Sen. Dan Sullivan recently penned a lengthy commentary in the Anchorage Daily News (Jan. 9) reviewing the political events of the past year without once mentioning Donald Trump’s mob ransacking the Capitol or the Republican Party’s embrace of the “Big Lie” that the presidential election was stolen.
While thumping on the perennial “federal overreach” drum, Sen. Sullivan cynically ignored the post-democratic authoritarianism now ascendent in his party. Hannah Arendt wrote in “The Origins of Totalitarianism” in 1951 that, “A mixture of gullibility and cynicism is prevalent in all ranks of totalitarian movements, and the higher the rank, the more cynicism weights down gullibility.” At a time when our country needs leaders to stand up for democracy and speak the truth to the gullible, we sadly only have cynical silence from Dan Sullivan.
— Neil O’Donnell
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.