The (Not So) Stolen Election

Stop. For the love of God make it end. President Trump lost the election, he lost through the same process that put him in office in the first place. I want to ignore the President’s accusations, as it feels many do, it feels like many have already moved on, Joe Biden was elected and it’s time to get back to some semblance of political normalcy. I do not blame anyone for taking that position, however there are, admittedly, only so many people in my life that are Trump voters. The problem is that millions of people will believe the President’s claims, he has an entire media platform that will reinforce his claims, and an entire political party that will, at best, ignore the claims or at worst, actively support them.

I’m going to start with the most important part in all of this. The election is over, no it’s not official yet as only a handful of states have certified the results, however states have all but finalized their vote counts and put Joe Biden at 306 projected electoral college votes, the exact same number Trump took in 2016. Not a single state official in charge of their elections have come forward with accusations or evidence of widespread voter fraud. No US intelligence agency has noted impropriety or major issues in the election process. And most importantly, at this point, no court has overturned results in a single state.

It makes little difference what I believe, it makes little difference what Trump’s supporters believe, the very fact is that if Trump has any hope to change the inevitable outcome of this election, he must prove his case in court. Not on Fox News, not on twitter, not to Hannity, Carlson, Dobbs, Ingraham, D’souza, Kirk, Pirro, Beck or Levin, rather though the prescribed legal process. So far, his lawyers have not even gone as far as filing a case in court alleging outright fraud. Let me say this plainly, Trump, nor his lawyers, have presented a shred of evidence to the court that proves fraud that would change the outcome of this election.

Today Trump’s lacke… lawyer, Rudy Giuliani held a 90 Minute press conference where he a laid out their evidence, sighting affidavits from mostly unnamed sources alleging all manner of overt election fraud. He yelled at the media for suppressing it, it was difficult to follow, aggrieved, and ultimately pointless. Why? Because he was just in court two days before explaining to the judge that they were not filing a fraud case. More importantly, all but one of the over twenty-five cases they have filed have been thrown out.

Never forget the fact that Trump claimed the last election was rigged. The election he won, the election he won fairly, he claimed that it was rigged because his ego couldn’t even handle losing the popular vote. In May 2017, he formed the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, charged with investigating his claim that 3-5 million votes had been cast illegally. They disbanded in January 2018 with virtually no findings. Again, in 2016, Trump said “I will totally accept the results of this...election, if I win”. That’s the root of all of this, Trump tells us time and time again who he is, he told us that if he doesn’t win the game of Monopoly he’ll kick over the board and cry “fake news”.

The whole premise is beyond the realms of absurd. The idea that the Democrats have this ability to generate thousands of ballots in key states at the last minute, only as needed in states where they are behind. They were able to do this without the detection of the US law enforcement, US intelligence agencies, local law enforcement, and state officials running elections, however they forgot to do it in 2016? Despite having the powers of the executive branch at the time?

Let look at this from a logistical standpoint, “since 1900, only one president has won re-election with a recession occurring sometime in the last two years of their first term”. This coupled with the fact that we’re facing a pandemic that has killed 250,000 Americans. I’m not looking to get into the blame game, it is simply pointing out that Trump was seeking reelection during a difficult period in America. This supports the notion that it wouldn’t take some massive conspiracy for him to lose an election as the sitting President.

It is important to note that elections are never perfect. With 50 states processing 155 million votes mistakes WILL happen, even rare voter fraud, the cases do happen, but this is where Trump’s lies end. He may have successfully convinced many of his supporters that this election had so much voter fraud that it actually changed the results to favor Joe Biden, but as I write this, I stand confident that this is a case he will never prove where it matters, in court, because he can’t. 

At the end of the day elections are about trust, because there will never be a time where all 150+ million people that vote in Presidential elections get to individually audit every vote they did not personally cast. The integrity of elections is the bedrock on which any functioning representative republic or democracy is founded. If this election was truly rigged it would mean not only can we not trust the Democratic party, but we can no longer trust a single institution that has been created to back the legitimacy of our elections (intelligence agencies, state government, courts, etc).

I want nothing more than Americans to come together again. It seems unlikely considering the political bubbles in which we all live. If the citizens of American are united we can hold our whole government accountable regardless of political party, whether we voted for our representatives or not. However, a united America was clearly never Trump’s goal, and if he succeeds in convincing enough people our democracy is no longer legitimate, Biden’s goal of a unified America will fail before he places his hand on the bible on January 20, 2021.

 

 

Black Lives Matter and Conflicting Perspectives

 I believe there are few of us that would say we do not live in divided times. Such division is exacerbated by a pandemic and a slow economy, it can all be overwhelming. One of the most prevalent topics of today are the protests of Black Live Matter (BLM), which have taken many forms. There is no doubt this is a divisive topic, one that many do not have the energy to address with a good faith debate. I admit my own struggles processing the recent events.

I have reached my overall opinion on the general aim of BLM, but that is not what I wish to discuss here. Rather I would like to take a look at the differing perspectives on the matter, while looking at how people process current events in general. Note that in an effort to draw some general conclusions, I may over simplify some positions. I understand there is a spectrum of views on the topic.

I would like to begin with the biggest current event, the protests. There’s little doubt 2020 will be a year that has a significant chapter in future history books, and I’m sure the protests will be a large part of that chapter. I’ll say this directly, there has been a lot of generalizations from both supporters of BLM and detractors. The general consensus of the detractors is something along the lines of “rioters and looters have taken over the peaceful protests” or “there were never peaceful protests, they were always violent and are hurting their own cause”.

According to four separate polls, it is estimated between 15-26 million people participated in the protests (1). It takes only a dozen to loot, maybe a hundred to riot, and a single person to start a fire. If we generalize the protests as "mostly violent", then is there a difference between that and generalizing all police officers as racist or violent for the actions of some?  

That street might go both ways, that people should equally not generalize police officers, but I would suggest that it’s not an equal argument. As a society, we give police officers a substantial amount of power with a mandate to keep that society safe. There have been numerous released videos of police officers killing unarmed black people (more on that next), so if that is happening while wearing the uniform that symbolizes the power society grants them, then it could be considered representing that institution.

So, to the videos of police officers killing unarmed black men, clearly, they exist. There are also videos of police officers beating and pepper spraying peaceful protestors. However, there are also videos of destroyed property, looted businesses, riots, fires, and violence. How we perceive these events is the same as we perceive many current events, through our filters. Much of our personal filter we create by what we decide to consume, whether it be Fox News, MSNBC, print media, or none of the above. Much of it is filtered by those with whom we choose to surround ourselves and our social media preferences. But in the end, we have to acknowledge that we cannot process the full scale of events today. It’s too much to process, so many of us will only let in what fits our preconceived bias. These filters make it very difficult to see and understand points of view of those with whom we may not agree. This fact is certainly not limited to BLM.

It was the filter, for example, that changed the narrative on Colin Kaepernick’s protest. Kaepernick originally sat during the anthem. It was recommended to him by retired Green Beret, Nate Boyer, to kneel instead (2). Kaepernick’s message was simple, it was a protest against police brutality towards black people. Through misinterpretation and people projecting their own values onto the protest it somehow became a protest against America and its veterans, despite the suggestion coming from a veteran.

Emotion in Visuals

Let’s look at the George Floyd incident specifically, it might be anecdotal, but think about the images we saw. We look at the officer with his knee on George Floyd’s neck. He has no look of concern on his face, no worry that there might be ramifications from his actions. He had three officers standing around him, watching him slowly suffocate a living man to death, and they held the crowd back to let him do it. This is not my indictment on the entire police force, this is simply a call to empathize with those who do.

Do not get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for police officers, I know many put their lives on the line every day and that even more simply want what is best for their community, but this brings me to the next perspective, how people view police officers. This part is difficult for me to write about, it will include speaking to how I perceive much of the black communities’ view of police officers. However, I think it is commonly acknowledged that there has been a trust divide between the police force and much of the black community for a long time.

We can see it in the now seven years old BLM movement and we saw it evidenced during the Rodney King trial and aftermath. We can see it in the polling, a September 2016 Pew Research poll found 75% of white people, compared to 33% of black people, answered “excellent or good” when asked if “police in their community treat race and ethnic groups equally” (3). We can see it in pop culture, “F.T.P” by NWA came out in 1988 and in a 2000 comedy special Dave Chappelle described the black community as “afraid” of police.

As evidenced more specifically in the referenced poll, there is a disagreement between much of the white community and black community on how they view police. Which brings me to a very important point it took me a while to realize, I cannot know what it is like to grow up black in America. Does that mean I’m not entitled to my opinion on race relations as a white man? Of course not, but I would contend that a good faith conversation about race has to start with that acknowledgement. To empathize with people and their beliefs you might not fully understand.

This is not to say there are not plenty of white people that grew up under less than fortunate circumstances, but it does acknowledge I cannot know what it’s like going through growing up in communities with statues of historical figures that owned your ancestors, knowing slavery is likely the reason you’re here, that only 55 years ago you couldn’t sit with a white person in a restaurant, or reading about Jim Crow Laws as a black child.

Similarly, I never grew up in a predominately black community. Many of them feel there are plenty of reasons to distrust the police, or fear them, or even view them as racist. It’s not necessarily that I agree, every interaction I’ve had with the police was as a white man, and they’ve been mostly positive, but I acknowledge I would have no idea what an interaction with the police is like as a black person.

So how is it possible to bridge this gap in perception? It’s clear that it will not simply disappear, the protests are getting more widespread and they’re extending to all major sports in a significant way. Nor will the problem go away by simply telling much of the black community “you’re wrong”. The only way we will begin to solve the problem is collectively empathize with one another. That does not even mean one suddenly has to believe there is systemic racism within the police force, it simply means they have to begin to understand why a black person would, and understand the emotions that would come from that belief.

I’ll close with a relevant quote from Martin Luther King Jr. Much of what is taught about the man is an incomplete history. It must be remembered that he was one of the most hated men of his time, with several arrests for breaking laws of the time. He wrote the following from Birmingham Jail:

“First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klan, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’” – Martin Luther King Jr.

 

1.  Larry Buchanan, Quoctrung Bui and Jugal K. Patel, “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History”, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html”, New York Times, July 3, 2020
2. Michael Martin, “The Veteran And NFL Player Who Advised Kaepernick To Take A Knee” https://www.npr.org/2018/09/09/646115651/the-veteran-and-nfl-player-who-advised-kaepernick-to-take-a-knee, NPR, September 9, 2018
3. Rich Morin and Rene Stepler “The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance” https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/09/29/the-racial-confidence-gap-in-police-performance/, Pew Research Center, September 29, 2016

 

Defining Patriotism

Patriotism. 

These days, in this country, it seems like a loaded word. For me personally, my patriotism has shifted a lot through the years, but I do not consider it any weaker. When I was younger it was more a movie version, America was always the good guy, taking out the bad guy, helping the oppressed. Using its military might to maintain a peaceful world. 

In my adulthood Patriotism is certainly much less black and white. I find, now, one of the most important aspects of patriotism is using your freedoms to improve and build upon the foundations that were constructed so long ago. More recently, it has become truly processing the atrocities committed by this country. Atrocities is a strong word, but there is really no other way to define certain points in our history. 

Clearly, I was not unaware of slavery, genocide of the native people, internment camps of WWII, and the historical institutional racism that went along with all of those acts. When I was younger, I excused those acts with simple thoughts such as “no powerful country is innocent of those acts”, but that is the rationale of a child, using others to excuse our own actions shifts responsibility. 

Clearly I never owned a slave, I did not live through the civil rights movement, I did not contribute to the removal and slaughter of the native people from the lands to develop our own society, but those acts unquestionably shaped the country in which I live now, they contribute to the wealth from which I benefit. 

Patriotism, clearly, is defined very differently by different people.  Love of anything means accepting every aspect of that entity, both the good and the bad and the in between. But the difference in this relationship is we, as citizens, have every right to work toward fixing the negative aspects. I find that there are many that prefer to focus only on the good. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, are considered “unalienable rights”, but we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge that the man that wrote these words in our Declaration of Independence owned 600 slaves throughout his life (1). However, he called slavery a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot” (2). 

Many of the early founders fought against the institution of slavery, however four out of our first five presidents were slave holders. In total, 12 of our 45 presents were slave holders at some point in their lives (3). More recently, African American soldiers were excluded from the benefits of the WWII G.I. Bill (4) African Americans were excluded from many of the economic benefits of the New Deal (5)

So often today we hear the tearing down of various monuments and statues erases history, but I would say a larger inhibitor of many learning our history is their unwillingness to accept those aspects that interfere with their brand of patriotism. The brand that is unwilling to accept America as anything but an institutional beacon of freedom and hope. 

Our founding fathers were incredibly intelligent men, and as I said, many never owned slaves and worked towards its abolition. The good in our country does come from much of the foundation laid by those men, but we must accept the evil acts that many of those found a way to justify if we are to stand on that foundation. We must accept that no women or people of color were included in the drafting of any of our original documents. 

Today, we must accept that we’ve reached yet another pinnacle where more people must be included on the foundation. What is important to understand is that such pinnacles are never easy moments in history. Often, they include difficult debates about who we are and who we want to be going forward. Often, they will include regrettable violence and destruction. The aspects of such pinnacles are not always the same through history, but what is consistent is that history will judge them, and at every point until now history has sided with those seeking more inclusion in the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” that was promised by our founders. 

This brings us to our current President. On Friday, in front of Mount Rushmore, the President said the following “There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance… this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American revolution”. So, like many that has resisted the increased inclusion through history, he painted it as a binary choice. Either you’re with America or you’re against it. Largely, this has always been his political strategy, hyperbole and division, “us vs them”.

For many, he has successfully painted himself as the definition of American Patriotism. That any dissent against him is dissent against America. The main problem with this notion is that the “American Revolution” is in fact on going, and no one man gets to define what it means. The problem is that American dissent is Patriotic.

This brings me to the “good” in my definition of Patriotism. Right now, America is showing the world why it’s great, that it can stand up to an American President so desperate to keep people excluded. This exclusion is based on any arbitrary criteria that he, or some to which he seeks admiration, sees fit. Many have defined the revolution toward inclusion as “Cancel Culture”. 

Now there may be situations where efforts towards inclusion are excessive, where the pendulum swings too far the other way, as I said, pinnacles are never easy moments. These moves will never be perfect, the debates are difficult, but the ongoing American Revolution never was meant to be easy. “A more perfect union” will never be perfect. 

I personally, will never discredit someone who wishes to participate in the debate as long as they debate in good faith. President’s Trump constant hyperbole adds nothing of value to the debate, but at the same time it has woken the sleeping giant that is the American Revolution. This country is showing why the American people will always be more powerful than its government, despite his efforts. It has shown why America is still a great country despite some of the evil acts of its past, and even some of its present. 

As we move forward through these difficult times it is critical for all of us to remember that we are not our elected officials. Many of my more liberal friends will say President Trump “is not my President”, I will disagree. He was legitimately elected in 2016, and he will remain my President until the end of his term. The benefit to this is I am free to critique how immeasurably he has failed as a leader, how his only concern is his own benefit, and how I believe that division will only work as a political ally in America for so long. 

I look forward to better times ahead, I look forward to contributing to the American promise as much as I am able, and I look forward to more and more people remembering that our elected officials do not get to dictate how we treat one another as citizens.

Happy Independence Day. 

(1)    Slavery FAQs – Property - https://www.monticello.org/slavery/slavery-faqs/property/

(2)    Jefferson & Slavery - https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/jefferson-slavery/

(3)    How Many U.S. Presidents Owned Enslaved People? - https://www.history.com/news/how-many-u-s-presidents-owned-slaves

(4)    How the GI Bill's Promise Was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veteran  - https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits

(5)    FDR and The New Deal - https://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/fdr/