First, I won’t tell you how to vote. However, that does not prevent me from talking about voting. A recent judge’s ruling has struck down certain key provisions of laws in Georgia and Texas that were designed to tighten voting rules. The “tightening” of voting rules is synonymous with voter suppression. Southern voting suppression goes back a long way in history and, to be fair, it was then led by Democrats. The ridiculous Georgia law established penalties for those providing food and water for those waiting in line to vote — long lines created by limiting voting sites.
Lies have always been a problem in politics. Today’s lies have gotten bigger and told often enough to have become propaganda. Everyone benefits from the truth, and lies only benefit those who tell them. Lies about election fraud, proven to be lies by recounts, investigations and many court cases led us directly to the attack on our nation’s capital on Jan. 6 and to many people’s mistrust of the election process. Violence, and even the threat of violence, has caused election workers to leave, perhaps to others who are not so honest in providing a fair election. Lies are designed to deceive others, and this defines another kind of fraud. If a politician lies about election fraud to obtain your money, uses that money to hire lawyers to defend himself in numerous criminal cases, and then only occasionally pays lawyers any money, I believe that to be fraud.
The Tesla model 3 is ranked as the world’s bestselling electric car from 2018 to 2021, and deliveries started in July 2017. Some are blaming President Biden for their development. Based on the years above, the former president had ample time in office to hinder the development of this EV. An objective to hinder a business enterprise would seem to be an unusual conservative value. Speaking of values: God, morals, justice and patriotism have never belonged to just conservatives. Conservative principles disappeared once the former president took office. Propaganda and power appear to be the only driving forces that are now steering the GOP, but to what direction or end?
When George Washington left office, he established the peaceful transfer of power as a cornerstone of our republic. He was concerned about the rise of political parties and spoke about the future of our country in his farewell address, “Democracy would not survive factionalism,” warning Americans to “guard against would be despots who would use parties as potent engines ... to subvert the power of the people and usurp for themselves the reins of government.” After losing the 2020 election, the former president sought to stay in office by seeking illegal ways to prevent the “peaceful transfer of power” that is transcribed in the Constitution and followed by every president for over 220 years.
How should you vote? I trust in the process that has kept us a great nation. Use your knowledge and experience, and then make your own best judgment.
Darrell Anderson
Battle Ground
