Time to move past the election and come together

To the Editor;

I served in the United States diplomatic service for 30 years, including five years in the Iraq war where I worked alongside military colleagues under our American flag as we struggled to stabilize Iraq and stop terrorism. Like millions of other Americans, I was outraged by the seizure and looting of the Capitol on Jan. 6. We shouldn’t encourage anyone to repeat that. Those who assert the 2020 election was tainted or illegitimate are, whether they intend to do so or not, encouraging extremists in our own country. Dozens of judges, including the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court, ruled the Republican legal teams brought no evidence to show that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

I was, therefore, surprised that the Republican Party committee in Dover-Foxcroft has asked the selectmen for permission on Inauguration Day to fly Trump flags in the town’s flag holders normally reserved for the American flag for occasions such as Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Trump supporters often still post Trump signs and flags on their private property. That is certainly their right. However, using a town’s public assets to promote an individual candidate, whether Republican or Democrat, is exceptionally improper as a matter of principle. Moreover, the events of Jan. 6 should remind us of the risks of not accepting the results of a completed democratic process. It’s time to move on past the election and come together again as a nation and a people around our core democratic principles.

Ambassador (Ret.) Robert Ford

Beaver Cove