To the editor:

Now that Donald Trump has been reelected over the protests of many Americans who say no former president with pending or unresolved felony charges against him should be allowed to serve a second term, all Americans should reflect on the history of our nation and ask whether the current turn of events is an erosion of a once pristine democracy or only the latest installment in a long history of dubious events and the obvious denial of legal and human rights of segments of its population.

Human slavery was an acceptable cultural phenomenon until the Civil War supposedly ended it in 1865. However, the practice of slavery and human trafficking exists today.

Women were not allowed to vote in American elections until 1920. And the recent election makes us all aware America has never had a female president. Native Americans did not win the right to vote until 1948. They did not have full voting rights until 1968. Three states, including Kansas, currently have laws stating that homosexuals are criminals. Has America ever been a true democracy with equal rights for all?

Charles Gilmore,

Lawrence