The problem, as I see it
The problem, as 51.3% of Americans see it, in response to Ms. Michelle Hoy’s Jan. 24 op-ed in The Sunday Telegraph.
It is pretty obvious that you voted for, and continue to support the Liar-In-Chief Donald Trump, still believing his lies, and are now ticked and reacting because it didn’t go your way. I only have to read your closing paragraph, supposedly appealing for “healing”, then writing, and I paraphrase, ‘if you don’t agree with me’, and I quote, “you have something other than the survival of the Republic in mind and are seeking the downfall of the United States of America”.
Who the hell do you think you are to cast judgment on ANYBODY’S allegiance to or intention for our country because they don’t agree with you!
The problem, as I see it, is you and all people that continue to embrace the lies and reject facts.
So let’s be accurate with facts, as you ask the “media” to do.
• 159,663,396 total votes cast. Trump received 74,222,958 of votes cast, Biden received 81,283,098 of votes cast (CFR.org). Trump: 46.8%, Biden: 51.3%, Others:1.8%. 7,060,140 more votes were cast for Biden than Trump. I could say that Biden got “close to” 10% more votes than Trump, head to head and by straight ratio, and would be much more accurate than your “close to 50% of Americans”, cited 5 times in your piece. Don’t spin the numbers like your Liar-In-Chief does. How about you just say, ‘exactly 46.8% of Americans’. Words matter, facts matter.
• You imply that the “filibuster”: is a “governmental system” that is cited in our Constitution. I have a ‘hip pocket’ copy of the Constitution, which unfortunately, I’ve had to consult many times in the last 4 years. I’m not a Constitutional scholar, but have read it many times, cover to cover. ‘Filibuster’ is not a word that is found in the Constitution. The filibuster was added to Senate rules in 1806 and first used in 1837. Over time, it has been ruled in and out by both Parties, probably depending what they have to gain or lose. The House had a similar rule in the early 1800s, but voted it out in 1842, said to have been “Obstructionist”. I’d submit that the filibuster is un-Constitutional, as the Constitution states only where simple majority and 2/3 counts are required. You go further stating “the Constitution of the United Sates of America, which was meticulously designed to prevent a hostile majority from stealing the freedom of… those of the minority”. Those words, or anything meaning such, simply do not exist in the Constitution.
• Your No. 1. Committee to Investigate Voter Fraud. The only people alleging Voter Fraud is your Liar-In-Chief and the people who believe his lies. CISA Director Chris Krebs, lifelong Republican and Trump appointee, said of the 2020 election, “This is the most secure in American history”. And then he was fired. DOJ Attorney General Bill Barr, lifelong Republican and Trump appointee, said of the 2020 election, “No systemic or broad-based voter fraud” and “no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government”, ending with “If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven’t, and I’m not going to”. He resigned shortly thereafter. You think he knew what was coming? Giuliani et al are 1 for 62 in court election cases, many brought before Trump appointees, up to and including the Supreme Court. The one case won allowed vote observers to stand 2 feet closer. Great victory! Notice Giuliani et al never alleged voter fraud in any court case, only in his public speeches. He’d be disbarred if he pursued that line in court with no evidence. Georgia, with a State Republican administration top to bottom, counted the vote 3 times, investigated all irregularities, and found that 2 dead people voted. Holy Mollie…Fraud!! Let’s throw out all the votes! And then, the Liar-In-Chief called the GA Secretary of State and threatened him to “find me 1800 more votes”. Talk about Voter Fraud ??
• Your No. 2. Election Reform. Just read ARTICLE II and AMENDMENT XII of the Constitution. Election requirements are delineated, granted to, and defined as to what each State must do and provide, at a minimum, to have their votes count at the Federal level. The process to conform to these requirements are left to the States, by their enacted laws through their Legislatures and Administrations. Each state may do it differently, in accordance with their laws. Jump back to 1787 and consider why the Constitution was written this way and why we even have individual States. All being from different Colonies, our parochial Founding Fathers wanted to implement the Constitutional requirements via local control, not a ‘one size fits all’ edict. Each of these reforms you submit are either already enacted, or not, based of laws of each State. In Pennsylvania, with Republican elected officials nearly top to bottom, had all election law cases heard in their courts, up to their Supreme Court. All were thrown out. States Rights. So be it.
• Your No. 3. Section 230 reform. The Communications Decency Act of 1996 contains a Section 230. It states “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as a publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider”. Translation; Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Vimeo ect., are held immune from civil liability for what their users post online. These are independent companies, having their own policies regarding censoring content like pornography, hate speech, and as we learned recently, up to account cancellation for outright inciting domestic terrorism by direction and/or an accumulation of lies that promote such. The full policy content is up to them, in addition to adhering to requirements of Federal law. By the way, the 1st Amendment is one of those Federal laws. All these companies require acceptance of a user agreement before an account is granted. Enforcement of their policy is up to them. If you have a problem with this, don’t subscribe to their service. This law needs no revision.
• Your No. 4. Fact Based News Reporting. Well, bye-bye FOX News. I’m actually with you on this one. I started by appealing for only fact based publishing with this newspaper, The Telegraph, where they published my op-ed, “Just the Facts” a couple of years ago. I was reacting to two op-eds, printed, on the same page. One, written by the Telegraph Editorial Board, implied that Hunter Biden was guilty and should be held accountable. The other article, by a well known columnist, after delineating his evidence, concluded with the statement “Hunter Biden did nothing wrong”. I requested The Telegraph not print either type article in the future, instead, do some fact checking and just give us the accurate results. My plea fell on deaf ears, nothing changed. Best of luck to you on this.
So you want healing? You want confidence in all US government functions and results?
Just climb out of the lie pit you and “close to 50% of Americans” fell into. Reject the lies, embrace the facts. Help as many of the “close to 50% of Americans” out of the pit. Get them to reject the lies and embrace the facts so collectively we can engage in civil discourse, based on facts.
This is YOUR problem, as I see it.