Culver City Observer -

Dear Editor,

As a lifelong Liberal Democrat and 35-year resident of Culver City, I've seen lots of changes--some good and some bad. But never yet have I witnessed the City losing its moral compass . . . until tonight, June 25, 2018.

The City Council convened to discuss and revisit the recent events whereby the four so-called "Progressive" councilmembers banded together to disallow Goran Eriksson, the one remaining moderate member, his rightful turn as vice mayor/mayor and instead handed it over to Meghan Sahli-Wells, queen-bee of the so-called Progressives and backer of the new members, in what certainly looks like a quid-pro-quo situation. While public comments on the subject were mixed, numerous Sahli-Wells supporters spoke in favor of this highly orchestrated event. To roaring applause, a substitute teacher from Culver high school stepped-up to the podium and defended the action by citing Martin Luther King and declaring "we have a movement here!"

Supporting positions were fraught with word-smithed commentary dismissing the event as being similar to past events. However, none directly addressed the elephant in the room; that this time it was done deliberately and specifically to silence the competition (although Sahli-Wells acknowledged it in her closing remarks). Far worse, however, is the fact that these people have forgotten--or perhaps have never known--what high school Civics class teaches us: That a strong and healthy democracy doesn't silence its dissenting vote, it encourages it. They've ignorantly confused democracy with fascism, the latter actually being the system that suppresses those not in-sync with "the movement."

I went into that Council meeting with high hopes that at least one of the four councilmembers would connect with the gravity and danger of allowing this situation to continue, but when none did, I left thinking, shame on all four of you. And, to the confused schoolteacher I would ask: "Whose kids are you teaching, anyway? Until you learn the difference between democracy and fascism, please don't let it be mine."

P.S. At that same meeting, Goran Eriksson spoke eloquently about democracy and inclusion, but to no avail. Oddly, ironically and perhaps not accidentally, as someone born outside of the U.S., he clearly values and defends democracy more than the other members of the Council do.

Richard David

Culver City, CA

richdavid1@aol.com