Stop trying to tell me what to think

I think there was probably voter fraud that occurred during the 2020 presidential election. Do I think it was enough to overturn the outcome? Probably not.

It is sad to feel compelled to have to state that for the record. However, now that we got that out of the way — and not that it matters what I think — if I wanted to believe the 2020 election outcome was a complete fraud and should be contested, what is to stop me?

Some would have the long arm of the law stop you.

The criminalization of opinion is underway in our nation’s capital with this incitement of insurrection nonsense.

It isn’t even an unpopular opinion. A significant portion of registered voters believes everything was not on the up and up, according to polling. Sixty-five percent say they thought the election was “free and fair” in a Morning Consult poll conducted earlier this month. When broken down along party lines, 91 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans held the view.

Thirty-five percent of registered voters is far from a majority. But if we are to believe that poll, with over 200 million registered voters in America, then 70 million Americans do not believe the election was “free and fair.”

That seems significant.

There have been numerous red flags — allegations of a deceased person or two voting, water mains randomly breaking at facilities where ballots were tabulated mid-count, suitcases rolling out from under tables after these facilities were said to be closed for the night.

Maybe some were debunked, but debunked by who — media outlets with polling that said this would be a landslide victory for Joe Biden when the results showed it was a much smaller percentage?

While it may or may not be correct, it is reasonable to question the outcome of the 2020 election. And if you believe, reasonably or unreasonably, something untoward occurred, what might that make you think about the future of America’s elections or the entire country, for that matter?

The responsible thing to do would be to acknowledge there’s a problem — if not an election integrity problem, a crisis of confidence problem.

You’re not allowed to, though. That is a thought crime. If you do so and espouse your belief in a public way, you could be held responsible for inciting an insurrection or considered to be part of an insurrection.

You can see where this can have a chilling effect. We have a public being warned against questioning what elected public officials and an unelected news media say.

An amoral corporate America is onboard. They are willing to punish employees who speak out against the outcome. Why? Perhaps out of fear any trouble in the political realm might impact their fiduciary duty to shareholders?

Might as well add pop culture and the establishment political class. Election skeptics or those skeptical of almost any other left-of-center policy position now face having to overcome Hollywood, Wall Street and the Washington, D.C., Beltway.

Now, do you see how a guy like Donald Trump gets elected?

What about January 6? We cannot live in a world where protesters, some of which were armed, are storming our country’s centers of power.

That was a betrayal of the public trust.

The crowd was hyper-charged. They already felt betrayed by the system to the extent they were willing to travel from all 50 states to go to an outdoor event in Washington, D.C., in early January. That takes a level of dedication.

It was at most, by the most liberal estimates, a few thousand people who participated?

Fairly or unfairly, in a masterful fashion, Democrats have equated anyone ever to have voted for Donald Trump to those people. Those are the rules. That is politics.

Now some people will be reluctant to admit they ever supported him. It probably ends any second presidential bid in 2024.

While it’s tenuous to tie the former president to the actual incident — which is, by the way, what is underway on Capitol Hill with impeachment and what could exonerate him when the U.S. Senate likely acquits him — Trump is damaged goods.

He lost in the court of public opinion to stage a rally to show support for a long-shot bid to overturn the declared outcome of the 2020 election.

It turned out to be a grave tactical error, and he should have known better.

Regardless, there will be a sizeable group of the public that will not believe the 2020 presidential election is valid. They pay their taxes or live up to their tax obligations. They are a significant part of the voting public.

It is irresponsible and unsustainable for the elites in the public sphere to think they can shame this group out of existence.

It is a fool’s errand because it risks making the problem worse by even further eroding the public’s trust in our institutions when it comes during a pandemic.

Republicans have employed the talking point Democrats want unity through conformity. There is some truth to it. But it won’t work for Democrats. It will just lead to Americans rejecting the ruling class and electing more Donald Trump-type outsiders, and potentially creating a more turbulent American political system.

Stop trying to tell us what we must think. It will backfire.