Republican election deniers threaten democracy

It’s not a headline I take lightly, but it’s scary that almost 300 Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, House and key statewide offices around the country have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election.

Not on the basis of proven facts but based on contrived conspiracy theories and marching orders from the candidate who lost the election because 7 million more voters cast their ballots for the other guy.

Almost 300 election deniers running for important offices is not an inconsequential or harmless number and many of them will win in November, influencing the conduct — and accuracy and fairness — of elections nationwide.

It’s scary because I fear what will happen to the country if lies — which can spread like lice in an elementary school classroom through the bullhorn-amplification of social media — govern future elections.

Scary because no matter how many court decisions and how many Republican officials such as Alaska Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer say otherwise, no matter how many truly independent audits verify the results of the 2020 presidential election, hundreds of Republican candidates are willing, even eager, to follow former President Donald Trump’s yellow brick road to the land of make believe.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Trump tried to take an inflated tax deduction for the road, falsely claiming it as a business expense.

Respect for the election process is what separates this country from so many other nations where elections fall far short of free and fair, where the losers march in the street to overturn the results, where intimidation and violence all too often determine the outcome — or certainly try.

Screaming that “we were robbed” by a bad call at home plate or a blown call on pass interference is an all-American pastime. No harm, no foul to the country. It’s just part of sports, like spilling beer and paying too much for tickets. But screaming that my candidate could have lost the election only if it was stolen is irresponsible and a threat to the rule of law, particularly when the losers want to rewrite the rules so that they can’t ever lose again.

If a candidate loses, run again, but don’t overturn democracy just to stay in power.

The count of 299 candidates who refuse to accept President Joe Biden’s victory comes from a Washington Post analysis of public statements, social media posts and actions taken by 569 Republican candidates. Deny the credibility of the Washington Post if you want, but you can’t deny what Trump says or the doubt it creates and the danger it presents.

While campaigning Oct. 1 in Warren, Michigan, Trump said, “I don’t believe we’ll ever have a fair election again. I don’t believe it.” He was campaigning in support of three election deniers running for governor, attorney general and secretary of state (which runs elections in in Michigan).

“Election denialism is a form of corruption,” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, the author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present” and a historian at New York University told the Post. “The party has now institutionalized this form of lying, this form of rejection of results. So it’s institutionalized illegal activity. These politicians are essentially conspiring to make party dogma the idea that it’s possible to reject certified results.”

In Alaska, Republican Kelly Tshibaka, running against U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is on the list of election deniers.

Alaska voters can stand up for democracy by voting for anyone but Tshibaka. Or don’t vote. But please don’t vote for a candidate who repeats a false claim just to be popular with a crowd that doesn’t accept election facts.

 

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