unite us in our diversity, your rhetoric implies that you will labor to divide us in our sameness — Kentuckians with a shared destiny.
We have a common interest in the success of our state—in our education system, in our healthcare system, and in bringing jobs and a better lifestyle to all of us.
Instead of compromise, Mr. Massie, you appear intent on discord.
Please try to keep in mind that you were elected to serve all the people in our district. Indeed, you work for even those people who will never vote for you. Our democracy is a representative government, and, as such, you represent all of us.
Although our American ideals appear to have gone by the wayside as of late, we at least profess to cherish concepts such as “We the People;” our Second and First Amendment rights — including not only the right to bear arms but also the right to assemble and to worship freely; the idea that all men and women are created equal; the rule of law; and among many others, our ability to freely and fairly exercise our right to vote—a hallmark of our democracy.
One parting thought: In light of the threat of tyranny we face as Americans today, it takes little reflection on the part of an informed voter to access from whence that threat arises.
Consider the erosion of our democracy in the past three and a half years — we have been downgraded to the category of “flawed democracy” by The Economist. Think about the fact that Trump relished the idea of releasing the military on American citizens to suppress the recent rebellions over George Floyd’s death. Reflect on the incident in Lafayette Square when his administration went so far as to release chemical agents, rubber bullets, and police on horseback into a crowd of peaceful protesters.
Given your enthusiastic embrace of Donald Trump, your professed “battle” against tyranny rings all the more hollow.
Sincerely,
Christina Conover
Covington