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America is a work in progress.
More than a hundred years ago we were torn apart by our own civil war. Even today disagreements continue over a growing list of foreign involvements from Korea and Vietnam to Israel, Iran, Venezuela, Greenland, Cuba and others.
And we continue to endure a litany of social and economic controversies.
Funding of Planned Parenthood is but one such issue. We argue about the rights of women over their own bodies, and when life begins.
Girl Scouts is another issue. I mean there are those who denounce the Girl Scouts for “sexualizing young girls.” After all, some say, learning to build a campfire, sell cookies, and make lifelong friends is nothing more than subverting young girls “to liberal progressive politics and the destruction of traditional American family values.” Well, at least according to Bob Morris, a state representative in Indiana.
It seems that we argue about everything, and if we can’t win, some of us unleash our anger on Facebook or other social media. Here we can hide in the shadows and pile onto rumors. We can point our fingers, poison the well, destroy the character of those with whom we disagree and smile as others burn from fires we helped set.
As Americans we argue about our capitalist system, whether it is fair, and whether we want our taxes to be spent caring for those who are at the bottom of the economic ladder.
We argue about our role in the Mid-East, Israel and Hamas, Iran and its nuclear program, and what to do about Saudi Arabia.
Arguing is who we are. It’s in our DNA. We relish in our freedom to say what we want, to argue with our fellow citizens. We are like children who want the same toy, or two high schoolers who want the same girl or boy friend.
The times it seems we agree are when we have the same self interests. For example, we all want to make more money, have additional company or government furnished benefits, pay less taxes, enjoy discounts and get stuff for free. Most of us believe in God, want to honor our military heroes and bring back jobs from overseas. We believe it was right to kill Osama bin Laden. And who doesn’t want to be up-to-date with the most recent smartphone?
Oh and there’s one more thing. We want our elections to run fairly. Even many of those who don’t vote agree with this one. So when our leaders say that there is a problem of fairness during an election, people get riled up. How dare those scallywags cheat me out of my vote being counted fairly! And off we go.
No one knows this better than Donald Trump and those politicians who would benefit from limiting voters who vote for the other party.
It’s true Donald Trump lost fair and square in 2020. Donald Trump won 74,222,957 votes, or 46.8% of the votes cast. Joe Biden won 81,283,098 votes, or 51.3% of the votes cast. And others won 4,127,341 including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
That means that Joe Biden walloped Donald Trump by 7,060,141 votes or 4.5%. By American presidential standards, that’s a landslide. In the past six presidential elections, only Barack Obama won by a larger margin or higher percentage.
But not to hear Donald Trump tell it. In fact Donald Trump – without one shred of evidence – stirs up his followers to demonstrate against his electoral loss. He also did what he could politically to get some Republican elected officials to try to throw out the results of the presidential election.
Then Donald Trump went a bridge too far. And that is something on which we might all agree. But, if history is a good teacher, we probably won’t.
On Saturday, January 2, 2021, Donald Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican. The conversation was recorded (as is legal in the state of Georgia if one party agrees). Look it up on the internet and listen to every word while you read the full transcript for yourself.
During the call it is alleged that Donald Trump committed crimes including extortion and election fraud. Donald Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” that would put him in the lead over President-elect Joe Biden in Georgia
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Donald Trump threatened Brad Raffensperger with criminal charges unless he comes up with the votes to overturn the election results. Donald Trump offered second-hand conspiracy theories about the election – all of which had been investigated by Georgia law enforcement and the FBI (under Donald Trump’s control), and found to be untrue.
What Donald Trump demanded was that Brad Raffensperger simply announce a new vote total showing Donald Trump beat Joe Biden. Donald Trump said “There’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated.”
Not only was the call recorded but it took place while Ryan Germany, the general Counsel for the Georgia Secretary of State, was participating on the call.
Donald Trump’s actions are alleged to constitute criminal offenses.
Section 52 of the U.S. Code provides for five years prison time for a person who in an election for Federal office attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any person to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartial election process. This includes the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held.
Further, Donald Trump’s citing possible criminal charges for Brad Raffensperger unless he produces a different election result in Georgia could be interpreted as extortion, which Section 18, Chapter 41 of the U.S. Code prohibits.
The long and short of it is that Donald Trump threatened Brad Raffensperger with the possibility of criminal charges unless he comes up with the votes to overturn the election results. Donald Trump said “You know, that’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And you know, you can’t let that happen.” “That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a big risk.”
Of course this is all déjà vu. Donald Trump pulled a similar stunt when he attempted to pressure Ukraine’s government to investigate the Bidens.
Just when you thought it could not get worse, it does. Donald Trump’s call raises the question of sedition. This is a serious felony punishable by fines and up to 20 years in prison. It refers to the act of inciting revolt or violence against a lawful authority with the goal of destroying or overthrowing it.
We may not agree on much, but as Americans we must agree that our fragile democracy needs protection.
And now as a country we have committed aggression against the sovereign country of Venezuela – without first consulting with our Congress in total disregard of our Constitution. We are also rattling our swords against Greenland, Cuba, Columbia and elsewhere.
Maybe it is time we come together to agree on one thing… We have laws. Let’s hold our elected officials accountable to them, starting with the President.
Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, former Shippensburg University Trustee, awarded numerous patents, as well as Founder and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx provides cloud-software for automated sourcing and managing of mail marketing, swag, packaging, and all things print. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at Bill.Gindlesperger@eLynxx.com.
