Last updated on November 17th, 2020 at 04:54 pm
At the rate Republicans, led by Trump, are attempting to stop voting, it is glaringly apparent they hate democracy nearly as much as they detest the U.S. Constitution. When Donald Trump refused to say if he would allow a peaceful transfer of power if he does not win re-election, it should have sent a shockwave of outrage throughout the population; that it did not informs that Americans are well aware that Republicans do not subscribe to the notion of representative democracy.
The concept of a representative democracy as imagined by the nation’s Founders, where everyone who is qualified is allowed to vote, has been anathema to Republicans since the 15th Amendment was ratified.
Whether it was imposing Jim Crow laws, gerrymandering to give one political party unfair advantage, or vehemently opposing allowing women’s voices to be counted, there has been a concerted Republican effort to destroy democracy.
Few Americans would argue that Republicans have ever considered the will of the people as a guiding force in how they should govern based on the GOP’s fealty to the rich and powerful at the expense of the masses. Now, with an aspiring dictator guiding the GOP, there is an ongoing effort to make Jim Crow, gerrymandering, and vote suppression seem mild compared to outright silencing the people’s voices.
In America the states control how elections are run and that is unacceptable to Trump. In his version of America, Trump controls how elections are conducted and he has taken several states to court in an attempt to make his dictatorial dream come true. One can hardly imagine the leader of the Executive Branch going to the judiciary to force states to run elections according to a White House edict, but one never imagined Americans would elect a man with aspirations of becoming America’s Kim Jong Un or Saddam Hussein. No doubt if Trump was able he would abolish elections altogether and declare himself president for life.
Trump has done his best to convince the voters that the electoral process is flawed and corrupt since before his tragic victory in 2016. And beginning immediately after his poorly-attended inauguration he began a crusade to cast suspicion on how Americans choose their government representatives.
Since the Trump plague began in earnest in America, the dirty fascist has made some extraordinarily bizarre statements, and taken undemocratic actions, to further his lie that America’s electoral system is not just flawed, it is corrupt specifically to hurt Americans who support Trump.
Just this past week, it was reported that “Trump is Encouraging Voting Fraud in the Week Before Election Day,” and the title is not far afield from the honest-to-dog truth. The fascist used Twitter to confuse voters and undermine the veracity of the American election system. He lied and said that a large number of “early voters have changed their minds and want to modify their vote in favor of Trump;” then he encouraged them to do just that.
Trump tweeted: “Strongly Trending (Google) since immediately after the second debate is CAN I CHANGE MY VOTE? This refers changing it to me. The answer in most states is YES. Go do it.”
It is noteworthy that, as usual, nothing Trump tweeted is true. Changing ones vote is only possible in a small handful of states; everything else he tweeted is a filthy lie.
Whether any American wants to change their vote in favor of Trump is irrelevant and highly unlikely. However, Trump set the stage for more controversy if he is not reelected. No real American leader would stoop so low to undermine the election system, but then again Trump is not a real American, much less an American leader. He is an aspiring dictator in thrall of the policies of Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, and Saddam Hussein.
However, it is not just Trump going to great lengths to pollute elections. Republicans have been at it for decades and since Barack Obama’s first election to the White House, they have made voting more difficult, if not impossible, as part and parcel of their anti-democracy crusade.
It is worth noting that the conservative Supreme Court has gone along with the GOP’s practice of suppressing the vote by severely weakening the Voting Rights Act. Their reason was that racism in America no longer exists.
Trump and the GOP’s crusade to thwart the electoral process began in earnest in 2018 and the comment of a local Republican congressional representative summed up exactly what is happening as the nation approaches the 2020 general election.
After losing the election, the now-former representative said California’s election system is flawed because they count every ballot. And he said Republicans would put a stop to it. Now that they have the loudest voice in the country behind them, they are on a mission to put bring to a screeching halt the idea of counting every ballot.
Many Americans are unaware that America is not a democracy; it is a representative democracy where the people, not the president, not religious leaders, and not the political party in power chooses representation for the people. Republicans never complain about elections when they prevail, but it is almost certain that they would hardly prevail often if all Americans’ were allowed to vote according to the laws of each state.
It is important to remember that Republicans expect the religious and corporate conservatives on the Supreme Court to appoint Trump to a second term. They will almost certainly make that happen by disputing the legitimacy of mail-in ballots – that has been Trump’s raison d’être since he spread his plague throughout the nation. For their part, Republicans are gleeful at the notion of forcing Americans to endanger their lives by participating in democracy in the midst of a global pandemic. For those who are terrified of succumbing to Trump’s plague, public voting is not an option.
It is a sad state of affairs, but America is on the verge of losing what little is left of its representative democracy. But the people get what they deserve for sitting idly by while a corrupt con man took control of the Republican movement to transform what was a representative democracy in jeopardy into a full-blown dictatorship – something Republicans are thrilled to help Trump create.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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