In America today public discourse has reached a fever pitch; the “Melting Pot” seems to be on the verge of boiling over sending us out of the proverbial pan and into the fire. The two-party system that has dominated our politics and our lives for the length and entirety thereof, seem to quite literally be ripping the country in two. With both major parties more and more frequently calling into question the validity of the American voter system, and the legitimacy of the vote itself – tensions and attitudes begin to grow taunt.
Without going into the back and forth that has been going on probably since the national elections of 2000, and similarly neglecting to get into the whole “who started it” line of discussion, I wanted to take a moment to bring something to the attention of all Americans and all people willing to take the time to read this article. The world recently saw a perfectly stark example of a stolen and rigged election; forced even.
Of course I am speaking of the elections held in the Russian occupied parts of Ukraine. These people had Russians bang on their door, point a gun in their faces, hand them a ballot and say “vote for Putin.” Of course the ballots came back 99% in favor of being annexed by Russia, and exactly as Putin wants them to.
To my fellow Americans and countrymen and to people all over this world: I pray that we may heed this example, and learn from it. May we learn to lower the temperature of our discourse surrounding elections and other incendiary topics of the day. May we remember why this country was founded. Our constitution spells out no quartering of troops, no unwarranted search and seizure, no forced self-implication, and so many other rights that I fear we may have forgotten or too often take for granted.
There are certain presidents, and certain elections that I have not found favorable. I don’t think it is wrong to doubt, question, or scrutinize. But at least we may all take comfort in knowing that no one is banging on our doors, putting guns in our faces, and forcing us to elect governments that we don’t approve. We are still quite a peaceful nation – despite the heat and fever pitch. I pray we may remain so, and that this Russian example be the last of its kind anywhere.
I have included references that you may interact with as you like, but I did not rely on any one of them heavily enough to cite them specifically. Thank you, and may God bless you, and may God bless America!
