An Attack On Pearl Harbor Led U.S. Into World War II
An attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7th, 1941, woke the nation. The attack only lasted 90 minutes yet American deaths totaled 2,403 and another 1,178 were wounded. Numerous aircraft and naval vessels were destroyed. The attack forced the United States to enter into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters.
It was an epic moment in our nation’s history and it’s easy to see how it captured everyone’s attention and shifted our foreign policy to take a large and active role.
An Attack On World Trade Center Led U.S. Into Iraq War
It is common knowledge that September 11, 2001, stands as another epic moment in our nation’s history. Nineteen Islamic extremists hijacked four airplanes and attacked the United States. It left 2,996 dead (including the terrorists) and totally destroyed two famous New York City landmark buildings and severely damaged the Pentagon.
The United States responded. Operation Enduring Freedom began on October 7thin Afghanistan to remove Osama bin Laden’s network. Attacking terrorists also brought us into the Second Persian Gulf War in Iraq because of our vulnerability after the 9/11 attack.
A multi-year occupation with up to 40-50,000 troops deployed at any given time, with well over 3,000 American deaths, and a wide swath of destruction followed. Worldwide ripple effects eroded international relationships and caused distrust to levels from which we may never recover.
An Attack On Elections Is Still An Attack
It’s becoming apparent with recent news that Russia has attacked our elections. Mark Mazzetti and Katie Benner’s article in the New York Times noted the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein news brief last week. He informed us that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has indicted 12 more Russian operatives. (Read the indictment.) They, in addition to the initial 13 Russians, have been indicted for hacking and interfering with the 2016 presidential election. Computer networks and individual computers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and Clinton’s campaign chairman were hacked by these Russian operatives. Websites for the Republican Party and a state board of elections (capturing voter information for approximately 500,000 voters) were also hacked.
Further, it has become apparent that such meddling, directed by Russian President Putin, has not ceased. It is further being revealed that such espionage attacks are also including elections of other countries.
The attacks continue but the election meddling doesn’t feel like the first two attacks mentioned above. Thousands of people have not yet died. Physical resources have not yet been destroyed.
I say “yet” because the fallout of these attacks may cause our foreign policies to fray and could spell future death and destruction. In short, such attacks are serious and should be considered as creating destructive ripples for future generations the world over.
The difference here is that the attacks are done in secret, in the quiet, and beyond our eyesight. Little physical evidence is left behind and it leaves the rest of us perplexed. It also feeds into a narrative that divides a nation, polarizes our politics, and causes us to react in fear.
Senator John McCain spoke of Trump’s antics in Helsinki this week:
Our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are—a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad.
Since our Commander-in-Chief will not defend us, who will?
We’ve Endured Election Attacks For Decades
During the 1880’s we began to use a winner-takes-all approach for all of our presidential elections. The approach, succinctly put, is an attack on our elections. It’s an attack that, like the Russian hacking, goes unnoticed and little understood. Yet, the resulting evidence of its harm is readily evident if we but pay attention.
Every presidential election, for example, is conducted with a large percentage of suppressed votes referring to votes not counted). Nearly half (sometimes more, sometimes less) of the votes cast are never counted—never considered—because of the winner-takes-all approach. Only presidential candidates capturing a state’s plurality of votes emerge with electoral votes. It is truly an attack on our democratic political system.
Further, ours is a nation of citizens that vote in shamefully small percentages. That means a large percentage of citizens are not represented in our presidential elections. In fact, it requires about three registered voters to elicit one viable presidential ballot in every presidential election!
This kind of attack has negative effect on voting representation. The results certainly affect our foreign policies.
Equal Voice Voting Stops The Presidential Election Attacks
Equal Voice Voting removes the winner-takes-all mechanism. The attacking approach is replaced with a proportional system whereby every vote counts and every state matters. Further, Equal Voice Voting encourages voter turnout.
Equal Voice Voting can stop the vote attacks on a state-by-state basis.
Let’s stop these attacks! Let’s wake up to what is going on in our presidential elections and demand a change. Remove the winner-takes-all cancer (See A Cancer Is Attacking Our Presidential Elections) and adopt Equal Voice Voting. It will allow the Electoral College to fully serve us as our Founding Fathers intended.
Who will defend us from this form of attack on our democracy? Can we expect our state legislators to defend us? Can we count on We the People? Will you share this awareness with others to further our defense?