The Future of our Country

Right now, both the Democrats and the Republicans are over selling the idea that US elections are not fair and honest.   President Trump, "If we don’t root out the fraud, the tremendous and horrible fraud that’s taken place in our 2020 election, we don’t have a country anymore.";  Democratic Majority Lead Steny, "As the Senate prepares to vote on proceeding to Floor consideration of S.1, we wanted to remind you that not only are Republicans in 48 states jamming through legislation designed to stifle the vote, they are also working to target election officials they don’t agree with – at every level of government – and expand partisan control of elections. Don’t miss this write up in the New York Times on what’s at stake – our very democracy hanging in the balance".  Neither of these positions are warranted by the events.  While there is always some degree of fraud and cheating in any election, the multiple investigations into the 2020 Presidential election did not find evidence of widespread or "result changing" levels.

"Attorney General William Barr declared Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election." AP - 12-1-2020.

And while some voting conditions can make voting more of a hassle, on April 3, 2021, the NY Times article discussed how the reviled new Georgia law on elections would have minimal effect.  And voter turn out in the election since some of these laws have gone into effect have not shown any significant suppression - based upon the amount of voter participation.

Yet both Parties seem intent upon casting doubt upon the US election process.  This is extremely dangerous.  A reasonable amount of faith in the electoral process is necessary for a democracy to function and any widespread effort to distort the honesty of that process is a disaster in the making for our country - because if the system is not reflecting the will of the people (or at least perceived to not reflect such will) "it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it" (Declaration of Independence), thus justifying violence.

This is a long term trend, going back to at least the election of President Bush in 2000.  Democrats commonly maintained that President Trump did not legitimately win the 2016 election.  And now President Trump is saying the same thing about the 2020 election, while simultaneously the many Democrats are claiming that some new election laws are a threat to "our very democracy".

There was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.  The new election laws are not a return to Jim Crow nor are they a massive threat to our democracy.  And both side should stop throwing sand in the gears of an imperfect, but basically fair and honest, election process.