Category: Opinion

photo from Boston Public Library through Unsplash

There was a moment at the start of the Ukraine war when I stumbled across a conservative U.S. website. The commenters there were stimulated by the recent story that Ukrainians had told a Russian Warship to “Go fuck yourself!” and were then killed. (It turned out the story was only partly true – the defiant Ukrainians were captured.)

Someone on the forum asked a question: “If the United States was attacked by a foreign power, would you arm yourself and launch guerilla-style attacks like in Ukraine, or those in the movie Red Dawn?”

There was a lot of “Hell yeah!” and the usual easy promises of exceptional courage. It’s a predictable response from too many gun enthusiasts when they consume sanitized war reports.

It was a good time with lots of rah-rah going on. So of course, I had to step in and ruin the fun.

I suggested to them that they already had their chance to defend our sacred freedoms: on January 6. When an angry mob attacked the capitol with intent to sabotage the counting of votes, the well-regulated militia that the second amendment promises never showed. Because it doesn’t exist.

January 6 was a test for the 2A and its true-believers, and both failed completely. There was no organized militia that rode to the rescue to protect our freedom to vote.

Further, and I can’t prove this, but my personal speculation is in the Venn diagram where one circle is “Participated in January 6” and the other is “Believes the 2A Protects Freedom” would show a lot of overlap.

But back to the forum. I had stirred up a hornet’s nest with my question: “If you say you would defend our nation, why didn’t you rush to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 when our freedoms came under attack?”

“You voted for Biden,” said one, and in doing so, revealed himself and a lot more. He showed that he wasn’t about defending freedom. He was about defending HIS freedom – and only his. Big difference.

By contrast, when I was working the voting polls, I helped anyone and everyone vote. I protected the RIGHT TO VOTE. I didn’t ask, “Who are you voting for?” and then say, “Oh I approve – you can vote.” Or “No, I don’t approve. You can’t vote.” etc.

When Hilary Clinton lost in 2016, I was disappointed, but I accepted the outcome of the contest. When Donald Trump lost in 2020, this was not reciprocated – even in official circles. There’s another difference.

The 2A allegedly provides for a means for the people to defend freedom, but it forgets that a lot of people don’t think about what freedom is. They defend their right to disagree — their right to live as they choose — but they don’t care about anyone else’s right to do the same.

So where do we go from here? I think we start by assuring people that just because their candidate lost, they still have inalienable rights. Those cannot be altered by any candidate or president.

Unfortunately, those rights currently include a right to as many firearms as you like, even if you aren’t part of a well-regulated militia, and even if you don’t rise up to defend freedom, and even if your definition of freedom is infantile (you get what you want, no one else does.)

I’m critical of these folks I encountered on that forum, but let me share a kind word for them. The intent to defend freedom is a noble impulse, I’ll give them that. But that honorable goal has been hijacked and corrupted by gun mythology and a fantastical version of individualism, all in the service of selling more firearms.

We have to remind them that to get freedom, you have to give it. Defending freedom doesn’t mean just looking out for your own. In means looking out for freedom as a whole.

As enjoyable as the Fox News lawsuit loss is, I’ve seen a lot of party-poopers crying that Fox viewers won’t learn about the message. To fix that, we should Adopt a Fox Viewer #AdoptAFoxViewer or adopt a Fox News forum.

Your mission: Go any Fox News website or Social Media Forum and post a link to the news that Fox lost their lawsuit. Politely inform the people there that Fox is lying and that they recently paid 787 million because of it. It’s that simple. (Bonus points for including a link to an outlet they usually don’t like – which I guess is all of them – but I feel like PBS and NPR are best.)

Let’s pierce the bubble together, and show there are real consequences for trying to sabotage our democracy. Maybe we’ll even wake up some minds to the clear and present danger that Fox News is to freedom in the process.

Well Fox, you built your business on babying your audience, so don’t be sad that they acted like babies

You can see in the image attached here where I did so. I wasn’t rude. I just told them the facts. You don’t even need to reply. Me? I can’t help myself. But it’s fine to just let them know they are being used and leave it at that.

As for commentary on the case itself, it’s funny to me that Fox could trash our democracy and abuse its freedoms all day long, but the moment they infringed on another corporation – well then, there must be consequences for that! Shows where the real power and value is.

Also it’s somewhat funny to me that allegedly grown adults (Fox viewers) are so frail and emotionally weak that when a news network told them the truth, they threatened to run to other networks that would lie to them. Well Fox, you built your business on babying your audience, so don’t be sad that they acted like babies and cost you 3/4 a bil.

Regardless, have at it, my fellow citizens!

Hello Fox News viewers! Did you know that Fox News lies to you regularly? They attempted to steal our freedom to vote with lies about the 2020 election? It’s all true but they won’t tell you that. Here’s a link to more information on it: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-to-know-about-the-fox-news-defamation-lawsuit #FoxNewsLies #foxlawsuit #AdoptAFoxViewer

photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

November 3, 2020. Presidential election day during the COVID-19 quarantine. I was working as a voting machine operator at a polling station. The whole day was brutal. We’d been so busy for the first several hours that I had forgotten to drink and had become shaky. It was evening now, I was hydrated, and there was thankfully, finally, a lull.

A young man was looking at the papers laid out on the table near the entrance. He was closely scanning all those legal documents required to be there, but no one actually reads.

“Can I help you?” I asked through my mask.

He mumbled something I couldn’t understand. He saw my confusion: my squinted eyes, tilted head. Then he frowned, pulled out his cell phone, tapped it and held it up, screen to me.

“I’m deaf,” it read.

I pulled out my phone and typed back, held it to him.

“What can I do for you?”

He typed a little, held up his screen.

“Trump.” Was all it said.

You fool, I wanted to say. He’s a conman. A criminal. An incompetent. He’s going to destroy the awesome but fragile ideals of the USA. Don’t you know your history? Hitler started as a laughingstock and ended as mass murderer. Trump is following the same playbook. Can’t you see it?

That’s what I wanted to say, but that was not my job. This man was a voter, in need of help exercising his right to choose our president. My job, as a poll worker, was to be part of the team that helped him do that. I was there to defend his right to choose, even as he chose a candidate against the concept of choosing.

I did my job. I typed on my cell phone and he on his. We communicated with texts in person. With masks and protective gloves, it was difficult going, but I did it to the best of my ability.

That was one of the more interesting anecdotes from a long day of routine.

Before, during and after election day, I questioned my actions with genuine fear. Not with the deaf man, but the whole adventure. By helping people vote Trump, I would be assisting them in making a foolish choice. I had been reading history books about the rise of tyranny. Would I be one of the people that history scorns? One who had too much faith in the rules to stop a growing menace? One who had misplaced faith in humanity?

History teaches that the tyrant’s playbook is always the same. Stoke anger with non-stop complaining (but never do anything to remedy the grievances.) Surround yourself with amoral jerks who care only about power. Use half-truths: call out the establishment as corrupt while dismissing evidence of your far-worse corruption. Like many scams, the Trump 2020 candidacy was tired, old news, and effective.

I could have refused to work at the poll. Said no, I’m not helping people elect a dictator. But then I’d also be refusing to help people elect his opponent, Biden. My best countermove to the tyrant playbook was to help people vote. Then I’d pray — there wasn’t much more I could do — that enough people made the wise choice.

Sidebar: I feel the need to say that not all people who voted for Trump are cruel moron predators like him. The reasons people cast a vote are many. Many don’t pay attention to politics, or they always vote the same party, or their vision is only about themselves, or they want to shake the establishment. On and on. There is a percentage of Trump voters who match his vileness. The others are just making a terrible choice.

Yes, I helped people select a wannabe dictator. But I helped people dump him, too. More than that, I protected people’s right to choose. That, I finally realized, is the difference between an American patriot and an American fascist. We patriots support the right to choose. Fascists support it only when they win. Once I came to that idea, I felt I had done the right thing, even if the election had gone to dictator-wannabe Trump.

After his loss, as history predicts, Trump and many of his voters cried that their rights were stolen. That charge was and remains incorrect. Those who voted for him had exercised their right, I had been a small part of helping them do it. They simply lost the contest. Citizens have a right to a vote — not a right to win. And if you doubt the process? Or the fairness? I say fine. Take it to court. If you have a case based on evidence, you will (unlike Trump) win more than one out of sixty-two cases. (Source.)

You can argue about the imperfections of our voting system. I’d agree. It’s “winner takes all,” the electoral college doesn’t always match the majority, etc. But the idea of democracy in general is beautiful. It’s a sliver of our existence that’s an improvement on the ancient (and current) ethos that “might makes right.” It’s the right to have a say in our civilization, the right to choose our civic representatives.

I never thought I would take pride in being a “patriot.” So many who call themselves that care more for America’s symbols than its ideals and less for its obligations. But I guess I’m a patriot after all. Because I support the freedom to choose.

Democracy is boring, tedious, frustrating work. It’s hard to help process a vote for someone when you know they’re voting against who or what you want. The stark choice has been noted before: protect rights for all or everyone loses them. Even if — and this always hurts my brain — people would choose someone who would abolish the right to choose. You can’t protect rights for some and have a decent country.

So be sure to use your rights because fools and fascists will be using theirs. Vote.

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More Posts:

• The Second Amendment Failed Its Biggest Test on January 6, 2021
• I’m Depressed! I’m Here! Get Used to It!
• Operation #AdoptAFoxViewer – Helping Fox News Viewers see facts
• Maximum Returns with Minimal Investment Using This Simple Trick
• Boring People Don’t Exist — No One Is “Basic”