To the editor:

Dear Sen. Moran,

You voted to acquit Donald Trump. Kansas demographics cannot be very different from Nebraska, but Sen. Ben Sasse somehow found the voice to speak truth to his constituents. He voted to convict. News reports are that few Americans actually watched much of the riot or any of the impeachment trial. Many depended upon the Senate to listen to the evidence and make its report. And your vote says, “Nothing to see here.”

You’re up for election in two years and don’t want to be primaried by Kris Kobach or his ilk. But the problem is that if you’re willing to defend Jan. 6 to get Trumpist votes, how can I trust you to live up to truly conservative ideals? Why would I believe that you will judge matters by the standards of empiric truth and the rule of law? How can your vote be reconciled with the twined and interconnected conservative notions of individual responsibility and public duty, also known as patriotism?

By force and violence, the Confederate flag was taken – for the first time – into the Union Capitol. One hundred and fifty-six years after the end of the Civil War it was forced onto the Senate floor by people chanting for Trump. Their sole purpose, by force, was to overturn the popular vote and put their candidate into the White House. Precisely when did the party of Abraham Lincoln finally morph into the party of Jefferson Davis? Would Feb. 13, 2021, be a good date to celebrate?

William Skepnek,

Lawrence