How is this form of patriotism doing today? Not good! Questioning the 2020 election will get you labeled a conspiracy theorist if not an insurrectionist or terrorist and “a threat to our democracy.” How is “our democracy” doing? 

Bush was considered an illegitimate president by many but under Obama, opposition to him was “racist.” Then the Tea Party emerged as a democratic movement to oppose Obama’s policies. The resulting shellacking produced a Republican majority. In a well- functioning democracy notice would be taken of this and an attempt made to find some compromise.

Instead, to prevent a repeat in 2012 the IRS was used to deny or delay tax-exempt status to conservative groups while allowing tax exempt status to progressive groups. This handicapped these organizations from having the same influence that they had previously while tilting the playing field in the progressive direction. Obama was re-elected and the Democrats continued to ignore democratic rumblings. 

Democrats thought they had a shoo-in with Hillary but when Trump won, all hell broke loose. They blamed the loss on everyone but themselves. Instead of soul searching, they went on a search and destroy mission to undermine the Trump presidency. With the surprising success of the Trump administration despite the roadblocks, it appeared that he was cruising to re-election until Covid. Voting procedures were loosened and massive mail in voting was instituted, often without proper legal authority. Even so, it looked like Trump was on his way to re-election. 

Then, inexplicably, voting was halted in swing states with Trump having a comfortable lead only to have it mysteriously vanish when huge batches of Biden votes came in early in the morning. There were sufficient reports and video evidence that made it reasonable to question the results. Suddenly, there was a campaign to declare the election the most secure in history and to place out of bounds any discussion to the contrary. When a legitimate protest of the election got out of hand, the rioters were not treated like BLM or Antifa , but were labeled terrorists and held without bond. Does this sound like “our democracy”?

To date, there has been a forensic audit of the election in Arizona. The results are pending and many other states are considering it, but the opposition is hysterical. Many millions of patriotic dissenters want an accounting. Courts have not ruled on the merits. If the election was as secure as so stridently claimed, then show us to be stupid and wrong by welcoming forensic audits and settle the issue. We need easy to vote but hard to cheat election laws. Voter suppression tropes are lies. The Democrats want to maintain a system that can be gamed. If we can’t have faith in our elections, then it is not “our democracy.”

David Parker

Sylva