An open letter to the “Election was Stolen” Crowd…
I would like to take a moment to sympathize with the people who believe the last election was stolen. We Too thought the Election was stolen…. That is, the Election of 2000 and the election of 2016. Both were stolen from those of us who believed the popular vote candidate should win the Presidency.
And we felt that the Florida vote was stolen in 2000. We felt that Bush’s team included those in Florida, who worked for Jeb Bush, the brother of the nominee, were not going to allow the small amount of votes needed to be brought to light that would overturn the Florida vote for Gore.
And we felt that the Russian interference in 2016, which included the Campaign Manager giving the polling data to a known Russian oligarch friend of Putin’s, was punishable by law. Manafort did go to jail, but not for that. The Mueller Report distinctly noted that if the President lost, he could be held accountable for over ten counts of Obstruction of Justice.
So yes, we know how you feel. We went out and marched peacefully in 2016, truly peacefully, as the Women’s March that was held a few days after Trump was sworn in. And then we worked to VOTE him out! That was the American way.
This way, the way of the Trump Team, is the Fascist way that also was the way Hitler came to power. Brownshirts and thugs who try to muscle their way in, with might vs right and might winning out through violence and any means necessary, is the way you have chosen to seize power. “Stop the Steal” is our mantra-not yours.
If you put a Secretary of State in office who will not certify anyone not vetted by their cause or team or whatever the Trump Org is calling itself now, you will be destroying democracy. That is small “D” democracy and not ‘Democrat” democracy that Bush & Trump have derided.
Any Republican or Democrat or Independent person can join in the democracy. And if you do want the economic engine to thrive, you will join us in saving democracy. And if you want the firemen and police and teachers and businesses to thrive, you will help us save democracy.
If you go over to the “Dark Side,” you may not even get your candidate of choice! That is something you need to think about. If you do not want war or violence or feel that people should be rounded up in camps or killed because of their skin color or their beliefs or religion or sexual orientation, you should immediately stop using terms like “Lock her Up” and “Stop the Steal.”
You should work to vote into office those pledged to American Democracy. That is how we thrived as a nation, how we founded the Republic, and how we won the World Wars and the Cold War. Lincoln said a “House divided against itself cannot stand.” And we cannot stand as a Divided States of America.
If you truly believe the election was stolen, you should work to win the next one as we always have done and have been taught to do as Americans. You should join an online Civics Group and learn what democracy means. And learn the history of Fascist movements. And you should stop supporting people who talk and laugh and joke about beating people up and airing petty grievances with private citizens of the United States.
You will be seen as petty and small and bigoted if you follow someone who is petty and small and bigoted. That is the final solution. Love over hate and good over evil is the way we must begin to look at our lives and our vision for future America. If we do not see the future as a positive vision of a triumph over evil, we will collapse from within.
