Voters must rebuke those who choose ambition over human decency

Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker, center, and Nikki Haley, right, speak with the media Sept. 9 in Norcross, Ga. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

Regarding the Oct. 9 news article “2 Republican senators to rally in Ga. for Walker after abortion claims”:

When the quest for power and allegiance to a former president make GOP voters turn a blind eye to domestic violence and serial lying, constituents become part of the disease that sickens the United States’ body politic. Before Donald Trump, Republicans spent decades proclaiming character mattered, until they saw mendacity could win the White House and hold a Senate majority.

When a political party refuses to speak truth to power, when its members spew bigotry and antisemitism without reproach and stay silent as peers invoke rhetoric from history’s most shameful chapters, voters must rebuke at the ballot box those who choose ambition over human decency. I grew up in suburban Philadelphia. In the 1970s, conservatives, moderates and ticket splitters huddled together under a big tent. And no one had to swallow their conscience to support Republican candidates on Election Day. The GOP has become a haven for current and aspiring politicians promoting conspiracy theories and feasting on grievance. Some even refuse to tell the emperor he forgot his clothes and lost the 2020 election.

Our nation has been here before. At the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, Joseph Welch fatally punctured Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s red scare smears by simply asking, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” American democracy will require the same on Nov. 8.

Maryellen Donnellan, Falls Church