I am less than 3 years shy of having spent three-quarters of a century as an American. I can still remember when I turned 21 and was able to vote for the first time. I walked several blocks through a pretty seedy part of Detroit to reach my polling place and proudly cast my ballot. Since that day I have voted in every election – not just presidential or midterm, but local things like schoolboard, etc. I truly believe it is my responsibility as an American to do so, and I proudly cast each and every ballot.
Today I want to reflect on how this election is different and why, beyond any discrete issue, it is so important to the future of America. This year it is absolutely crucial that voters understand not just for whom, but more importantly for what they are voting.
I have always been interested in politics – one of my earlier memories is my father allowing me to stay up to watch the nomination of Eisenhower for president. Growing up there were many political discussions in my family; one thing they always included was the need to be well informed in order to properly carry out the Constitutional duty of voting. I always try to follow that principle even though it is much more difficult in today’s world.
For most of my life I have been able to rely on a fair and objective media to keep me informed. For most of my life I had a high respect for the media and its First Amendment right (and responsibility) to gather information and inform the people. (My second law review publication while still in law school dealt with the First Amendment and specifically with freedom of the press and a reporter’s ability to gather news.)
The press is sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate which denotes its influence in the political system. It has enormous power to frame and advocate political issues. Until recently it, for the most part, did this in a fair manner. But that has changed.
Today we live in a world of narrative rather than fact. People select a narrative that is pleasing to them and support its authors without regard to the factual support or lack thereof for that narrative. Because the news media now also takes that approach, it is no longer the source for fair and objective factual information. Even the alleged media fact checkers disagree based on bias. It has become more and more difficult for those who seek the facts (not interpretation of or opinions based on them) to find what they are seeking. That alone affects the nature of this election.
My belief and my personal education about various candidates in the past always led me to the conclusion that they all wanted essentially the same future for America – a betterment and closer approach to the ideals embedded within the Constitution. The various politicians and political parties may have had different ideas about how to accomplish that, but all those different paths had the same goal in mind and the same underlying respect if not love for America and its founding principles.
When I protested for civil rights and to end the war in Vietnam, I was not protesting against my country or its form of government. Rather, I was protesting about specific policies within that government. The protests were a means to an end – a way of making our country better, but not completely different. In law school, when discussing those protests, one of my Constitutional Law professors noted that many wrapped themselves in American flags, not out of disrespect, but out of respect for the country that allowed us to speak our minds in this way. That flag, representing America, was the shield that protected our freedom of thought and our ability to speak our views.
In the past voters looked at the planks of a party’s platform – what did each party intend to do for America? It has always been unlikely that someone would agree with every plank of any party’s platform and so, in past years, informed voters would generally choose the platform and party with which they had more in common. In the end, the voter knew that both parties had the same interest – a better America – at heart, and that they would listen to and follow the will of the people to get there. There was a unified respect for and pride in our country and that held us together. Our goals were the same.
That is not so today. Today there are two very different goals that include starkly different views of what America is and what it should be. This year’s election is ultimately not about the specific planks in a platform. This election requires the voter to go beyond the planks and specific policies to see the fundamental and dissimilar view that each party has of and for America.
Looking at various aspects of our nation’s culture and government, the two parties have contrasting views of what should be, many of which I have discussed in prior posts. These include but are not limited to: the individual vs. identity groups; self-reliance and self-determination vs. large government control; protection of inherent individual rights as outlined in the Constitution vs. rights created by the government that controls (or takes away) those rights; representative government giving voice to all vs. pure majority (mob) rule which silences the voice of the minority; equal opportunity vs. equal result for everyone; creating opportunity vs. maintaining an underclass of hopeless individuals; rule of law vs. rule by emotion and personality; capitalism vs. socialism.
The bottom line is that the Republican party is generally satisfied with the current governing structures of America. While they would work to improve them and with that the lives of all Americans, to move ever closer to the aspirations that define America, they would not fundamentally change them.
In contrast, the Democrats generally no longer respect those structures. They believe the very nature of our country and its governing bodies must fundamentally change. To reach their goals, to create the America that they envision, rather than improving current structures the Democrats would dismantle them and turn them into something else entirely.
To achieve many of its goals, the Democrats must ignore aspects of our Constitution and cannot continue with our three separate but equal branches of government. The Democrat vision provides much less voice to the people and much more to the control of the party and its government. This would require removal of an independent and non-political judicial branch – hence the Democrat plan for Court-packing to create enough political judgeships so that their party would never lose a political case. It would require more secure control of a Democrat voting bloc in the Legislative branch – hence their plan to create 2 new states giving a larger seat count to Democrats in the House and the Senate. And it requires an assured voting bloc for those things over which the people maintain control – hence create 11 million new voters indebted to their party by giving unqualified citizenship to 11 million illegals.
Of course, these may be short lived goals – there could come a time that these Democrat blocs would turn Republican. But if the Democrats are able to seize control then they can make enough significant changes that a shift against them would make no difference. If they do it right, the Constitutional guarantees that protect us will no longer have any force.
And that is why this election is so very different. The question of what kind of healthcare we will have pales against the question of whether we will have America as we know it or not. This is why it is so important that people become educated about the true facts behind what each party seeks, and why it is so frustrating that we can no longer count on the media to inform us.
Yet every voter must find a way to look beyond the surface beauty of the Democrat narrative to see the real and sometimes not so pretty consequences that lie beneath. Some may prefer the Democrat narrative and be able to ignore the inconvenient facts that the Democrats and the media are not disclosing. They may eagerly await a dismantled and different country.
Personally, I love America with all its warts and blemishes. I love its Constitution and its form of government, its rule of law. It is a place where we can truly become the full individual that we are meant to be. This is the America that I want my descendants to experience.
It is essential that people recognize the two different Americas that are on the ballot and truly know and understand for what they are voting. This election is different because we are not voting about which way we will get to the same place, but rather to which place we are going.
I ended yesterday’s post with a personal statement about my vote this year. I repeat it here:
As I have said before, I am not a member of any political party and have voted for both Republican and Democrat candidates in the past. But this year I believe that America’s future is fully dependent on our vote. Because I believe in our Constitution and our Democratic Republic, because I value our democracy and how it allows every individual to determine his or her own beliefs and values and allows each of us to speak freely those beliefs while requiring tolerance of those who hold different views, because I believe that Democrat policies will truly weaken if not destroy many of the crucial foundations of our society, for those reasons and more I am voting Republican this year, and I urge everyone who holds America dear to do the same.
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