This commentary is by Bob Stannard of Manchester, an author, musician and former state legislator and lobbyist.
He was singing bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
And singing, “This’ll be the day that I die”
This will be the day that I die
— Don McLean
By the time you read this, America will be on its way to becoming a very different place, again. Hopefully, you will have voted to make your voice heard and maybe your candidates won and maybe they didn’t.
Here in Vermont, we expect those who lost to be gracious in defeat and move on. Here in America, perhaps not so much.
There was a time not all that long ago that all Americans were encouraged to vote. Voting was easier and most certainly less dangerous, at least in most states. Granted, some of our states have never accepted an African American or a woman’s right to vote, but for the most part voting was just something we did.
After the Republican Party’s president lost the 2020 election, things changed immediately. The most noticeable change was that the defeated president refused to concede the election results and instead said that the elections were rigged and stolen — a mantra that is still being promoted today.
As a result of his refusal to accept the results of the election, he and his minions put together a misguided plan for him to remain in office. Their plan resulted in an attack on our Capitol the likes of which people have never seen.
It was hard to believe that so many Americans would buy into a lie and carry out the actions that they did, but boy, did they ever. Thus far, 928 of those thousands of participants have been charged. As a result of the work of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, we have learned a lot about the plot to overthrow our democracy.
Every American should be disgusted by what we’ve learned. They aren’t.
There were nearly 300 election deniers on ballots across the country this year — one of them right here in Vermont. Gerald Malloy, who ran against U.S. Rep. Peter Welch for a seat in the U.S. Senate, and lost, has been in Vermont for only two years. His first run for political office was for one of the highest offices in the country, the U.S. Senate. He should have run for his local selectboard.
Vermonters don’t take kindly to someone moving into the state and running for high office. Just ask Jack McMullen.
Today we’ve learned that at some voting stations there are now fools dressed up in camouflage, toting automatic weapons, some hiding in bushes and others doing Lord knows what, all designed to intimidate voters they don’t like from voting.
As of last week, some GOP candidates were already declaring that they were preparing to challenge an election that had not yet occurred. Seriously?
What the hell is wrong with these people? Has America devolved to a place where people would rather believe in QAnon, the National Enquirer and Fox News over credible news sources? Apparently the answer is yes.
I suspect by now the U.S. House has flipped over to Republican control and perhaps the Senate will follow suit. Depending on the results of a runoff election in Georgia, we may now have Herschel Walker in the U.S. Senate, a man who has no connection to the truth.
Whatever the results were on Tuesday, America’s on its way to becoming a different country than it was a week ago. Depending on how things turned out, there’s a better than average chance that we will be well on our way to becoming an authoritarian, fascist state.
A party whose supporters make light of an 82-year-old man hit in the head with a hammer and suffering a skull fracture is really not a party that should be in power. A party that knowingly promotes a Big Lie in order to win an election is not a party that should be in power. A party whose titular head has 19 ongoing criminal and civil investigations should not be the party in power.
In an article in The New Yorker by Sue Halpren, we learned this: “Voters on Navajo, Apache and Hopi reservations helped swing Arizona for the Democrats in 2020. In response, the Republican governor and state Legislature have curtailed ballot access for an already marginalized constituency.” Here’s the link to the full article.
Sadly, we have watched as one major political party, the Republican Party, has worked very hard to keep qualified, legitimate voters from voting. Their fear is that if everyone voted, they’d never win. They would never win, because their ideas for the future are not in sync with the majority of Americans.
Thus, the only way to win is to gerrymander districts in their favor. If that doesn’t work, then do everything possible to keep Democrats from voting.
While they’re undermining our democratic process, they are chanting that they are the party of law and order. And sadly, millions of Americans believed them. Better luck next time.
