Now that the elections in Venezuela are over, the anticipated results are final: President Nicolas Maduro has won. Well, that is, he claims to have won, but actual results say otherwise. Reports from the various polling areas say the opposition candidates, Edmundo Gonzalez and Corina Machado, won—and by a landslide, some saying by a 70% margin.
Of course, Maduro denied this, and the police and army were called out to “bring order” back to the country. The Strongman refuses to budge, and by all indications, he isn’t going anywhere soon.
So much for a South American country run by a dictator. Aren’t we glad we live in America where something like this could never happen?
Wait, let’s think about this.
We would like to believe that we have a Constitution that guarantees us a smooth transition of power, even in a contested election, but in the social upheaval and worldview variations that our society is now experiencing, can we still expect this?
Certainly, we do not anticipate tanks to roll in the streets this November, do we?
Perhaps not, but there are enough bad vibes and—despite what some might think—evidence, to at least make us feel that there will indeed be some kind of push back once the results are in.
Mike Lindel of MyPillow fame and Rudolf Giuliani found out just how quickly their lives can be put into a tailspin by challenging the narrative of a supposed “fair and honest” election. Their questioning of the 2020 election was called “false” and “lies” by the mainstream media. Meanwhile, there was abundant evidence of ballot stuffing, poll watchers who couldn’t get anywhere close to where the counting was going on—and a media who proclaimed, “Nothing to see here. Move along!”
And if you were any of the American electorate who also questioned the results, you were tagged as an “election denier”—a moniker akin to an “anti-vaxxer.” Remember that?
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are presently conducting a campaign that has the media on a sugar high. Certainly, there is a lot more energy, larger crowds and an air of excitement among their followers than one would expect if Joe Biden stayed in the race. The question, of course, is can they maintain the momentum?
Perhaps more pressing is whether we will indeed have an election that we can all be satisfied with; an election where we can sit back and say, no matter who wins, it was a fair election, and everything was above board.
But there are many in America who would look at that statement with a cocked eye considering the many things that seemed irregular in the last election. One must also keep in mind that the “alphabet jungle,” MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, et al, will most likely tow the line of the Democratic party. We should not expect that they will be impartial.
That, of course, brings us to a most important question, and the title of this column, is America looking more and more like Venezuela?
Consider: Trump and Harris represent two totally different groups of policies—and voters. Years ago, Democrats and Republicans could sit down at a table and have some sympatico with each other’s policy stances. No more. The Right and the Left in America have a Grand Canyon between the two of them.
While Trump may waft a bit on the issue of abortion, his policy is pro-life. Harris is radically pro-abortion, as is her running mate, Tim Walz, a man who as governor of Minnesota watched his cities burn and did little to stop it. Coincidently, he also rescinded any laws that would require a doctor to save the life of a baby should it be delivered live during an abortion.
Trump would close the border down and deport many illegal aliens (yes, that is the correct term as “undocumented” does not express who a person is when they come into our country illegally).
Trump is pro-business, Harris would want to put heavier tax burden on corporations, which would trickle down to the consumer, of course.
The point here is that there is obviously a giant rift in our country, a situation that may turn out to be more volatile than one might think.
We should not look to contention with excitement, but with consternation. As mentioned, we do have a Constitution that must be upheld. But when we see January 6th people being sent to jail for decades while Antifa and Pro-Palestinian rioters get a pass, one must wonder if the laws of our land are being applied with equity.
On the other hand, if something untoward does take place in November, and no one questions it, what kind of people have we become? Are we so jaded that our evolution into Venezuela will mean nothing?
We do not want our country to devolve into a free-for-all. We do not want to see our cities ablaze again as in recent years. But we also do not want to see a country of complacent citizens who simply shrug at the presence of evil.
The great poet T.S Elliot that the world would not end with a bang, but “with a whimper.”
Let us hope that this is not the fate of a country who was once the fountainhead of freedom.
