What’s patriotic?

To the editor:

I read the letter to the editor from Rose Davidson last week, and it sparked a few questions.

I know Rose from some stage productions she performed in while I was in charge of the stage lighting back in the ’90s. I am going to assume that Rose and the Patriots for Liberty are supporters of former President Trump and his backers in the Republican Party.

I am curious to know what the feeling is about events that occurred Jan. 6 in our nation’s Capitol. This week, when Donald Trump was asked about the chant, “Hang Mike Pence,” that was heard from the crowd at the capitol Jan. 6, he said that it was just “common sense” and justifiable to be angry at Pence for not overturning the 2020 election result.

I would like to know how that fits with Rose’s definition of U.S. patriotism as “protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institutions.”

What I saw on Jan. 6 was the antithesis of patriotism, a violent attack on our elected representatives to undermine the election process that is, at its core, a foundation of our democracy and our country.

Dianne Novak, another member of the Patriots for Liberty, went to Marion County Commission last week to complain about possible election fraud in Marion County, the need to hand-count ballots, and the hacking of elections by malicious software.

Is this another tenet of the Patriots for Liberty, to sow seeds of distrust in the most local of election processes? Is this the Patriots for Liberty’s way of “educating people about subjects that endanger our liberty”?

Harry E. Bennett
Madison, Wisconsin