Col#298-9/28/26
VOTE
By
Richard Davis
Too many event these days seem improbable and ridiculous. That is because of the influence of one person. It is no secret that our system of government has been trampled on and reconfigured in ways that would have seemed impossible a few years ago. One of the biggest threats to democracy that we now face is the assault on our system of voting.
In the words of the Brennan Center for Justice, “Since day one of his second term, the Trump administration has attempted to rewrite election rules to burden voters and usurp control of election systems, targeted and threatened election officials and others who keep elections free and fair, supported people who undermine election administration, and retreated from the federal government’s role of protecting voters and the electoral process.”
Trump’s assault on the election process has been relentless because he fears that either the House or Senate, or both, may flip to Democratic control. He wants to retain his control on power and he doesn’t want anyone to get in his way as he tears down iconic buildings and institutions in Washington and tries to turn the White House into Mar-a-Lago II.
Because Trump holds most Republicans in his pocket and makes them bow to his wishes he will continue to become more of a dictator as long as Republicans control congress. If that changes, he may be forced to restrain himself and he might even find that he could face retribution from Democrats.
To date, most Democrats in Washington have not indicated that they have the fortitude to defy Trump. He tramples over the Constitution and ignores court orders without much blowback from Democrats. Will that change if they gain power?
So far, the Supreme Court has not allowed Trump to undermine the voting system in this country, but he continues to do things that defy laws. He knows that he can do whatever he wants because no one will stop him and he knows he can pull all kinds of tricks for a while because of the lag-time between illegal action and court decisions.
The best we can do as American citizens is to show up in large numbers at the polls on November 3. People who have the right to vote but fear that they will be arrested by ICE and other goons will be afraid to show up the polls because Trump will probably try to place the goons at or near polling station. Hopefully some sort of mechanism will be put in place to protect people so they can vote.
A high voter turnout will favor Democrats and Trump knows that. Voting will become an act of defiance on November 3. We need to keep that in mind, and we need to remind ourselves that we want to rein in Trump.
Voters nationwide will decide all 435 House seats, 33 Senate seats, and 36 governors, as well as thousands of state and local officials. The power to change this country is in our hands. If we do change the balance of power that means we want the Democrats to do something with the power that we give to them. That is the best we can hope for.
