For the last month I have followed the news, read countless articles from sources ranging from FoxNews to MSNBC. I have watched videos, perused legal decisions, listened to and read pundits across the political spectrum, and engaged in as much research and learning as possible.
Full disclosure, I have voted in every PresidentIal election and the vast majority of those votes were cast for Republican candidates. I volunteered for at least one Republican Presidential campaign. While I am no longer affiliated with any political party, I am not a “lib,” a “socialist,” a “commie,” a “Trump hater,” or whatever other label someone might want to throw my way. I am sure there is some information I have not seen. My goal is to continue to grow and my views sometimes shift as I continue learn. I strive to be independent and free-thinking, and I don’t want everyone to agree with me. We all have something of value to offer to the discussion. Having said all that, here are my thoughts as I reflect on what has transpired over the last month or so…
From all I have seen, I do not believe the election was rigged or stolen. I do believe the President had every right to pursue reasonable legal action in the days following the election. If there was widespread fraud or illegal activity, I would hope we would all want to know and have those violating the law brought to justice.
But I also was following things long before the election and saw President Trump and his campaign laying the groundwork for this approach. He talked about the election being rigged long before November 3. He also talked about legal action and not accepting the results. Regardless of any videos or affidavits which we have seen over the last few weeks, this was going to happen if President Trump lost the election.
Speaking of videos and affidavits, dozens of courts (many presided over by conservatives and Trump appointees) have dismissed almost every case brought before them. Even the United States Supreme Court (one-third of which President Trump appointed) refused to hear a case brought before them. Samuel Alito, one of the conservative judges on the Court, was the one who reviewed and denied the case.
Virtually every video and piece of evidence I have seen has been explained or discredited. Simply sharing something over and over with commentary doesn’t make that perspective the truth. After a month, almost none of the evidence has survived the scrutiny of the legal system. And in many of the cases presented, the lawyers (once in front of a judge instead of a TV camera) refused to bring widespread fraud up as a grounds for their complaints.
I am both surprised and embarrassed by how many prominent Republicans have continued to support this effort. At the beginning, I understood. You support your party and your candidate. But so many lawmakers are attorneys. How can they look at what is happening in courtrooms across the nation and not acquiesce? From where I sit, it’s either fear of being bullied or fear of losing the next election. In short, it’s a concern about losing power.
What is most troubling to me is what has happened as court cases have failed. The President invited lawmakers of states where there is an attempt to change the results to Washington. He has called others. He has bullied those who won’t support his narrative (even members of his own political party who have been allies for most of his term and even campaigned for him). If they don’t buy into his agenda to change the result, they are traitors, crooked, or whatever pejorative term he can come up with. He hijacked a Georgia Senate campaign speech to promote his ongoing effort to change the results.
I have also watched him clean out numerous important governmental agencies and supporting organizations and fill them with his supporters at the eleventh hour. He has been floating the idea of holding a campaign rally during Joe Biden’s inauguration.
While I am obviously focused on the behavior of President Trump and his team, don’t for a minute think everyone else is innocent. There is corruption across the spectrum. But I don’t believe there is some nationwide group scheming to change thousands or millions of votes. That would require hundreds if not thousands of people to violate federal laws. I just can’t see that kind of effort going undetected. And I can’t imagine every reputable news organization would ignore that kind of story. It would sell papers, advertisements, etc. for months. To assert that every major news organization, every Democratic elected official, many Republican elected officials, and thousands of volunteers collaborated to pull this off is unreasonable.
What I believe President Trump has done is tap into fear. Fear of those we disagree with. Fear of those whose agendas differ from ours. Fear of those who advocate for policies which don’t favor us. Fear of those whose beliefs bump up against ours. He certainly did not start this, but he poured a ton of gasoline on the fire.
The other side isn’t off the hook. This has been an ongoing conflict fueled by both sides. Democrats and Republicans have both used demonization, dehumanization, and demagoguery to divide us. We have taken the bait. I see it in Facebook posts where people who used to be friends call each other idiots. I have seen it in memes and articles we share without fact-checking because they support our view. I have seen it when people engage in name calling instead of meaningful dialogue.
I have one thing to say. STOP!
Most people have good motives. They are not trying to take away your guns or control your bodies. They are not anti-God or anti-science. They are not trying to destroy businesses or destroy the environment. Many times the motives we project on other people are the effects of their policies, not their motives.
Let’s keep debating the issues. That is how we get something done. Let’s listen to each other. No one has the corner on good ideas. Let’s compromise when needed and do the best we can. We have turned politics into a winner-take-all fight to the death. What has happened to us?
I cannot diagnose Donald Trump. I don’t have the licensure to diagnose anyone and I have never even met the man. But I can witness his behavior and make some observations. It seems as though the only person Donald Trump cares about is Donald Trump. He fires people at will who disagree with him. He belittles those he doesn’t like. He objectifies women. He talks over people when he doesn’t like what they are saying. He walks out of a room when he seems bored or doesn’t like what he’s asked. He bullies people on Twitter. He wants everything to be about him at the expense of an entire nation and the democracy on which it is built.
We are still far from the “perfect Union” our founders wrote of in the Constitution, but we have made progress. We got rid of slavery. We expanded voting beyond just white, male landowners. Blacks are no longer counted as 3/5ths of a person. We have expanded the rights of all people. We have built a strong economy. We have been a leader on the world stage for over a century.
But we have much work to do. Oppression and discrimination still exist. Poverty cripples us economically. There is a huge wealth gap. Health issues plague us. I could go on and on.
We disagree about how to address these issues. That is the mission of political debate. We all come together and share our different opinions on how to solve these issues. We will disagree about what and how much government should be involved. We will disagree about the role of taxes. We will disagree about the impact of policies on various populations.
We will never agree about these things. That’s what happens when you put millions of people together. But we don’t have to treat each other like enemies. Are we opponents? Yes. But we are not enemies. We are fellow Americans. And more importantly, we are all human beings. Let’s have the meaningful debates, but let’s do it with respect and without running immediately to judge someone’s motives or labeling them with some derogatory term. That is the cheap, easy way out of difficult conversations.
That cheap way is the path Donald Trump has chosen and utilized throughout his Presidency. We are better than that. All of us are. It’s time to move past the polarization and come back to the table, sitting together, working together to tackle the issues that we face as a nation.
I don’t know whether Joe Biden will be able to shift us back that direction. He says that is what he wants to do. But the reality is that it isn’t up to Joe Biden. It’s up to every single one of us. One man or woman will struggle to change the course of a nation if tens of millions of others are moving in another direction. Whether you support Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or some other candidate, I urge you to look in mirror and decide what kind of country YOU want this to be. Then act accordingly.
Breaking Into Peace 