The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!
H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926
The right to vote, and to do so in secret without fear of reprisal or retribution, has been at the core of democracy for as long as people have yearned to breathe free.
Sadly, the current governing political class, across all persuasions, abetted by a sycophantic media, have not been fair and honest stewards of that dream. Rather, the need for power and control has left our electoral process in a shambles, and if we do not fight to preserve it, it and America herself, will surely perish from the face of the earth.
This is not hyperbole. It is a guarantee.
Before a problem can be solved, it must be acknowledged, so let us examine where liars and narcissists have taken us.
The Republicans have tried to institutionalize their private organization by securing a “.gov” domain suffix. The “.gov” domain is intended for official government departments. The Republicans are NOT a government agency, try as they might. The Democrats use the appropriate “.org” domain designation.
The political left decries “dark money” in politics, then raise record fundraising totals from untold and unknown sources. Yes, the Republicans follow suit.
Hypocrisy abounds. As the saying goes, campaign finance reform is like the weather. Everybody will complain about it, but nobody does anything about it.
The Democrats and Republicans – private political parties – have created a byzantine and convoluted ballot system designed to limit third, fourth, even fifth parties from gaining equal access to being on the ballot for voter’s consideration.
The media supports the two-party power conglomerate by featuring stories on how Americans should not “throw away” their ballots on third party candidates. The media creates a false narrative by talking about “off-year” elections, which is nothing short of voter suppression.
Instead of preserving the sanctity of the secret ballot, the political class has diluted it by extending election cycles to months, under the claim that the beleaguered voter needs time to cast their ballot. This requires months?
America used to announce election results on Election Night. Because of Covid, laws were passed to extend voting windows past Election Day, under the guise of extending democracy. No one has explained how that works, and the media has demonstrated an astounding level of ambivalence on that point.
Ensuring the axiom of one man, one vote, and providing a valid ID at the polling place is now racist. Apparently securing a valid ID is too difficult
for citizens of color. Who’s the racist, given a current and valid government ID was required to receive a Covid shot?
There are an almost infinite number of issues, but time and space are limited.
Now that the problems have been identified, instead of merely complaining, we propose these following starting point solutions:
MONEY –
This has a simple remedy. If you run for office, you may only accept money from legal residents of the district in which you are running. Any monies from any other source would be considered felonious election racketeering and will be prosecuted as such. There is no reason for a Los Angeles donor to fund a congressional race in Tennessee. NOBODY is that altruistic.
BALLOT ACCESS -
America is a country of 350 million. We deserve more than two choices. Any candidate who can collect signatures from 15% of the district’s electorate will be allowed on that districts ballot.
VOTER ID -
Every voter must present a valid, current, government issued photo ID in order to cast a vote. The strict restrictions for absentee ballots remain in place.
The reality is that the workforce has dramatically changed and must be addressed. Election Day should be extended to the Saturday, Sunday and Monday preceding Election Day Tuesday.
It’s time to vote for freedom from electoral monopolies.
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