Nearly 50 years ago, my family boarded a C-130 transport plane in the middle of darkness as part of the American evacuation in the waning days of the Vietnam War. Eight days later, on April 30, Saigon fell and the Republic of Vietnam was no more.
Since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began, I have watched in horror as the brave Ukrainians have been subjected to unimaginable terror at the hands of a power-hungry oligarch. Putin’s war is not just against a people – it’s against the fundamental principles of democracy.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Our world is no stranger to power-hungry leaders who strip citizens of their rights and established governments of their standing. We escaped it in Vietnam. We are witnessing it in Ukraine. And here at home, unless we get it back on track, our own democracy risks being lost to authoritarian rule.
As a Vietnamese-American whose birth country has not had a free election since 1975, I’ve always cherished the sacred right to vote afforded to every American adult. My family, like millions of others over the years who have reached America’s shores, voted with their feet in fleeing communism and totalitarianism.
It was my pride in American democracy that inspired me to accept a Republican-appointed role on the DeKalb County Board of Elections. But in 2021, after 12-plus years proudly serving DeKalb County voters, I was terminated by my Republican Party colleagues. My refusal to lie about voters’ selection of President Biden over President Trump got me censured for “serving the interests of [myself] over all DeKalb and Georgia Republicans and the Republican Party overall.” Choosing to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law is apparently an inconvenience in today’s Republican Party.
The events that took place on January 6th were shocking to the core of any true American patriot. But the truth is the January 6th insurrection was only one part of a much larger effort to undermine democracy that began before the 2020 election and continues today. MAGA Republicans continue to spread the Big Lie to sow distrust and discredit future elections. They’re passing laws in state legislatures across the country that give Big Lie politicians final say over election results. They’re making it harder for people to vote by limiting early voting and mail-in ballots.
And they’re removing civic-minded citizens from election administration positions in favor of political hacks who are more willing to lie to get the outcome they want, the will of the voters be damned. Premised on the Big Lie, such legislation has given license to the intimidation of elections officials, poll workers and well-intentioned volunteers.
And instead of fighting to defend our democracy, GOP leadership across the land, from Kevin McCarthy to Ted Cruz to Georgia’s own David Perdue, continue to put party over country. Healthy democracies cannot survive on a diet of lies and grievances, much less cowardice from their elected leaders.
Of particular concern is the increasing influence of what I call the Trump-Putin Republicans – people who swore an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution, like Madison Cawthorn and Marjorie Taylor Greene, but refuse to denounce Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and even blame America for Putin’s aggression. Americans need to know that alternative media outlets with rogue and questionable sponsors over the years have spent billions of dollars in the disinformation campaign within our shores, with the assistance of these elected officials.
The cult of personality that has come to define the Party of Lincoln and Reagan has become a threat to American democracy, and even to rational discourse. Former President Trump has turned the Republican Party into a movement that rejects true conservatism and America’s founding ideals in favor of conspiracy theories, anti-science rhetoric and outward hostility toward the rule of law.
If there is a teaching moment from all of this, it is that we simply cannot afford to be mere spectators in the process of democracy. We must defend it.
Our nation’s challenges demand that we have a healthy and lively discourse. If we truly think that our ideas of a compassionate form of capitalism and limited government are truly better than those of our Democratic opponents, then we must use the art of friendly persuasion to achieve success -- not violence and intimidation.
As the public hearings by the bipartisan January 6th Committee near, I continue to hold out a shred of hope that the Republican Party will return to truly putting America first by extracting the malignancy brought forth by Donald Trump, draining the swamp, and restoring honor and integrity to our nation.
I believe American democracy is worth fighting for and I know I do not stand alone.
Baoky Vu is former Republican Vice Chair of the Dekalb County Board of Elections and was a Presidential Commission appointee under former President George W. Bush.
About the Author
