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My big brother, God rest his soul, loved to play bridge, and he was really good at it. He had that kind of mind. So he won a lot. He also cheated. He thought the best players played exceptionally well – and also cheated really well. That is how he justified his own cheating. I think there is probably some small truth to professionals cheating, but I am diametrically opposed to it. My philosophy is that if you cheat to win, you are a loser, regardless of the outcome of the game. And you forfeit the right to consider yourself an honorable person.

This leads me to the untimely passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mitch McConnell stole the vacant Justice Scalia seat (eventually filled by Trump with Neil Gorsuch) not just from President Obama, but from me. He stole it from every person who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 – a man who won decisively (302 electoral votes to 206, and 5,000,000 popular votes).

That was ten months before the 2016 election. That was cheating. That seat was Obama’s – and mine. And now McConnell will fill RBG’s seat a mere six weeks before the election, reversing everything he said in 2016. Cheating again.

So, any of you who support this president and this McConnell-led Senate in this replacement of Justice Ginsburg, at this point in time, can no longer consider yourself an honorable person. If you help a cheater cheat, you are a cheater, too.

Sadly, I am certain that many of you will find a way to justify throwing your integrity out the window. I know my brother did.

P.S. If you want to know what cheating looks like on a massive scale by a single human being, read Commander in Cheat by renowned sports writer Rick Reilly. It is a quick, easy read, highly entertaining, supremely enlightening. I double dog dare you.

Dana Heald

La Conner