Some time ago I received the following short commentary and it struck a chord with me. Perhaps you haven’t seen it. It came with the note ‘author is unknown’:
“I never cared if you were “gay” or whatever acronym you chose to call yourself, until you started shoving it down my throat. I never cared where you were from in this great Republic, until you began condemning people based on where they were born and the history that makes them who they are. I have never cared if you were well off or poor because I’ve been both, until you started calling me names for working hard and trying to better myself. I never cared if your beliefs were different than mine, until you said my beliefs are wrong. I never cared what color you were, if you were a good human, until you started blaming me for your problems. I never cared about your political affiliation until you started to condemn me for mine. I’m a very patient person at times. But I’m about out of patience. I have given all the tolerance I have to give. This is no longer my problem. It is your problem.
Now I care.”
In the last few weeks, there has been an assault on our Democracy. I’m not talking about the breach of the Capital building that was resolved in a matter of hours and while disheartening was not a threat to our very existence. The real threat we are witnessing unfold before our eyes is the systematic silencing of political thought. When did it become your right to politically and economically punish those that have a different point of view?
Last night on a local newscast, a community leader of the left was allowed to go on TV and demand that the state and local GOP apologize for articulating that there was fraud in the presidential election in November. He then calls the GOP liars suggesting that nothing could be further from the truth than their lies about any fraud. Apart from the fact that the declaration was not based on supportable facts, how can such a statement be considered NEWS? Certainly, the media across the country has been consistent with the message that “there is no substantial evidence of widespread voter fraud.” That doesn’t mean that there was no fraud. In fact, all evidence to contrary. There just has been no forum yet that has allowed the evidence to be heard –save one.
In Minnesota, before the election, the Minnesota Voter Alliance (MVA) brought suit against the MN Secretary of State alleging that he did not have the authority to change the law when setting up the rules for mail-in ballots. At issue was the following: Under a general election consent decree, the Secretary agreed to not enforce the ballot receipt deadline in Minn. Stat. § 203B.08, subd. 3. Instead, the Secretary agreed he would issue guidance to local election officials to count all mail-in ballots with a postmark of Election Day or before, if those election officials received the ballots within five business days (seven calendar days) of Election Day (the “postmark deadline”). The consent decree also provided that if a mail ballot did not have a postmark, the election official “should presume that it was mailed on or before Election Day unless the preponderance of the evidence demonstrates it was mailed after the Election Day.”
The courts heard the case and agreed with the MVA all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Without that decision, mail-in ballots could be counted without a visible postmark. The stage would have been set. It would give election officials seven days to perfect the outcome of the election, i.e. the potential for mail-in ballot voter fraud.
In the states, PA, MI, GA, and even WI similar language was sent to local officials by the sitting Secretary of those states as a result of general election consent decrees. The difference, Minnesota Voter Alliance questioned the language before the election. Trump’s people in most of the other states didn’t notice the problem until after the election. That caused the courts to wonder first, can a case be made after the fact (election) that the Secretaries of those states did not have the authority to change the law and what would be the effect should the court rule in favor of the plaintiff. That being an unresolved issue, the courts would not hear the cases. Thus, the stage in these states had been set. So who’s the liar here? Perhaps everyone or maybe no one!
At issue is that the potential for fraud is supportable. But in elections in the United States, there should be a preponderance of evidence that demonstrates there was no fraud. Lacking that an educated electorate will have its doubts. Moreover you have no better case than I do to call me a liar just because we disagree. In this country, we both have the same “rights” to our opinion. And now I care!