Just two weeks ago, Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded a democratic neighbor, mercilessly and without provocation. Here in the U.S., Donald Trump praised dictator Putin for his brilliance and “savvy.”
Trump was, of course, seconded by his supplicants who lauded this invasion of a peaceful, democratic country. Then, inexplicably, everything changed.
All of a sudden Trump and his U.S. “team” changed course. Now they want economic sanctions on Russia. Of course, the minute they demanded that the U.S. added oil sanctions, they got what they wanted, an opportunity to berate President Biden for his economic policies making gas prices rise. But that’s just politics as usual. There is something more nefarious afoot.
So now the GOP says it’s not OK for an autocracy to attack a democracy without a valid reason to do so. Might it be because they’d prefer this be done as an inside job? On November 3, 2020 Joe Biden won the presidency fairly and Republicans challenged voting machines, poll workers, harangued election officials and state legislators and every court in the land begging them to lie and cheat and give the presidency to the election’s loser instead of the fair winner. It didn’t work.
To this day, Donald Trump is on the phone to legislators in my current swing state of Wisconsin begging them to illegally and un-constitutionally re-cast our ten electoral votes for him. I say enough is enough. He’s been trying to take my vote away for 16 months now and I won’t hear of it!
Luckily for Ukraine, the world has come to its aid in rebuffing Putin’s ill-advised and disastrous invasion of a sovereign people. We cannot expect the same outpouring on our behalf. If we lose our democracy after 250 years, it’ll be all our own fault.
We are a free nation, one that has welcomed the world’s tired, poor, its huddled masses yearning to be free. With that comes a nation that is inclusive, not exclusive. Our state legislatures are now making it impossible to register to vote and to find a time and place convenient to cast a ballot. Worse yet, some of this legislation is designed to allow local election officials and state representatives to take our vote and change it willy nilly. They think we should be OK with them taking our votes from us and changing them so that their candidates win.
That does not sit right with me. What can we do to stop this? If you’ve incumbents running again, check their voting record. If they voted to cast out the 2020 electoral college decision at the federal level, vote for their opponent. Just this time, they’ll get the message. If it’s an open or contested seat, check what they’re promising. If it has anything to do with their priority being “voting integrity” be suspicious and ask what they mean by that term. Chances are it’ll be tougher for you to vote and they want to take your vote and change it to what they want the result to be. That is not democracy – vote for their opponent.
We’re going to need to hit the streets for voter rights before the 2022 federal elections so be ready to let your representatives know that you’re a voter and if they are elected, they work for you. That’s the spirit. That’s how we can use this groundswell of worldwide democratic power to assure our nation remains free for another 250 years. A vote is a precious thing. There are no wrong votes or duly registered voters. In a democracy every vote counts. Here’s to the American voter! Dee
Cooking with Dee 