We all know what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, despite the endless efforts of the right-wing propaganda machine to deny what we saw with our own eyes. And we all know who was responsible for spurring on the attempt to subvert democracy by overturning a free and fair election.

While the majority of politicians and media in this country continue to “tsk tsk” and wring their hands about the “unthinkable” ramifications of installing a madman back in the White House, as if there’s nothing any of us can do about it, Shenna Bellows has stood up and done something about it. She deserves to be applauded as a patriot, not vilified. (“Maine secretary of state bars Donald Trump from state’s presidential primary ballot,” Dec. 28)

It’s fascinating that many of the same constitution worshipers who want to take the broadest possible interpretation of the Second Amendment (which begins, by the way, with the words “a well-regulated militia”) so as to justify the periodic slaughter of innocent citizens, suddenly want to hem and haw about the intent of the 14th Amendment, which quite clearly disqualifies insurrectionists from holding public office.

The real issue here is not Bellows’ decision but the fact that many of our representatives in Maine and Washington are so eager to provide a lying con man, who has made no bones about his plans to begin dismantling democracy from Day One of a potential presidency, an unobstructed path to an elected office for which he has proven himself legally and morally unfit and unqualified.

Sen. Susan Collins says Bellows’ decision “would deny thousands of Mainers the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice.” Not so, Susan; voters are always free to write in the “candidate of their choice.”