Letter: Sen. Mike Lee’s tricky wordplay

So Mike Lee wants to redefine America as “not a democracy.” He prefers to call it a republic. I believe what Lee and his cohorts are trying to do is to use semantics to make us believe that “republic equals good” and “democracy equals bad.” You see, this way he can convince people to believe that Republicans are the good party and Democrats are the bad guys.

Trying to instill fear and shame in certain words is a trend these days. Another word being purported to be an unacceptable method of governing is “socialist,” but if you are a working stiff like most of us, socialism by definition is empowering. Socialism: “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” Mixing a little socialism with our capitalistic society as advocated by Bernie Sanders and others is worth consideration.