Volume 8, Issue 47
What is happening to America?
One would think, as critical as democracy is to our way of life and instrumental to our citizen relationship with government, that we would commit to, beyond doubt, the integrity of the election system. One would think that conducting the elections with such efficiency and security that confidence would be built, election upon election, in the psyche of the republic. One would think that conducting the elections flawlessly would claim the same ultimate priority as national defense, the strategic oil reserve, and control of our own 5G communications system.
One would think.
The actual history is that cycle after cycle, we continue to fail as a country in universal execution of elections without question. Why? Because we fail to balance the democratic process with citizen responsibility. It should be the defined mission of every American to become an informed voter to cast a ballot pursuant to beliefs and principles freely chosen as personal ideology. Further, it should be each citizen’s objective to help every other citizen independently cast an intelligent vote. Conducting ourselves appropriately as citizens in the election process is no less a requirement of citizenship than getting an education and fulfilling one’s personal destiny.
It may be easier for some citizens to procure a standard ID than for others. Technology may be more user friendly to some than others. Transportation to the ballot box may be more accessible to some citizens than others. Yet, every citizen should be responsible for personally maintaining the integrity of the system. It is not just that one needs to cast their own ballot, the imperative is to protect the entire integrity in the system to instill confidence throughout the electorate that the infallibility of ballot security is a national priority. We spend less time emphasizing the absolute accuracy of the vote than we do demanding that everyone cast a ballot whether responsibly processed or not.
The expansion of mail-in ballots should have been accompanied with stringent measures to ensure that only legal ballots were cast. Whatever it cost, no matter how many volunteers were required, the integrity of the system should have been the priority. It is inexcusable that ballots overwhelmed the system and delayed the vote count. Such circumstances should have been anticipated, accounted for, and managed.
Why would any state in the United States use any voter tabulating software that was not designed and implemented by a U.S. company? The United States of America should set the standard for the protocol of the democratic election process. Costs are not a factor. The integrity of the system is a matter of national security.
Coupled with citizen responsibility to protect the democratic election process is the balance of individual freedom for the public good. Every U.S. citizen has the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Yet, that speech can be limited when the well-being of the public is at stake. Yelling “Fire!” in a theater is the classic example cited for the limits of responsible free speech.
In the middle of a COVID crisis which currently continues to rage unabated, where is America’s collective will for the public good? The U.K. is currently under nationwide lockdown. Yet, their schools are open. They made a decision as a national priority that their children not only must be educated but must experience the behavioral development of attending class. The entire country, liberal or conservative, agrees with this national priority. Measures are taken to protect the teachers, the children, and their families within the framework of pandemic management. London learned how to set general public initiatives during the Blitzkrieg of World War II. Without minimum societal standards, the safety precautions can be worse than the actual threat realized.
The partial measure of freedom is the benefit to the support of all in a crisis. Our individual freedom should always be appraised in reference to our selfless patriotic commitment to country.
Too much “self” denies the concept of “us.”
We have the ability to set the standard for the conduct of democracy for the world. It is our will that is in question. We have the ability as individuals to protect our brother and sister citizens with our respect for their individual needs, even through free imposition on our own freedom. It is our attitude that is question.
The pursuit of power never justifies compromising the integrity of collective democracy.
Seeking personal privilege without the discipline of accountability for citizen responsibility results in blurred national priorities.
Confusion in national priorities impedes common purpose. Lack of common purpose rejects the eternal principle critical to the fiber of America, reaffirmed in the Declaration of Independence, that all inalienable rights are granted by God.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?