Thomas Jefferson is claimed to have said "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”. If we want fair and honest elections, and representatives who actually represent us, we need to do our part
David Robb , Bio and Archives--November 15, 2024
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It's the fourth quarter. We just scored a goal that put us well ahead, but the opposing team is still on the field and the clock is still ticking. This is not the time to get complacent.
The enemies of our freedom are still present, still have power, and want to keep it. Right now, they are feeling threatened by the changes in the works, and are getting desperate. Desperate people do desperate things.
There is a tendency to think that with Trump elected, everything broken will be fixed and we can go back to our lives. Not true!
In fact, this is an even more dangerous time than almost any time prior to the election. Ballots are still being counted in a number of states for local and even state officials, but the efforts to monitor those counts have relaxed in many places. We still have a lame duck presidency that will remain in power until noon of January 20, 2025. We still have a hostile bureaucracy that resembles an hereditary aristocracy more than anything, that is actively opposed to change.
Many of the dangers have been pointed out by others, but I have been collecting them and adding my own concerns to the list. Here is an outline of a few of the major issues.
CNN recently reported on a leak that a number of top generals and DoD officials were meeting to discuss how they could act to thwart any orders they didn't like if Donald Trump became their Commander in Chief. If true, they should be court marshalled as that is likely conspiracy to commit treason, which is a capital offense. We already had one general in the previous Trump administration that acted to provide aid and comfort to a potential enemy. We cannot afford to let that occur again.
I mentioned that ballots are still being counted. Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, and others are still working to select the winners of Senate, House, state congresses, and many local races. With the attention relaxed, there have been numerous reports of suspicious activities affecting these races and issues. There will likely be numerous legal challenges to the results. Even with the Presidency secure, these down-ballot choices will affect many of the things that need to be done. The governor of California has already gone on record as planning to do what he can to "Trump proof" the state.
Let us not forget, too, that the Left is far more willing to take violent measures to get their way than those on the Right who value the rule of law and peaceful actions. There have already been at least two assassination attempts on Trump. Those will not stop. The rhetoric of the left has encouraged violent action—-equating Trump to Hitler, and MAGA people to Nazis. That only encourages some deranged person to think they can be the person who saved democracy by killing Trump. General Flynn is encouraging a massive increase in security around Trump both before and after Inauguration Day for this very reason.
There is also concern that there will be efforts to block Congressional certification of the Presidential Electoral College results. A Democrat congressman has already said he will do what he can to make sure the results are not certified so that Trump can't be inaugurated. He wants to use the "insurrection" clause of the Constitution as justification.
Of course, it is Insurrection if MAGA people try to delay certification until investigations into election fraud can be completed, but it is protection of "our" ‘Democracy if a Democrat tries to block certification. Ask one of the J6 political prisoners what they think of that!
We can all expect litigation around the election results. What we can also expect is litigation around changes to regulations and to various agencies. Every special interest and NGO has some vested interest in a particular piece of legislation that favors their cause or provides their income. The knives will be out for anyone who threatens to gore their favorite ox. There will be too many judges who will side with the administration and offer favorable rulings to protect the bureaucracy, just like the judge who declared carbon dioxide, an essential plant food, to be a toxic substance so that the EPA could regulate it. Litigation can take years that we cannot afford.
In addition to the Pentagon pirates who want to disobey their commanding officer, there are many members of the Deep State who cherish their position, privilege, and power, and don't want anyone interfering with them. These people are especially dangerous as they sit at the centers of power, know how to play the games, have access to huge resources and lots of support, and often operate behind layers of concealment.
It will take a lot of effort to expose them, uproot them, and fix the problems they leave behind. Too many of them are in positions to interfere with investigations, not the least those in the FBI, CIA, IRS, and many other powerful agencies. Lots of them have been planning for years how to "Trump proof" their agencies. It won't be easy to deal with them, and Trump can't do it alone.
Antifa, BLM, and several other groups will actively seek to use their particular skills in mayhem and violence to disrupt efforts to restore our country. Already, violent groups in Seattle and Portland have sworn to engage in violent protests. It is an old Marxist tactic to cause disruptions that prompt authorities to increase police efforts and curtailment of civil liberties. Those efforts often only increase public opposition to the measures employed, and support the disruptors. We cannot fall into that trap. There are other ways that preserve the rights of peaceful citizens while still thwarting the violent instigators. If nothing else, our Second Amendment offers some possibilities.
One particularly troublesome issue is the delay between the election and when Trump can take office. That is over two months when much can happen. We should perhaps pray for Biden, since if anything were to happen to him that would render him incapable of serving as President, then Kamala would assume office to become the 47th President, even though she lost the election. Regardless, the presidential controllers could initiate any number of actions that might secure their power and continue the destruction of the country. They could start a major war, declare martial law, suspend the Constitution, declare an emergency that would require the inauguration to be postponed, or any number of acts sanctioned by the authority of a lame duck President. Biden may need to be especially careful about dining with Kamala.
Even if none of these concerns come to fruition, we are still not home free. We have, at most, two years of grace. In 2026 there will be new elections that will affect a number of seats in the House and Senate. We could easily lose majorities in either or both as a result of those elections. That would allow the opposition to block many of the necessary reforms we need. We need to work diligently between now and then to ensure the support we need to continue to make America great again. That goes all the way down to the local level for school boards, mayors, city and county councils.
Speaking of which, we still need to fix our election systems. Dirty voter rolls, large scale absentee/vote by mail, untransparent machines, non-citizen registrations, broken chains of ballot custody, and a host of other problems require urgent attention. The great majority of people want voter ID with picture—where is that legislation? Why do we need two months of election season when the rest of the world can do as we used to do and have their elections on one day with paper ballots and counting distributed to give results no later than the next day?
Now is not the time to let our guard down. Thomas Jefferson is claimed to have said "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”. If we want fair and honest elections, and representatives who actually represent us, we need to do our part. If we truly value our elections, we need to hold our officials accountable to take as much care of our ballots as our banker takes care of our money.
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David Robb is a practicing scientist and CTO of a small firm developing new security technologies for detection of drugs and other contraband. Dave has published extensively in TheBlueStateConservative, and occasionally in American Thinker.