Would we unite together? Here? Today?

The Spokane Spokesman-Review ran a series about the perilous journey of former EWU coach Chris Hansen and his family escaping Ukraine under Russian bombardment.

In an early "what if" the writer envisioned Putin's murderous advance as besieging, instead, Spokane's South Hill, Interstate 90, Division Street, Riverfront Park — and visualized local citizens confronting Putin's tanks in their tracks, as in Ukraine. Sacrificing themselves in defense of their families, their city, their country. Had Axis paratroopers dropped from the skies over Spokane or North Idaho in, say, early 1942 when America was losing more than winning, united U.S. citizens of every creed, color and political bent would have joined together to protect our democracy. But today?

In the world's most admired democracy, we have some 23 million Americans who advocate violence over law and civility if violence will return a maniacal misanthrope to the American presidency. We have a once-honorable Republican party, now morphed into fear-driven saboteurs (Idaho's two super-silent U.S. senators among them) backing a draft-dodging con man who has called American servicemen and women killed in combat "suckers and losers." (How can veterans, including this vet — U.S. Air Force, Korean War — endorse such a villain?) More currently, as Russian guns, bombers and tanks pulverize Ukrainian families, this American con artist, certainly one of this planet's most vile occupants, has praised Putin as "really smart" and "a genius."

How in hell can anyone with a conscience, compassion and love of country continue to prop up this hate-mongering predator? How can local and Boise-based legislators who rant against public education, science, libraries, government-funded health care or any other federal interference in our lives (except social security, government pensions, etc.), how can they applaud "vigilante justice" and scowling civilians with assault rifles, pistols and home-made ghost guns strutting around drug stores, grocery stores, gas stations, parks, banks — how can these voters and elected politicos look in the mirror without wondering how and when they turned so treacherously against their United States?

Back in the day when militias weren't mostly gangs of unlettered, testosterone-burdened social failures but actual patriots needed to fight the British, Ben Franklin was said to have said, "If we don't hang together we shall all hang separately." If missile-firing Russian tanks, after ferocious sea battles were somehow unloaded in Seattle, San Francisco, L.A. and San Diego and blasted and slaughtered their way to the outskirts of Sandpoint, as they rumbled toward us from Spokane on highways 200 and 95 and came clanking across the Long Bridge, would we hang together and take them on as we would have in 1942? As in Ukraine?

TIM H. HENNEY

Sandpoint