AUGUST 17, 2024 – At the top of the boarding announcement at JFK for our flight back to MSP yesterday, we heard the usual preferential treatment granted to “families with young children, passengers requiring special assistance, and all military personnel,” with the add-on, “we thank you for your service.”
I have as much respect for military personnel as the next person has. The Abu Ghraib (Iraq) prison torture scandal aside, ever since Desert Storm (1991), the U.S. military has mostly distinguished itself in the course of “defending” the country. (I use quotation marks because I’m not sure the Neocons’ war in Iraq was about defending our homeland, directly or indirectly.) I’ve been mostly impressed by senior American military leaders since our response to Saddam Hussein’s boneheaded invasion of Kuwait. Though mistakes were made in Iraq and Afghanistan, our military leadership are well-trained, well-educated, thoughtful, experienced, and cautious about starting things that can’t be finished.
For military personnel who’ve put their lives on the line, I have great respect as well, and for those who bear the scars of combat and for the families of those killed by enemy fire. Based on my acquaintance with certain long-term members of the Minnesota National Guard, my regard for that arm of the military is likewise high.
Where I’m going with all this, however, is not a comparison of Vance’s military valor and experience with Walz’s; whether the former, who mostly sat behind a desk, was more or less valorous than the latter, who apparently played around with artillery pieces in training and probably filled sandbags during active-duty sessions in flood disaster zones. In fact, what I need to opine about has little to do with military service, yet everything to do with the defense of our democracy.
Several weeks ago I heard a segment on public radio devoted to the critical role of people who manage our electoral system. They are the largely unsung heroes of our country. Without their dedication and integrity, the cornerstone of the republic would be at serious risk.
More serious than any other misdeed of the former president was his relentless campaign to “Stop the Steal” in the aftermath of his electoral loss in 2020. The blistering accusations against conscientious election administrators—professional and volunteer—were unfounded and unconscionable. Claims of election fraud were likewise baseless. In fact, so little evidence of fraud was produced, no fewer than 60 lawsuits claiming such were dismissed; not decided after evidentiary hearings but dismissed (by Republican-appointed, as well as Democrat-appointed, judges) at the outset for outright lack of evidence. Ironically, claims of fraud were so groundless that the fraud, it turns out, was in the claim that fraud had occurred! Republican efforts to impose voting restrictions based on the premise of fraud grew into a classic case of solutions in search of a problem—all with the ulterior motive of suppressing votes of demographic groups most likely to vote Democratic.
Yet, those Americans—Democrats, Republicans and non-aligned—responsible for managing the electoral system in 2020 forged bravely past the threats and horrible treatment as if facing an invading force intent on destroying the country. I have yet to hear an airport announcement, however, granting election workers preferential boarding privileges and “thanking them for their service.” Whenever praise is showered upon soldiers, sailors, airmen/airwomen and marines, “for their service,” the implicit and often explicit premise is that they are the only ones defending our country. In fact, defending the integrity of our voting system—a form of soldiering for democracy—is just as important as defending ourselves against foreign enemies. It’s high time we give election workers the praise they deserve.
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© 2024 by Eric Nilsson
1 Comment
AMEN!!