Op-Ed: Stop Whining — Guarantee A Rig-Free and Fair Election
Trump has the power to guarantee a fair election. To put it in his words, he could guarantee “ the freest and fairest election in history.” Why is he whining that this year’s election will be rigged? He is quick to blame Obama for “not doing anything to prevent Russian meddling.” So why is he not on the forefront of doing everything he says Obama did not do?
Look everywhere. There! Over here! Look especially at mail-in voting — China, North Korea, but by all means not Russia. “It will be a fraudulent mess,” says Trump of the upcoming 2020 election. Why not, then, use the most powerful office on Earth to stop that disaster?
What is Trump’s plan to protect the election and not just “sit there and watch,” as he wrongfully claims Obama did?
Would not the “Law and Order President” have enough power at his fingertips to guarantee this to be a truly free and fair election and his crowning achievement?
Instead, he is the one out to rig the election in his favor. He is using the power of his office to keep people from voting by mail during a pandemic where just standing in line to vote can infect people with a deadly disease as it happened in Wisconsin earlier this year.
Trump has his donor-appointed-postmaster general cutting costs so mail voting is clumsy, decommissioning crucial equipment so ballots can’t be counted on time, taking down those corner mailboxes so it is harder to find a place to mail a ballot; those are the actions of a desperate, clueless con on the run, certainly not those of the only person who could fix all wrongs.
Why would an anointed president choose to do the wrong thing when the right thing is so clearly within his reach and power?
“Free and fair elections are the foundation of every healthy democracy, ensuring that government authority derives from the will of the people,” says the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“Features of free and fair elections also include a society that encourages citizens to vote, that provides space for political parties to work and campaign freely and independent media and civil society to flourish, and that has built a judiciary capable of acting with impartiality.”
Good advice to follow at home.
It has been a Republican wink-and-nod policy to make it harder for minorities and those groups suspected of voting Democrat to vote in local and national elections; the claim has always been that they are to stop election fraud. This time, Trump has taken this to new lows, openly and brazenly moving to create structural barriers to keep people from voting. This is indeed election fraud indeed, out in the open and in full view. It is time for those Republicans to stop this fraud. It is time for this Republican president to stop the whining and stop the fraud he says he sees coming,
The cynicism of a jaded era in American politics cannot extend to self-dealing and collective fraud. It is the responsibility of the president to enforce the laws and the Constitution of the United States.
This pandemic time, when the country faces an existential threat, is time for Americans of all political colors, to defend the right of all Americans to vote freely in elections without undue obstacles. Fairness needs to extend to eliminating undue and burdensome procedures in voter registration that aim at marginalizing sectors of the citizenry. And fairness needs to extend to keeping out foreign and domestic powers from putting their thumb on the scale. Fairness means easy and accessible voting, and not using the power of government to make voting difficult for anyone.
Beyond the harsh personal attacks, intolerant rhetoric and partisan interests, a free and fair election is the only instrument that can bestow a true legitimacy to a possible re-election. It would validate America’s claim as the world’s greatest democracy.
It is time to expect the self-proclaimed lawman-in-chief to set order to the process; it is time to demand that Trump as president of a democratic America guarantee the exercise of voting rights, that he put forth a plan to stop all “rigging” of the election by all sides, and to — on his oath — guarantee a clean and fair election with free access to voting to all citizens.
Stop whining. Guarantee a rig-free election. Use all the powers at hand. Make sure no country, no “thing,” and no one can deny Americans the sacred right to vote and choose freely. It can be done. A great president would do that.
But, this cannot be another exercise is gaslighting, America must demand honest accountability of its president’s words as well as actions.