There are many types of ways to lie. You can straight out lie where nothing you say includes the truth. You can tell a half-truth, where only half of what you say includes truth. Also, you can also say nothing and lie by omission. All of the lies have consequences. It’s even worse when lies are spread through normally trusted news outlets. Unfortunately, many news outlets have started to lie constantly. They distort the truth to fit what they want to say, instead of reporting facts. It has come to the point where reading the news is worse than reading fiction.
Recently, I read the analysis article by Stephen Collinson of CNN. He titled it “American democracy is about to show if it can save itself“. Collinson starts his article by accusing Trump and his allies of assaulting democracy. He claims that destroyed the tradition of a peaceful transfer of power by trying to steal the 2020 election. Did Trump really try to steal the election? No, that is just another lie.
Lies on Peaceful Transition to Power
Let’s do a comparison between the two recent presidential elections of 2016 and 2020. Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election. When she lost, some people suggested a mistake in counting votes. With this information, she demanded a recount in the three deciding states. When Trump protested Hillary Clinton said “We are here to assure Donald Trump that there is nothing to be afraid of if you believe in democracy. If you believe in the credibility of the victory, put down your arms and your bureaucratic obstruction.” On a tour for her book, Clinton even stated that if more evidence of Russian interference came out, she would question the legitimacy of the election. She just couldn’t for lack of information.
On the other hand, Trump lost the 2020 election. Just as Hillary Clinton did, Trump demanded a recount in the three deciding states. Unlike Clinton, Trump had possible evidence of fraud during the election. He used this evidence to take these states to court, wanting a recount and revote. While ultimately this did not work, the constitution and democracy allow for it. Like Clinton said “if you believe in democracy, if you believe in the credibility of the victory,” then you have no need to fear. Still, when the time came, Trump peacefully left the office and turned it over to Biden. He does not expect to return to the office unless he wins the election in 2024. According to their rules, this sounds like a peaceful transition of power to me.
Voting
The next part of the article claims that Republicans are attacking votes. They are either trying to remove them or swing them in their favor. How? Well, they want to make better laws that protect votes from cheating and fraud. Yet, Collinson spins the story to say that these laws would hurt Democrats from winning. Actually, that may be true if Democrats have to rely on cheating and fraud to win.
Lies about Laws
Let’s look at some of these laws. One law restricts mail-in ballots to only those that request it and/or military personnel. Some states have even tried to make laws to have stricter signing rules on mail-in ballots. This protects against cheating in fraud. First, only people planning to early vote will receive the early ballots. This way fewer people can use early ballots to cast extra votes. Plus the stricter signing rules allow that the person listed as voting is actually the person voting.
Next, people have complained about voter ID. I’m not sure why. Voter ID would verify that you are voting, and not someone using your name or making up names to cast extra votes. Finally, some states are shortening the hours of voting areas. This will help the workers have a good rest and can easily do their job with fewer mistakes. While some states tighten restrictions to prevent fraud and cheating, other states have started to lessen restrictions. This would make a good study on which states have more fraud after the next election.
Not only the states have put forth these new voting laws, but the federal government also. A bill that would make national voting laws superseding state laws has passed the House. Even though the states should have the right to tell how they want to conduct voting, the federal government wants to take it away. They say they do in the name of equality. I can’t condone this as the federal government is not known for its honesty.
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is the Vice President of the United States. Biden has asked her to head up the campaign for fewer voting restrictions. They say this will help more people to vote. I would agree more people would be able to vote, including the dead and the illegal. All of that takes away my vote and my opinion and yours. As President and Vice President, they have the right to choose what they want to focus on.
Still, I want to ask what happened to the immigrants at the southern border. Last I heard thousands of immigrants at the border stayed in crowded conditions. Plus I heard immigration was taking weeks to handle the cases. I thought Biden asked Harris to handle that situation as well. Yet, I haven’t heard that she has done anything regards to it. What is more important, fighting laws that fight fraud and cheating in voting or helping immigrants?
Conclusion
I hate lies, especially in the media. The lies told by the media are carefully shrouded in half-truths and spun in a way to give the wrong impression. All it does is hurt and confuse people. The media, including CNN, need to get back to telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If they have opinions, then they can write an opinion article. They need to stop spouting off their opinions like it’s the truth. #Stop the lies.
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