Free and fair elections are the bedrock of the American way of life. Without free and fair elections, the government does not reflect the sovereign will of the American people, and is therefore illegitimate. Without free and fair elections, taxes are nothing more than robbery – money taken from us by force, by people who do not represent us in any way (and used for their purposes rather than ours).
Without free and fair elections, every American soldier who gave his or her life in the past, and every American soldier who will give his or her life in the future is just exactly what Donald Trump says they are, “suckers” and “losers.” Without free and fair elections, this country is not worth defending, nor is it worth paying taxes to.
Without free and fair elections, the government is nothing but a bunch of fascists, and we are nothing but a bunch of prisoners to those fascists. Without free and fair elections, the Border Wall is as much about keeping us in, as it is about keeping the unwashed brown hordes out. Without free and fair elections, the American Revolution is finally lost.
If somebody wanted to destroy America, the way to do it would be to destroy free and fair elections. And if they can’t actually do that, the next best thing would be to destroy the American people’s faith that their elections are free and fair. That is certainly Vladimir Putin’s agenda, and likely the agenda of every tyrant on earth, who seeks to destroy the American way of life.
Unfortunately, one of these tyrants is our own president. During the 2016 campaign, when he was pretty sure he was going to lose, he said repeatedly, “The election is rigged, folks.” That was an attack on the people’s faith in free and fair elections. He followed that up by saying, “I will abide by the results of the election – if I win.”
He has repeatedly accused his political rivals of “massive voter fraud,” backing that up with zero evidence. In point of fact, the one doing the massive voter fraud is himself. He has openly and unambiguously encouraged his supporters in North Carolina to vote twice, and see if they get caught. The most recent example of his cheating is his appointment of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, one of his loyal campaign donors. The clearly stated intent of this appointment was to sabotage the postal system, in order to prevent mail-in ballots from being delivered and counted on time (never mind the importance of all the other mail that will also be delayed). If that isn’t election fraud, then the term is too narrow. And now he has pronounced the 2020 election a fraud, before it ever happens.
Why is he doing this? For the same reasons he did it in 2016. First and foremost, because he expects he would lose if the votes are counted honestly, in a fair and orderly fashion. He wouldn’t do this if he expected to win.
Why the focus on mail-in ballots? Because mail-in ballots will be the preferred method for senior citizens to vote in this time of COVID, and senior citizens have turned against Trump in a big way. Why? Partly because three times he has broken his pledge not to cut Social Security. Furthermore, he has openly said that destroying Social Security “would be a fun project” for his second term. And because Trump has shown such a willingness to sacrifice senior citizens’ lives to COVID, to prop up the stock market.
If there is anything we can and must unite on as Americans, it is the vital importance of free and fair elections. The day we give up on that is the day America dies forever, and passes into the history books as a cautionary tale, a warning to every freedom-loving human being on the planet of what happens when a great country abandons its ideals and principles.
