Don’t dismiss constituents

“We have to stop dismissing other people because they don’t agree with us,” Sue Lani Madsen quotes NAACP chapter president Phillip Tyler as saying during a recent gathering (March 4 column). These are good words. Let’s all try to live by them.

In her column, Madsen goes on to deride the Indivisible movement as being “specifically about disruption” and characterizes Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ constituents as “protesters.”

The Indivisible Guide simply points out that our elected representatives are supposed to represent all of us; if we don’t speak up, they can’t. We would all like a privileged spot at a “Coffee with Cathy,” but there are literally thousands of us who need to be heard. So we must attend town halls, make phone calls, write letters and seek media coverage in order to be represented. This is democracy in action.

If Madsen wishes dialogue, she should not start out by dismissing fellow citizens.

Jerry LeClaire, M.D.

Spokane