The crowd roars as the teams stream onto the field. There is a hush as the coin is tossed and just that fast, the game is underway. But immediately, you notice something very odd. The kickoff ball! It’s set on the 50! No one explains why. It just is. Driven tight against your own goal line, you begin to fight back. Play after play the referees flag your side and march off penalty yards; but over and over they miss the holding, the facemasks, the clipping by the other team. The announcer cheers their yardage and shrieks approval when they reach the end-zone, but barely notices your gains; in fact highlights every one of your numerous penalties—there’s even a biting comment about an amateur team playing sleezy football. A few people boo. It seems surreal to you. The late afternoon sun is in your eyes and a stiff breeze is in your face. A decision is made to not change ends at each quarter. No one explains why. It just is. As the fourth quarter winds down, you look at the scoreboard, its tied! In spite of everything, your team has played its heart out—and it’s tied! You cheer in the final minutes as your kicker clears a long field goal against the wind. But it’s called back. Holding. You saw none. A review is denied. The ten yard penalty puts you out of field goal range. Your hail-Mary fails on the fourth down and they get the ball. Two penalties later they are at your goal line. In the final seconds they punch it in. You are heartsick. You know deep down that your team was twice as good—played just as hard. But there it is on the scoreboard—and burned into history forever. They won. You lost. Deep in your soul, you know something is terribly wrong.
A Democrat, will read here an interesting story about football.
As a Republican, you see it at a much deeper level.
You see a ‘Justice’ department that sues a state that’s working to clear dead people off their voter rolls; a ‘Justice’ department that sues states requiring voters to produce picture ID of who they really are; a ‘Justice’ department that declines to prosecute baton wielding thugs for obvious voter intimidation; a ‘Justice’ department that sues a sheriff that dares to research highly questionable documents presented by a candidate they favor.
You ask yourself, ‘How many? How many votes was it worth to open the door to ineligible voters; intimidate others; and silence those who might object?‘
You see voting machines that mysteriously tally a vote for the opposing candidate when the vote was placed for yours; machines that automatically default to the opposing candidate when the machine malfunctions; machines which leave no paper trail for further verification.
‘How many?’ you ask yourself. ‘How many votes were silently moved from your column to theirs?’ You realize there’s no way to ever know.
You see early voting and drive-up registrations—by the busload. You see a military defending their country that somehow didn’t get their ballots in time.
How many, you ask yourself? How many busloads were out there voting early and often? How many of our military were denied even a chance to have their voices heard?
You see debate ‘moderators’ that tailor their questions to softball the opposing candidate and back yours tight into a corner; ‘moderators’ that jump in to help your opponent with ‘facts’ that turn out not to be.
‘How many?’ you ask yourself again. ‘How many low information voters failed to see through this stealthy bias?’
You see a media complex that, as a chorus, makes a rock-star of the opposing candidate—but misses no opportunity to kneecap yours; a media complex that trumpets for weeks a years old tape of your candidate defining the electorate, but buries dozens of tapes of your opponent misleading a nation, promising things he never does, contradicting himself and privately revealing his true intentions; a media complex that blacks out important stories that might damage your opponent’s chances until after the voting is done; a media complex that mocks, labels, ridicules and demonizes anyone who steps up to challenge your opponent or who dares to bring up important but unflattering facts.
‘How many?’ you ask yourself. ‘How many people only heard the jaundiced view of your candidate—the laudatory view of your opponent? How many votes was it worth to silence others who might dare to speak a damaging truth?’
You see a campaign that draws in money with no website filter for credit card location—enabling the illegal donation of millions in offshore funds; a campaign and administration that rewards large donors with billions in guaranteed loans, most of which curiously fail, leaving taxpayers poorer and donors wealthier—to give again.
‘How many?’ you ask yourself. ‘How many voters were influenced by ads bought with campaign dollars that never should have been?’
You see a culture that places ‘victims’ on a sacrosanct pedestal and demonizes as ‘racist’ or ‘sexist’ anyone who deigns to disagree with the substance of their policies.
‘How many,’ you ask yourself. ‘How many people voted their guilt? …Or faux magnanimity? …Or practiced that special racism that supports a person simply because he’s ‘our kind.’
You see an administration that uses your money to generously pass out free goods—especially in states where elections might be close. An administration that repeatedly refuses to enforce standing laws—each time benefitting huge blocks of the electorate.
‘How many,’ You ask again. ‘How many people voted simply to keep their free perks? How many votes was selective lawlessness worth?’
Republicans have become accustomed to these things; have learned, almost, to expect them. For decades now, they have watched their Democrat colleagues champion a collectivist ideology. Watched that ideology spread: a mutant malignancy, invading and degrading the very free-market institutions that made their country the strongest, most benevolent force on the planet. This latest election just ices that cake; a panoply of corruptions striking at the heart of our most fundamental democratic institution—the vote.
‘How many thousands–even millions of votes were turned by the cumulative weight of these many inequities?’ Republicans ask. ‘What if elections were actually fair?’ They grieve a future that could have been—should have been—if only the playing field was level; a future with runaway spending brought under control; a future where the constitution is respected and strengthened; a future where opportunity replaces dependency; a future with global order shaped by a strong, stabilizing American hand; an optimistic future, prosperous and free.
Instead, for another four critical years, they are forced to watch their beloved nation continue a slow, steady spiral down to centrally managed stagnation.
Deep down, they know their team was twice as good; played just as hard; held twice the promise. But there it is on the scoreboard—and burned into history forever. ‘They won. We lost.’
Looking ahead they see their precious offspring never knowing the sweet freedom and prosperity that was the America they grew up in and loved.
Looking out into a perilous world, they see wolves—circling a stumbling beast—waiting their moment.
