Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. An Historic Election and the Pit of the Stomach

 

The election of 2020 is hardly settled yet, in more ways than one. But it will be recorded as a truly historic one. It is also one that leaves some feelings in the pit of the stomach.

It will be historic for one of two things. We just don’t know which one yet.

I will first deal with the pit of the stomach. We are a vastly ill-informed, ill-educated nation. Ours is the greatest secular story in Man’s long history. And so many of our own have no genuine knowledge or understanding of it, either in just the simple 250-odd-year epic or the context it has over the thousands of years mankind has struggled to have even a glimpse of what we stand ready to toss aside in favor of retread promises and deceptions that actually are aged not by hundreds but thousands of years.

As a nation, we were born of a desire to govern ourselves. In fact, we considered it to be our right. We designed a system of self-governance built around that concept of rights which were undeniable. The protection of those rights depended on the consent of those who accepted the authority of a justly constructed government which honored the rule of law. That consent was primarily manifested in the vote.

It was not perfect but it was perfectable. And we have the means for that. Even the majority does not reign supreme because that also can be tyranny. When the individual, legal vote is not protected, there is no longer consent. Period.

On the national level, the members of the House of Representatives are selected by direct vote. Originally, the members of the Senate were selected by the legislatures of the states to represent the interests of the states. That, of course, was changed by constitutional amendment in the early 20th century.

But the executive officer of the United States, the President, is selected not by popular vote but by electors of the several states. Each state legislature has the sole authority under the Constitution to decide the manner in which these electors are chosen. No President is elected until they have been chosen and actually cast their votes. This a matter of law and there are very good reasons for all of it.

If any presidential election is conducted in a state and fails to follow the procedure passed by the state legislature, it is outside of the law and the Constitution. Anyone who cheers the bending, or outright breaking, of this vital safeguard is saying that some outcome at a peculiar time is more important than the rule of law, than individual rights, than the consent of those governed.

The constitutional system we are so lucky to have in place is not about outcomes and policies as much as it is about liberty. Liberty is a word I hear very rarely. It is certainly isn’t talked about by those who seek to be our “informers”: the media, the entertainment industry, and any excitable mouth over-impressed with their 15 minutes of fame. Like some other things we should value more, this system is for the ages, not just the minutes. But all of those important things can be destroyed or at least greatly damaged when the minutes are allowed to outweigh the foundational principles basic to the ages.

In the last two months before the election on November 3, there was a stampede of lawsuits filed in state courts of several “swing” states. These suits were not to increase or insure the legality of ballots but actually to lessen the procedures used to determine if the ballots were proper. The result was chaos caused by rulings by state court judges that were counter to laws passed by the legislature. But the constitutional rub is that these courts, the state’s Secretary of State, the state election commissions, any state official including the governor do not have authority over the presidential election. Only the legislatures have that authority. Most of these measures were unconstitutionally used in the handling of mail-in ballots.

Mail-in ballots have long been known to be the most insecure way to vote. Most of the reasons are obvious to any open mind. Most European nations, for example, have abandoned their use after trying to make them work during a wave of misplaced liberalism. A couple won’t even allow citizens living in other nations to vote by mail. Anyone truly interested in having a secure, accurate vote would not favor wide use of mail-in ballots. Period

I will shift your attention to somewhere you should be much more familiar with if we had a more responsible and truthful media. The 2004 Ukrainian election was classified as “rigged” by our State Department. Among the things cited to prove that judgment were the illegal use of absentee ballots, opposition observers ejected from the ballot counting, mobile ballot box fraud, and computed data altered. In just eight days, there are already mountains (as in hundreds) of sworn affidavits, videos, and signed confessions detailing exactly those activities in this 2020 election. They are not “hearsay.” They are not the so-called “whistleblowers” of the past few years whose names were never disclosed and thus protected by the media. These are sworn to by real people coming forward to publicly stand by their words. Regardless of how you feel about any one candidate, these are facts. This is real evidence. The outcome is still to be determined but there is creditable evidence and a lot of it.

Any vote taken that is not legal is a violation of your vote no matter who it is for.

It is a fact that several of these things were put in place in Pennsylvania only days after being instructed by the Supreme Court not to. It is a fact that Republican poll watchers were first barred from the counting of ballots in violation of state law for over a day. There were even barriers put up to block the view. And when finally allowed in by direct court order the observers were made to stand at least 20 feet away while votes were counted. The same was done in Michigan where barring the observers is not only against state law but also a crime. The subject here is purposely ignoring the law, overt, in-your-face stepping around both state statute and the Constitution.

The list goes on but those who have advocated for all these far less secure measures have backed off the claim we have heard for the last few years that there is no such thing as voter fraud. A few days ago the claim moved from that to “very little fraud.” But now as more and more comes to full light it is said to be “not enough to make a difference.”

This does beg the question: Exactly how much fraud is acceptable before you actually do something about it?

None of us should have much faith in polls based on recent performance but a Rasmussen survey from just yesterday indicates that less than half of the nation believe that Joe Biden was elected without fraud. That would mean around half of the nation have a pretty good notion that the results reported so far are not honest. That is a death sentence for a self-governing republic.

If a government is to be based on consent, there have to be secure elections. Why would anyone lobby for less security? What is the purpose of not checking signatures? What is the purpose of removing observers who have a legal right to watch the counting?

Once again the list can go on. But the point is that none of these measures make the voting more secure or increase confidence in the validity of the outcome. In fact, it is exactly the opposite.

No matter how un-woke it is, how un-techy it is, there have to be real ballots that can be counted. There has to be a positive identification of the person casting the ballots. There has to be the ability to actually physically check all of that in a by-hand recount if it becomes necessary. To have anything less is saying that we are not serious about elections or our system of governance. There cannot be secret counting of ballots and expect that the government which prevails deserves respect from the people. Period.

What the pit of my stomach churns over is the real possibility that we may not have enough people left in this most blessed of nations who value Truth and Liberty at a level that leaves behind personal wants and anger. I know we do not have enough people who are well informed or who are well enough educated in the governmental system, our own actual history, or how it all fits into the story of mankind itself. This last one we can work on, we have to.

But the first part of that last paragraph should scare us all. It does not even require a large majority to keep Truth and Liberty alive. It is said by many that no more than one-third of the American colonists supported the Revolution all the way through it. About a third would swing back and forth depending on how things were going and the last third reminded loyal to the King. But that one-third who won out had to be a determined lot! And the third in the middle had to be won over and then reassured.

Also, winning independence only meant that the real work had to begin! Truth and Liberty are never easy. They are always hard and always under attack. There is never a time to let up or they will lose ground. And there has been a lot of ground surrendered over the 100 years or so.

As to the historic nature of this 2020 election, I do see this as very possibly the watershed moment when we take to path to no more meaningful elections. They certainly don’t have many in California anymore or Cook County, IL, etc. This does not mean that any one side has to prevail. It does mean that Americans of any political leanings should realize that this is no way to run a national election. Any fraud is fundamentally changing the voting system, not to reflect popular will but to bypass it.

This requires all political views to commit to rule of law instead of dogma and not bow to fashion as has happened in so many cultures of the past which rose, flamed for a while, and destroyed themselves.

It is vital that more than half the nation believe there actually can be a fair vote that reflects their will. Our duty to protect the vote is not about policy or any individual. It is about Liberty, easily lost, hard-won Liberty.

It would be good for some to remember not to celebrate anything won by another’s cheating. If they cheat “for” you, they will certainly cheat against you. They cannot be gifted with power because sooner or later – it will be your turn, it will be your vote, your voice, your opinion, your liberty that is in their way. And there will no way to defend it.

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  1. PHCheese Member

    Most marriages between couples that have committed adultery together don’t last. Either one or both realize that if he or she cheat with you , he or she will cheat on you.

    • #1
    • November 13, 2020, at 12:04 PM PST
    • 2 likes
  2. katievs Member
    katievs Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    I’m with you, Ole Summers. I keep preaching trust in God to myself, but so far it’s not availing to undo the knots in my stomach.

    • #2
    • November 13, 2020, at 12:13 PM PST
    • 7 likes
  3. Sweezle Member

    I am definitely not comfortable either. There are about 72 million folks that are disappointed and concerned. 

    • #3
    • November 13, 2020, at 12:33 PM PST
    • 3 likes
  4. Flicker Coolidge

    Ole Summers: I will first deal with the pit of the stomach. We are a vastly ill-informed, ill-educated nation. Ours is the greatest secular story in Man’s long history. And so many of our own have no genuine knowledge or understanding of it, either in just the simple 250-odd year epic or the context it has over the thousands of years mankind has struggled to have even a glimpse of what we stand ready to toss aside in favor of re-tread promises and deceptions that actually are aged not by hundreds but thousands of years.

    I wish this could be run on the scrolling billboard in Times Square and picked up by every news organization.

    • #4
    • November 13, 2020, at 1:15 PM PST
    • 4 likes
  5. DonG (Biden is compromised) Coolidge

    it feels like 1876.

    • #5
    • November 13, 2020, at 1:24 PM PST
    • Like
  6. Bruce Caward Thatcher
    Bruce Caward Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Thank you. You said everything I want to say.

    • #6
    • November 13, 2020, at 3:33 PM PST
    • 1 like
  7. Dbroussa Coolidge

    I do find it amusing how the people saying “no fraud” now say, “OK, not much fraud”.

    I ask people to define proof of fraud and they say, show me proof. People who will swear in court to fraud. I then pointed out that this has happened, but they say, not enough. Of course the massive confusion between what we see on the internet, what is reported in the news, and what happens in court is a massive problem. 

    For example, with all these affidavits, the lawyers go into court and hedge their statements about fraud. This makes sense because if they say Philly’s election count was fraudulent because observers were barred that isn’t true. It’s suspicious that they were barred, but not proof of fraud. If they make that claim, then they can be held in contempt of court.

    Thus we are left with a massive disconnect. On one side we see lots of odd things that point to fraud. On the other we have people who just want Trump gone and are desperate for that to occur. Gripping hand, faith in the electoral system is the third of four boxes of liberty and when its gone, the only one left is the cartridge box and we really don’t want that. 

    • #7
    • November 14, 2020, at 5:09 AM PST
    • 6 likes
  8. philo Member

    Ole Summers: We are a vastly ill-informed, ill-educated nation.

    Ole Summers: the real possibility that we may not have enough people left in this most blessed of nations who value Truth and Liberty at a level that leaves behind personal wants and angers.

    As I quote all too often, this issue seems to continue to trend in the wrong direction:

    “[A] significant and growing portion of the American population is losing the virtues required to be functioning members of a free society.” – Charles Murray in Coming Apart (Page 289), 2012

    • #8
    • November 14, 2020, at 6:28 AM PST
    • 3 likes
  9. philo Member

    Ole Summers: If any presidential election is conducted in a state and fails to follow the procedure passed by the state legislature, it is outside of the law and the Constitution.

    Ole Summers: Any vote taken that is not legal is a violation of your vote no matter who it is for.

    Ole Summers: That would mean around half of the nation have a pretty good notion that the results reported so far are not honest. That is a death sentence for a self-governing republic.

    Ole Summers: If a government is to be based on CONSENT, there has to be secure elections.

    Please excuse the montage above but you scattered great things throughout. This theme brings me back to what I asked a week ago: 

    At what point do some of these united states tire of others not participating in the agreed to compact in good faith?

    It appears that parts of some state governments are fully complicit in the bastardization of the legal voting processes they are sworn to uphold. I posit that it takes far less than half the nation to lose faith in the election process, it takes one or two states to lose faith in the compact. I suspect one or two or more are getting very close to this.

    At this point, it is also clear to me that this is going to tear mightily at not only the fabric between these united states but that within some states. I will be interested to see how red-county Pennsylvania reacts to the Philadelphia area blatantly and very publicly spitting in their faces. Similarly, I suspect the next six weeks is going to drive a wedge between red-county Georgia and the Atlanta area machine…even as those who are intentionally breaking the system make hollow calls to “start the healing.” 

    • #9
    • November 14, 2020, at 6:58 AM PST
    • 10 likes
  10. Aaron Miller Member
    Aaron Miller Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    This is where we are now. From Newsmax

    Mark Halperin asked a panel on Newsmax TV’s “Focus Group,” once their candidate officially is declared the loser of the presidential election by a constitutional process, would they feel as if the election was stolen from their candidate.

    Every one of the panelists, 50% percent supporting President Donald Trump and 50% supporting Joe Biden, raised their hand.

    Whichever candidate “wins”, we all lose because of the rampant fraud and misinformation. 

    • #10
    • November 14, 2020, at 4:33 PM PST
    • 5 likes
  11. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    Two law firms that were representing the President have now withdrawn. One was the firm that was “doxxed” by the “Lincoln Project” which sent out photos and addresses of members’ homes. The other has no explanation. It is nice that John Adams is not around to see this cowardice.

    • #11
    • November 14, 2020, at 6:02 PM PST
    • 9 likes
  12. TreeRat Member

    Ole Summers: This does not mean that any one side has to prevail

    Well, that’s the problem. Fair and open elections might mean that the other guys might win. The Dems don’t like that feature and have figured out ways to avoid it. All that stuff about self-governance, etc, doesn’t come into play.

    And because there is little personal risk for individual republican politicians (they remain in the elite, though not necessarily in power) there is risk for them obstructing the reelection insurance policies. Hence Trump, but apparently not for long.

    Yeah, I’m still bummed. I thought we dodged this bullet with Hillary’s defeat.

    • #12
    • November 14, 2020, at 6:04 PM PST
    • 2 likes
  13. TreeRat Member

    philo (View Comment):
    At this point, it is also clear to me that this is going to tear mightily at not only the fabric between these united states but that within some states. I will be interested to see how red-county Pennsylvania reacts to the Philadelphia area blatantly and very publicly spitting in their faces. Similarly, I suspect the next six weeks is going to drive a wedge between red-county Georgia and the Atlanta area machine

    I dream at times of creating city-states for all metropolitan areas bigger than (make up a number). Their senators should be balanced by the new senators in the more rural areas.

    • #13
    • November 14, 2020, at 6:06 PM PST
    • 3 likes
  14. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge

    The truth is that Trump has to lose or the country is going to burn. So the powers that be will make Trump lose.

    • #14
    • November 14, 2020, at 9:32 PM PST
    • 1 like
  15. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    The truth is that Trump has to lose or the country is going to burn. So the powers that be will make Trump lose.

    It will burn anyway. We just elected the arsonist candidate.

    • #15
    • November 15, 2020, at 9:07 AM PST
    • 3 likes
  16. CACrabtree Coolidge

    philo (View Comment):

    Ole Summers: If any presidential election is conducted in a state and fails to follow the procedure passed by the state legislature, it is outside of the law and the Constitution.

    Ole Summers: Any vote taken that is not legal is a violation of your vote no matter who it is for.

    Ole Summers: That would mean around half of the nation have a pretty good notion that the results reported so far are not honest. That is a death sentence for a self-governing republic.

    Ole Summers: If a government is to be based on CONSENT, there has to be secure elections.

    Please excuse the montage above but you scattered great things throughout. This theme brings me back to what I asked a week ago:

    At what point do some of these united states tire of others not participating in the agreed to compact in good faith?

    It appears that parts of some state governments are fully complicit in the bastardization of the legal voting processes they are sworn to uphold. I posit that it takes far less than half the nation to lose faith in the election process, it takes one or two states to lose faith in the compact. I suspect one or two or more are getting very close to this.

    At this point, it is also clear to me that this is going to tear mightily at not only the fabric between these united states but that within some states. I will be interested to see how red-county Pennsylvania reacts to the Philadelphia area blatantly and very publicly spitting in their faces. Similarly, I suspect the next six weeks is going to drive a wedge between red-county Georgia and the Atlanta area machine…even as those who are intentionally breaking the system make hollow calls to “start the healing.”

    Good point about red-county Georgia and Atlanta. Georgia has 159 counties and I would estimate that 150 (give or take) of them are red. I left Georgia in 2010 so I can’t really explain how the big shift happened but I agree with what you said about that “wedge”. I suspect it’s about to get a lot bigger.

    • #16
    • November 15, 2020, at 12:44 PM PST
    • 3 likes
  17. Z in MT Member

    Good post!

     

    • #17
    • November 15, 2020, at 7:54 PM PST
    • 1 like
  18. TempTime Member

    Yes. A Good Post; one to save. Thanks again.

    • #18
    • November 16, 2020, at 3:12 PM PST
    • Like