Threats To Democracy, Real And Imagined…
Since Donald the Trump refused to concede defeat to Chris Wallace on a debate stage last week, there’s been a lot of overwrought hyperventilating from left-wing drama queens that he’s somehow an “existential threat to Democracy.” The hammy overacting demonstrated by those who put so much faith in the power of Trump and so little trust in the power of America is nauseating. Whining that Trump’s comments “undermine confidence in our democratic processes and inflame tensions” is as phony and overacted as a soccer player’s cheap dive, played for Democrat partisans who pretend to believe it and the media that amplifies their pretensions.
(Editorial note: Anyone who wants to make the case that Donald Trump really is an actual threat to the “peaceful transition of power” may do so in the comments after they admit “Bush won Florida.”)
But while the left-wing engages in pants-wetting and pearl-clutching about the Trump, an actual threat to democracy that really does undermine confidence in our democratic processes is being made. The accusation that Brian Kemp is trying to suppress minority votes is a cancerous assault on this election and a healthy democracy.
The Washington Post believes that when the New Georgia Project claims that 100,000 voter registration applications haven’t been processed, they’re telling the truth, never mind the ongoing investigation into fraud or the lingering questions about where all the donations to the NGP have gone. The WaPo will gladly report an allegation in a lawsuit that claims “…34,874 people whose applications were canceled between July 2013 and July 2016, 64 percent were black, compared with 14 percent who were white,” but omit any context showing the registration effort was explicitly to register minorities, so any error in the process will affect more minorities than non-minorities. So even if the allegation is true, it’s not voter suppression, it’s math.
Brian Kemp has pushed to get people to register to vote since he’s been Secretary of State. For more than a year, his office has been preparing for this election. They’ve made voter education videos in multiple languages. He practically begged people in the path of Hurricane Matthew to register online. You can register to vote with a TEXT fer’ cryin’ out loud. The 2016 election has been going on for a year and a half, and anyone in Georgia who’s not registered to vote by now doesn’t want to. And no matter how much the activist community whines about it, Brian Kemp can’t force them to.
In Georgia under Brian Kemp, minority voter registration is up and minority voter participation is up -but Democrats still can’t seem to get much beyond 45% in statewide contests. Hillary Clinton as the nominee doesn’t help much either -since she’s likely inevitable but very unpopular, why would any Georgia Democrats be enthusiastic about turning out to vote for her?
Voters can be motivated by fear or love, and since there aren’t many who love either Clinton or Trump, that leaves only fear. Democrats understand this, and have worked to create fear, resentment and a deep suspicion of the voting process. Their hope is that when the demographic tide finally turns their way, when minorities have been registered in sufficient numbers and made to believe that Republicans have working to exclude them from the democratic process, that those minorities will be so outraged that they’ll show up election day and mark the screen for every “D” they see.
The strategy of winning based on lies that stoke resentment is a bigger threat to democracy than anything some loudmouthed New York real estate con man says. The only difference is the Democrat’s plan has a better chance at success than con man’s.
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Mike Hassinger
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Yeah, only leftists think Trump is a danger to democratic institutions. Then there’s your Brian Kemp defense.
You’re taking this election pretty hard, Mike.
Your lack of faith in America is disturbing, tovaritsch.
I have plenty of faith in America, comrade. It’s her citizens I worry about.
Relevance?
Probably that it’s hypocritical to complain about liberals/Democrats using hyperbole as an election tactic when conservatives have run on lies and fear mongering for the better part of two decades.
generally, building citizens’ trust and faith in government, and increasing voting, are uphill battles.
we should be vigilant about threats to faith and trust.
the NGP may have been an imperfect process, but it has also highlighted the imperfections in the SoS office processes. the hasty or improper purging of rolls, most notably for the fragile process of confirmation of registration by postcard. if that’s not done by text yet, it should be. confirmation process easily completed.
Mr. Kemp has a mediocre record on records retention and security, and is fairly criticized for process failures, whether previously known or recently learned. He did do a couple things technologically for registration ease, and that deserves a pat on the back. But questioning whether he is doing his job is not an attack on democracy, it is a check and balance. Mr. Trump’s attacks also do not scream existential threat to me, they scream hollow threats of a desperate man, providing the check and balance that every conspiracy theory does.
Nobody believes that Trump is going to raise an army and instigate a civil war. People are rightly concerned that this type of rhetoric will sow even more distrust of our system. We can’t solve any problems now because the two sides can’t agree that 2+2=4. Polarization will only get worse if 40% of the electorate is led to believe that elections are stolen and results are fabricated.
That’s pretty much your last comment on this thread, unless you want to apply those same sentiments to Al Gore from 2000 -2016 and John Kerry in 2006. Say it with me: “Bush won Florida.”
“The issue with his statements is that they are designed to create distrust in our democratic systems.” Really? Kind of like every mewling Dem who said “Bush was selected, not elected…” Pathetic.
Sad losers. Bad losers. Who you gonna call?
So much whining. Toddlers are aghast.
Suppress votes? No.
But if anti-fraud actions disproportionately affect minorities it’s the chips falling where they may, right?