Dictatorship? 

Apparently not all former Army Lt. Colonels in military intelligence are using their intelligence or experience to discriminate between propaganda, conspiracy theories, their own political bias, and objective reality. I'm afraid the "A grave threat to the Republic" (Dec. 21) may be the author himself, Al Fonzi.

Al Fonzi's latest rant is a compilation of Fox "News" and "alternate facts" designed to distract the faithful from the growing mountain of evidence that the Russians not only invaded our social media to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election but to skew public attitudes in favor of their preferred candidate, Donald Trump. Why? In order to enable the removal of painful economic sanctions levied against Russia by Congress. Not surprisingly, these sanctions, though deserved and prescribed, have not been supported by this administration.

Mr. Mueller, the special counsel appointed to lead the investigation, is a much-respected public servant, a Republican appointed by Republicans, who is renowned for his integrity. Unfortunately for politicians expecting him to toe the line and protect those in power from implications of culpability, he has been thorough and scrupulously impartial. However, as those close to Trump have been discovered to be evasive and dishonest about their connections to Russians interested in tipping the election to now-President Trump (apparently for help in removing Obama's sanctions against Russia), the investigation gets closer to Trump's inner circle and the White House itself. As a result, Mr. Mueller and our entire intelligence service has been the target of character assassination. Fox News and other alt-right propaganda machines make false accusations of an alleged "conspiracy" "by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies ... to undermine and overthrow a duly elected president," with the purpose of discrediting any factual findings of Mueller's investigation, and Mr. Fonzi gleefully passes these accusations along as "truth."

If those suspected are indeed innocent, why not let the investigation play out and reveal the facts found? Only fear of the outcome could explain the coordinated effort to discredit the investigators of the presumed offense even before the findings are revealed to the public.

What Mr. Fonzi should be concerned with is the inability of this Congress and the president's advisors to stop his uncontrolled, autocratic messages and actions before he destroys faith in our democratic republic by destroying confidence in the tenets of our Constitution: A free press, an impartial judiciary, and the citizens' right to speak truth to power without fear of repression.

How well has our current majority done in its obligation of oversight? On Dec. 21, I nearly retched when our vice president and GOP congressmen, in a televised celebration of the passage of the "tax reform" bill, took turns lavishing praise on a scowling President Trump, his arms crossed, with a (required?) fawning tribute to their "dear leader" for his "inspired leadership." Can you recognize a dictatorship when you see one, Mr. Fonzi?

There are many of us familiar with WWII and Orwell's 1984 who can. Δ

Istar Holliday writes from Arroyo Grande. We might publish your opinions, too, if you email them to [email protected].