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Election Day
8 November 2022
Today is Election Day in the United States. It ends a political season of behavior particularly unbecoming a democracy. And presages a vote Republicans defiantly promise to refuse to recognize if they lose after filing over 100 lawsuits to disqualify mail-in votes in urban areas. It is, perhaps, the saddest Election Day in our nation's history.
Which is why we hasten to repeat our traditional Election Day message. Which has always been, regardless of your politics, to vote.
There are always simply far too many Americans who do not.
This year it may seem particularly distasteful to cast a ballot. The level of political fear mongering coupled with the constant polling of potential voters to see if it's working turns us off, too.
You might think Mehmet Oz, Herschel Walker, J.D. Vance, Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano among others, are no more real than plastic and paper Halloween decorations that should be boxed up by now along with the Devil who wants them in his Haunted House and Senate Chamber.
People who won't play by the rules, shouldn't be in the game.
But they aren't. They're real. And dangerous.
So dangerous that if you neglect to vote this year, they will be working to ensure you do not have the option again.
In 2021 we saw a violent insurrection to prevent the peaceful transfer of power at the U.S. Capitol. And since then we've seen sustained and comprehensive efforts to suppress the vote in many states, including armed militia "guarding" public drop-off ballot boxes. Running for secretaries of state, a position responsible for overseeing casting, counting and certifying the vote in 2024, are people who knowingly and falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen.
In fact Eight Republican senators and 139 Republican representatives tried to overturn the 2020 election with nothing more substantial than their lies. What are these treasonous legislators still doing in the Capitol?
Meanwhile election officials have been personally threatened in dozens of states, many forced to leave their jobs to protect themselves. What dedicated public servants are there to replace them?
There is no any evidence of significant voter fraud in the 2020 election. There were 11 cases of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, but none of them voted for Biden.
The problem for Republicans is simply that they lost. Like their leader, the golfer who cheats, they won't accept the results. Instead, they want to be in charge of counting next time.
People who won't play by the rules, shouldn't be in the game.
But only if you vote, can you blow the whistle on them. Please make the effort this year. You may not get another chance.