Against the Grain II

Voter suppression is cowardly and unpatriotic

Pa·tri·ot·ic: having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support for one’s country.

It’s amazing that so many Republicans will just stay in line and not call out some of the most unpatriotic activities the world has ever seen, just to support a loser… all the while flying the American flag and proclaiming patriotism. 

The state electorate, the electoral college and every court that had been asked said that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden fair and square, with no pliable evidence of voter or election fraud.

So many fly the American flag as almost a pledge to the country, yet the insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, based on a lie and called for by a failed presidential candidate for the most part goes unchecked.  It appears to us that the Republican party is no more… the “Trump Party” has absorbed the party.

One thing I will say is that I do hold some admiration for the Republican Party acting in unison and implementing its directives in an organized and forceful manner.  At the same time, I question the fortitude of the Democratic Party which has taken control of the House of Representatives, Senate and the White House. The party seems to be sitting back while those who are not in control of either of the branches continue to push their agendas.

With the improbable elections of Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the U.S. Senate became tied at 50 votes apiece.  This gridlock calls for Vice President Kamala Harris to be the tiebreaking vote. With extreme party line voting that has occurred since the presidency of Barack Obama, Harris could be the force that drives the vehicle of political change.

But, Mitch McConnell and his cohorts have effectively held their ground. How is this possible without control of either of the branches of the government? It’s because they are willing to drop their ethics to get what they want. The election of a Supreme Court justice in record time under the Trump administration by politicians who filibustered and stood on what were their principles at the time during the Obama administration are a stark example of the levels to which they are willing to stoop to push their agendas. These politicians literally went back on every word they used to obstruct Obama to assist Trump… and for the most part, they go unchecked.

Unfortunately, the extreme polarization of the parties we are experiencing today came under both the Obama and Trump administrations. The Republican Party did everything in its power to ensure that Obama did not have a successful presidency. The victims of this obstruction were the American people. The ones that they claim patriotism to. Under the Trump administration, the party followed every untruth Trump could spew and selected from that rhetoric an agenda. While he was distracting with his lies and all-out disrespect of human decency, his party hid behind the cloak of his social media, television rants and blatant untruths and moved along their agenda.

Since Trump lost the election, the new strategy is to prohibit folks from voting.  The focus is changing access to voting.  The goal is to put as much red tape in the face of and cause as much confusion to voters as possible.  How patriotic is that?  Soldiers have died, our ancestors died and much has been sacrificed so that all may enjoy the right to vote.  But these so-called patriot are doing everything in their power to take those rights away in order to further their agenda.