Republicans are in a state of "Earth is Flat" delusion

This opinion letter to the editor was published in The Advocate, a Baton Rouge Louisiana newspaper.  The author is an atomic physics professor at Louisiana State University.  He wrote about how believing the earth is flat does not change the nature of the planet.  Republicans that continue to challenge the Electoral College vote to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are living in an "earth is flat" state of political delusion.

Dear Editor: 

In two recent editorials (published in The Advocate), you have correctly condemned the assault on democracy by our attorney general and most of the Republican congressional delegation as they spinelessly follow Donald Trump's diktat*.

"Leaders" such as U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise or U.S. Sen. John Kennedy shame us as they demonstrate their contempt for the most basic democratic norms or for "states' rights" and, above all, to the voters exercising their franchise to cast their vote as they please.

You cite Louisiana Senator Kennedy who, even after the Electoral College's certification, "continues to believe that it doesn't weaken democracy to insist elections be free and fair." Sure, it also does not change the nature of our Earth if he were to continue to believe that it is flat. Equally, the world is what it is including the political world, that Biden-Harris won decisively in both popular and electoral votes even as our Republican ostriches pretend otherwise.

How do public servants and elected officials themselves reconcile their actions with the very system of elections that put them in power? They should, perhaps, take some minimum civics tests such as immigrants have to take for naturalization.

A.R.P. RAU professor

Baton Rouge

*an order or decree imposed by someone in power without popular consent.