To the editor:

I recalled a post-Thanksgiving dinner conversation with relations who share a different set of political views when reading your article dealing with the new KU center that looks at the future of democracy (“Heading for a Backslide?” Dec. 4). A well-informed electorate remains a central tenet of a functioning democracy, and I hope this new center will figure out a way to teach Americans how to defend themselves from being bombarded 24/7 by lies, half-truths and crass appeals to emotion.

I was heartened by the center’s director, who “stressed that the center is nonpartisan … and won’t shy away from critically examining evidence that points to Trump as a weakening force in democracy.” But here’s the rub: What if the proponents on the other side are plugged into other sources of “evidence”? Indeed, my Thanksgiving dinner relations were not only certain that Trump had won the 2020 presidency, but that the events of Jan. 6, 2021, were orchestrated by his enemies. They were also thrilled with his current Cabinet nominees.

If this is the info-land where more than half of the American electorate lives, I totally agree with the center’s director who posited that the next four years are “going to be messy.”

Ray Finch,

Lawrence