First off, I’m glad to be writing on a platform that values the idea of free speech. Thank you for providing that increasingly rare opportunity @Mod_Phoenix and @Chris_Colucci . I’m lifting again now and I’ll need more protein very soon.
For now I’ll give a brief synopsis regarding my thoughts on the 2020 election.
It was clear to me prior to the election that all of the last-minute changes being insisted upon by the Democrats were obviously, blatantly introducing many, many new opportunities for manipulating the system through a variety of means. I wrote about this in the months leading up to it. Geez, who could have guessed that all of these changes will cause problems?
Problems? What problems? The right guy got elected and most major media sources agree with long-time government employees. Cleanest election of all time. Done deal. It is so clean, in fact, that you aren’t allowed to criticize it through any of the most common means of modern communication.
That’s totally not against the First Amendment, I get it. You can still shout whatever you want in that field. As long as you’re wearing a mask and keep 6 feet away from other people. And it isn’t past curfew. And you’d better not be trying to conduct un-approved business in that field.
The problem is the shattered faith in the system. I compare the situation to my experience in business. If I saw the amount of fishy things in my business as I saw in the 2020 election from credible, documented sources, I’d call for an audit. Unfortunately the election system, which is really over 50 separate election systems with many sub-systems underneath it, is impossible to audit in any meaningful way.
Think of a dive bar, which is easy for me to imagine. This bar has no cameras anywhere. There is no point of sale system. They accept credit cards but receive no breakdown of what was purchased and what was charged. Just a receipt with a total and tip bar. Most customers pay in cash. The owner is growing suspicious that there may be some kind of theft or fraudulent activity taking place. He’s at a loss of how this can be proved though. This is because his system is designed to allow fraud to happen and then be impossible to prove. He’s just too dull to realize it while he gets fleeced by every bartender and waitress working there.
I’m suggesting we put some cameras in the bar and install a POS system at minimum. Even if the bartenders and waitresses throw a fit and call it “insulting, intrusive and probably racist”.
The other big problem is a rapid and grotesque erosion of the value and basic notion of free speech in our society. Cancel culture is real. Woka Cola is a real multi-billion dollar American As Apple Pie Company that’s forcing critical race theory down the employee’s throats. The internet tech giants are giants for a reason. YouTube was a beacon of free expression, until it decided not to be. Same with all of the other giants. Approved speech only from here on out. It makes me want to vomit, as does the basic idea that people are too stupid to read whatever is in front of them and make a value judgement on their own. It is insulting and cuts against the basic fabric of our society.
I’m sure most posters here are perfectly capable of the mental gymnastics needed to lay these outcomes at the feet of Donald J. Trump, but Trump isn’t the one who calls for broad ideologically-based censorship, digital book burning, or advancing the idea that children’s cartoons from the 40’s are problematic but teaching kindergarteners about transgenderism is productive and helpful. Trump is not the one who decided to deploy divisions of soldiers into the capitol in response to rioters. Trump is not the one who has rapidly implemented the most far-reaching and draconian restrictions on speech this nation has ever faced. Trump is not the one who ordered police to stand down during the 2020 riots.
Divisions of soldiers to protect me, de-fund the police for thee.
Once the Trump stupor wears off I hope some folks will realize that we’re lining up for another big social and cultural struggle here in the USA. The Republicans have always been on the right side of history in these big moments when the stakes are highest for who we are as Americans. It has never been a flawless institution and it never will be. Similarly, the Democrats have never been a progress-minded institution and I don’t believe they ever will be. Not if you measure progress in human outcomes as opposed to simply getting this policy or that passed. You can make the case for a few policies, a few prominent leaders and a few moments in history where Democrats have contributed, but the rap sheet keeps adding up for failed policies and bad outcomes not just here, but across the world.
Basic measures like actual voter ID (not a utility bill), sensible mail-in absentee procedures that are the exception, not the rule, and software that’s transparent and entirely managed in the USA could go a long way towards restoring confidence in the system. I think a case can even be made for the elimination of software altogether. A secret ballot that’s accessible to every American but still able to be audited in a meaningful way is not something that’s inherently out-of-reach in 2021.
There’s a lot that we should be able to have common ground on, but that will never happen if conservatives can’t even have their say in public.