DEAR EDITOR:

You take your opponent’s biggest strength and turn it into a liability.

John Kerry served honorably. In Vietnam. The Republicans, with their billionaires and media control, portrayed him as someone who lied about his service. They then portrayed a guy who literally went AWOL while serving in a unit that was designed to keep its members stateside as a hero. The draft ended and many learned what a patriot was.

Diversity was strength. All cultures were represented. All economic groups were represented. We learned so much from each other. They learned that with all of our differences, we really did have much more in common than we would have thought had we never met.

Diversity IS the strength of our country. Without diversity, we become stagnant. A minority of our population desires us to remain stagnant, thinking only of themselves. These people are willing to destroy our country, our planet. It doesn’t matter how morbidly rich they are. They are insane. If there’s a future, people will look back and ask the same question we asked about Germany in the 1930s. How did an educated country allow itself to be taken over by insane racists?

It’s well past time for the Democratic Party to use language that matches the moment. Shame, while not as powerful as fear, is still powerful. It’s well past time to shame the Republicans for being the cowards that they are. We are being destroyed, and too many in our party act as if being bipartisan — with the people who are destroying our democracy — is something special.

BETTS ADGATE

Cortland