The following post isn't going to endear me to some people. Indeed, I removed it for awhile after it drew fire from some who I greatly respect. I sincerely hope that, as Thomas Jefferson beautifully put it, this will be no reason to depart from friendship.
I am a historian and an observer of human nature. And what comes now, is from a place I earnestly believe is an objective perch. Or at least, I try to be objective. I will write this and let future readers decide on the merits of this essay. Because that's who I've always written for as much as those in the here and now.
Ready? Here goes:
My friends and family are well aware of a policy I have regarding elections. It is very simple: I do not vote for a candidate who creates and broadcasts a negative campaign commercial aimed at an opponent. And I keep to that no matter what.
Its genesis came about as a result of my running for board of education in 2006, and those wacky campaign ads I created. Especially the "Star Wars" one. There were three ads total. None of them went negative. Indeed, the third and final one was an "anti-negative ad" in response to another candidate's going all nasty.
I think I knew going in that I wasn't going to get elected (though with coming in 8th place out of 16 candidates, I nearly pulled it off). But I was determined to make the campaign all my own. To make people remember me long after the results came that night. And I learned something from the experience: When you choose NOT to be negative, you become that much more creative. You find ideas that you otherwise might have missed completely.
So long story short: I didn't vote for either of the two presidential frontrunners this past month. They each blew their shot with me early on.
As I said, I keep to my policy no matter how much I may approve of how well a candidate has done in office.
Donald Trump? I've never been a devotee of the man. You'll never find me wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cap. But I can and do recognize the good that the man accomplished in less than four years. He did a lot to bring manufacturing jobs back to America. He strengthened our borders. Even now he's doing much to pull our men and women out of foreign wars they no longer belong in. I could name a dozen or so things that the historian of my nature must admit are Trump's successes.
And no matter which man it was who was chosen by the people of the United States, I was going to support them and wish them well. I would say that about anyone elected to such a high office. Yes, even Biden.
That was assuming that the election was fair, without any evidence of impropriety.
But that is not the case, in the matter of the 2020 presidential election.
Indeed, the evidence has mounted from the wee hours of the morning following the election that there was a massive amount of impropriety. I could recount them all here but Patrick Basham - among many others - has documented the puzzling irregularities better than I could.
And now? I don't believe that Joseph Biden defeated Donald Trump. And in a sane world I have no doubt that what Trump's attorneys are doing in pursuing every angle would fail to demonstrate that.
But it's not a sane world.
It is a corrupted world. In ever facet of our culture. Especially in our politics and our news media. Oh bruddah, the things I could say about the media. It almost makes me ashamed that I used to be a news journalist at all.
I'm enough of a realist to understand that come January 20th it's going to be Biden who takes the oath of office.
But I'm also enough of an observer of human nature to know that if Biden did indeed cheat, he isn't going to get away with it.
I remember the day the jury returned "not guilty" at O.J. Simpson's murder trial. Our entire campus erupted in gasps of disbelief. Nobody could believe that he had gotten away with it. But as I told some fellow students: O.J. didn't get away with it. "Someday, somehow, it will catch up with him. Maybe not in ways that we will ever see, but there will be justice meted out."
I see the same thing happening with Biden and Harris.
Oh yes, they are flush with victory now. But the fact remains that there are between 70 and 80 million who did not vote for them. And as the evidence of voter fraud grows, it's emboldening an asterisk next to Biden's name in the history books.
Personally, I don't see Biden lasting more than a year on the job. Much less two. He certainly will not run for re-election.
If this election was all on the up-and-up, I would be supporting Biden in his capacity as president.
But as things are now... I can't. I just can't. And neither will a lot of other Americans.
If there is a silver lining in all of this, it's that I believe in America enough to know that she bounces back from the worst. Winston Churchill once remarked that the American people can always be counted upon to do the right thing after trying everything else and failed.
If there has been any wrongdoing at all in this election, it will not escape judgment. I had no idea about Lyndon Johnson's "box 13" during his 1948 run for U.S. Senate. But now? He's an even bigger asshole than I originally thought. Johnson is not well revered in the annals of modern American history. And with each passing decade he is reviled more and more.
That is what I see happening to anyone who come to office as a result of fraud.
Joseph Biden may have wanted to be President. But it may well be that sooner than later he will discover that wanting a thing is far different than having a thing.
Again, speaking personally: I believe we are heading toward disaster. There was no broad and unassailable mandate in Biden winning. And as the evidence of vote massaging grows it's going to turn more and more people off from supporting Biden in any way. He is set to become the most ill-regarded and unpopular President in any living memory.
I hope that I am wrong.
