In what is called a purely precautionary measure, Washington’s Governor Jay Inslee has sent a letter to the head of the Washington National Guard providing him with the authority needed to keep the coming election safe. For now we don’t know the requisite number of troops to be activated and on the ground this week. Inslee’s activation is based in part as a response to last week’s two arson attempts on ballot boxes in the Vancouver area. It would also be forward-looking toward possible election-related violence in the week ahead. Coming to grips with the fact that this is needed in the United States is difficult.
According to Seattle’s Fox 13 affiliate:
Inslee said the activation “is required now for the protection of the public health, safety, or welfare of Washington State agencies and the people they serve.”
The Guard will remain on standby for four days, beginning Monday, Nov. 4, until just after midnight on Thursday, Nov. 7.
That this seems prudent and required doesn’t make it less shocking nor any less depressing. We now have an entire generation of young Americans, “Gen Z,” that see elections as a fight, whether it began in 2016 with Russian interference as found by the FBI, to the January 6th insurrection, and now this – troops at polling places. Kids see it as normal.
As with many other things associated with modern Western liberalism – in the classic sense, not “liberal” in the political sense – the United States has always been “the” leader. One now has reason to worry that authoritarian movements will sweep across other nations in what we always considered the democratic West. Are we in a post-democratic age? There is a need for troops at polling places in the United States if that partially answers the question.
It is enough to step back and ask “Who are we?” Because, setting aside our youngest generation, citizens who have voted in the last four to five cycles do not find any of this normal. We had a national emergency in 2000 when the state of Florida counted ballots down to 537 votes separating George W. Bush and Al Gore for president. Just 537 votes! In such a frenetic and frantic dynamic there was not a single noteworthy act of violence in response to the SCOTUS order to stop the count. Al Gore himself presided over the January 6th certification of the Electoral College, denying all objections to install his opponent as president.
It wasn’t that long ago.
And look at us now. It is almost a given that if Donald Trump loses the ballot count there will be attempts to halt or alter the Electoral College certification – again – on January 6th 2025. It is expected. Governor Inslee expects enough trouble during election week such that troops must protect voters and vote counters. Additionally, it is not impossible to envision Democrats lashing out in a situation in which a valid victory might be taken away. There is the hope that Democrats would not resort to violence or even gamesmanship should a Trump victory be definitive. But look at us now. No one really knows what will happen this coming month – only that it will almost surely be bad.
The fact that democracy shouldn’t be lost over the course of ten to twelve years doesn’t mean that it can’t. Indeed, it could happen over any given election. The Constitution and the law emanating from it are only paper without a societal compact compelling people to adhere to a bigger cause, a bigger promise, one that ensures we hand a democracy down to those same kids.
Benjamin Franklin’s description of the then-new government – “A Republic, if you can keep it,” has applied since the 1790s but has never been more urgent. Our memories are short, perhaps troops have been called up in the face of elections before, but not in living memory. Only Gen Z might consider any of this normal.
It might well be normal enough that other governors will follow Inslee’s precautionary steps. Imagine that, troops around the country protecting a democratic government from its own citizens. We may soon not need to imagine it.
God Bless America: I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak
IMO, after an election, all elected senators/congresscritters will take their respective oaths to the Constitution singly and in front of recording devices so that each person is on record that they, freely and without coercion, will protect the Constitution. If they don’t wish to comply, they will not be seated. Period.
I do not care about the politics of the legislators, I care about their oaths to this country. Having their oaths recorded in this way makes sure that, if necessary, any party/parties would think twice about behaving as they have done and are still doing.
I can think of a few (!) congresscritters that would be upset….
There is no honor in America. That’s why oaths are meaningless. People like the nominees for the Supreme Court commit PERJURY in front of the nation and eliminate women’s rights, and put Trump above the law, and no one does a goddamn thing about it. If this pampered materialistic shallow culture is the hope of the world…well better luck in the next life. More people know more about phone apps than they do about our history. FACT.
“As with many other things associated with modern Western liberalism – in the classic sense, not “liberal” in the political sense – the United States has always been “the” leader. One now has reason to worry that authoritarian movements will sweep across other nations in what we always considered the democratic West.”
Actually, I’m thinking we may be playing the role of “follower” in this case. Italy’s current Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, is the leader of a right-wing, quasi-fascist party (the Brothers of Italy) and, of the 10 people who’ve served as prime minister in this century, she’s currently the fourth longest-serving (at just a little over 2 years; the longest-serving is Silvio Berlusconi who served two separate terms for a total of nearly 8 1/2 years and he was also a far-right PM, though marginally less so). France saw its own far-right, quasi-fascist party leader, Marine Le Pen, defeated for a second time in 2022 by more than 5 million votes (yet she picked up nearly 3 million votes over the 2017 election while the total number of votes cast in 2022 was just 675,000 higher). And the UK just managed to avoid a further tilt to the right (largely through the Conservative Party’s own in-fighting but the Party’s willingness to work with the country’s own far-right movement didn’t exactly help as a number of the Party’s MPs weren’t happy with aligning with the far-right).