You’re not saving America if you’re against voting by mail.
In fact, you’re not being terribly American at all.
One of the deeply weirder things of the endish times is seeing Mee Maws and Paw Paws at immense risk if they catch COVID-19 post “WE’RE AGAINST VOTING BY MAIL” memes on Facebook every thirty minutes. It’s wildly in their interest to be able to vote in the safest way possible, especially since they very much want to vote. But they argue against their own interest because voting by mail makes it harder for their team to win.
And let’s not fuck around: the only reason this is a debate is because Republicans’ electoral strategy is crutched on keeping as many people as possible from voting. The fraud concern is beyond disproven and the GOP has given up on not saying the quiet part loud. Trump himself has said that allowing as many people as possible to vote would mean Republicans would never win another election. Which is the “No one would have gotten fired, Gary, if you’d just not told the boss and shit in the ice machine like the rest of us” theory of democracy.
It also does not square with the greater Trumpian idea of fetishizing America as much as possible, throwing big military parades, and shouting “TROOPS” to as many teary-eyed Americans trying to America as hard as anyone can possibly America because America.
But America, and the idea of Republic propping it up, is full of inconveniences like other people using the rights you hold so dearly in ways that you think are bad or dumb because, well, that’s how rights work. (I am a progressive from Alabama who cares deeply for that state and its people. Thank you for reading the sentence that describes my cherished belief and daily hell.) If you’re gonna America hard, you can’t America halfway. If you’re going to shed a tear for the troops and all the freedoms and rights they protect, you gotta be okay with everybody being able to vote, since it is one of the freedoms and rights the troops are protecting.
And when you want to be able to win by always having more of your guys on the field, because you locked the gates, you aren’t being terribly American at all.
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