Talking Common Sense To Voters

By FRANK LINGO

America urgently needs the Democratic Party to talk common sense to voters about the upcoming mid-term elections.

President Biden made a good start with his Sept. 1 speech in Philadelphia. It was the best speech Biden’s ever made.

The Dems’ topics should include common sense, common courtesy and common decency.

Unfortunately, these traits have been in short supply among Republicans since the rise of Donald Trump. We need to restore these attributes to our political life. Dems need to reach the many people who are busy with work and family, and might not realize the perilous course we are on.

For over 200 years, our representative democracy has functioned fairly well, with both major parties following the rules and allowing the peaceful transfer of power. There have been no saints in American politics but no one has ever tried to overthrow a free and fair election – until Trump.

His name was our first clue. The Random House Dictionary defines trump (after references to card games) as a verb meaning “to devise deceitfully.” Then it defines trumpery as 1) “something showy but without value” and 2) “nonsense or twaddle.”

Trump lived up to his name when he claimed for years on Fox News that he had proof that President Obama wasn’t an American citizen. It was entirely a racist lie but racists liked it, and Trump recruited a huge following.

Many people are trusting by nature, which leaves them vulnerable to deceit. Having lied and cheated his whole life, Trump excels at the art of the con. Just two examples are 1) the hundreds of his workers who had to sue him for theft of services, and 2) New York State forced him to close down Trump University for fraud and fined him $75 million.

Yet Trump’s new-found followers gave him all their devotion. He spoke to their grievances – fear and anger about immigrants, and losing the domination of whites in American culture – and they followed his example, which means they abandoned their common sense, common courtesy and common decency.

In 2016, no Republican candidate came close to Trump in support. Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and all the rest knew Trump was a fraud and they said so publicly. Now they all kneel to kiss his ring and kiss his something else. It reveals the shortage of honesty and integrity that now pervades almost the entire Republican Party.

This is how cults are conceived. A charismatic leader convinces his followers that he has their best interests at heart and so in their eyes, he can do no wrong. The leader does it for money and power. The devotees join to belong to something they can believe in. All they surrender is their sense and sanity.

If it’s possible that some Trump voters are reachable thru rationality, we can go to EITHER/OR choices. EITHER a whole bunch of those old retired folks who volunteer at the polling places conspired to commit voter fraud for the first time in American history, OR Trump just made up preposterous lies because he didn’t get his way.

EITHER Republican politicians care more about protecting and preserving the Constitution as they swore to do, OR they care more about staying in power by supporting Trump’s lies and his ongoing insurrection. His incitement for the mob to attack the US Capitol Building on Jan. 6 was only the beginning, and next time there could be far worse bloodshed.

EITHER we keep election integrity by installing the winners into office, OR we allow new state laws foisted by Republicans to overturn the results of elections and install their own candidates. If these Republicans win this November, our democracy will disintegrate and devolve to dictatorship.

Some Republicans who disagree with Trump have a website called www.lostnotstolen.org. The problem is they use wonky indirect terms like “baseless and unsubstantiated” to describe Trump’s claims. The simple truth is that Trump’s claims are pure lies, made with the intention of overthrowing the election.

Trump’s lawyers filed over 60 lawsuits. Every one was dismissed for lack of evidence, even though some of the judges were appointed by Trump.

The office of president is held in high esteem, so a president’s words are important. Journalists who covered Trump every day, recorded at least 30,000 lies he told. Some of those lies that people trusted, like his casual dismissal of CDC warnings about the Coronavirus, while also suggesting dangerous “remedies” like injecting bleach, caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

So EITHER you believe the scientists who have spent their lives studying infectious diseases, OR you believe a buffoon with zero knowledge of medicine.

And EITHER you see that the Republican Party will revoke women’s reproductive rights everywhere they can, OR you approve of making criminals of young women for asserting autonomy over their own bodies.

Health care, women’s rights, protecting the environment, voting rights and sensible gun laws are all vitally important but we’ll make no progress on any of them if Republicans gain control of even one house of Congress.

I hope the Republican Party returns to the ethical values of Republicans like Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Until then, if you want common sense, common courtesy and common decency in government on every level, you’d best vote for Democrats.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com. See his website: Greenbeat.world

From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2022

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