I’m going to go out on a limb this morning and take on Heather Cox Richardson.

Well, not take on” exactly; maybe more like supplement something she wrote a few days ago.

Before I go there, I do want to say that this time on our country’s history calls for heroes - in this case, people who step up, unafraid, to push back against powerful people who have mal-intent. IMHO, Heather Cox Richardson is one of those people. Through applying history to current events, HCR is working to show all of us where we came from and the danger we face today. She is truly an American hero.

That being said, in her Substack column on September 3, HCR wrote about voting, the US Postal Service and Trump’s attempts to use the USPS for his own ends. As part of her column, Ricahrdson wrote.

What she wrote is true and necessary, but in my view, not sufficient.

Because it’s not just that there is a “widespread consensus that voter fraud is not a real issue…”

It’s also that:

Nobody has produced ANY evidence of large-scale coordinated voter fraud in federal elections.

Nobody has produced ANY proof of large-scale coordinated voter fraud in federal elections.

Nobody has been indicted since 2016 for a coordinated conspiracy involving large numbers of people systematically manufacturing or changing votes in order to alter the outcome of a presidential election.

In fact, the only true coordinated and organized plot to commit voter fraud at the national level since 2016 was the coordinated attempt by Republicans in several states to overturn the 2020 election after votes were cast by submitting false certificates claiming Trump had won states that Biden actually won and then appointing a fake slate of “electors”. In that instance, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin all brought criminal cases against participants in the fraudulent scheme.

It’s astonishing to me that we are still litigating voter fraud in the public sphere. It’s also astonishing to me that the response (by the media and Democrats) to any person stating that there was voter fraud - or any person even casting doubt on the integrity of our national elections - aren’t 3 simple questions asked again and again and again and again: “Where is your evidence? Where is your proof? If voting fraud occurred, why hasn’t anyone been charged?

These questions need to be asked EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. voter fraud comes up.

Either show us the goods or STFU!

There’s one other issue regarding voting integrity that I want to address in this post: the view by those who want to impose onerous voter ID laws/regulations that there’s no reason to be against such laws/regulations.

Simply put, this is a “cure” in search of a problem that doesn’t exist (see above). And the proposed “cures” will do more harm by preventing legitimate and legal voters from exercising the most important constitutional right in our system of democracy than good by solving an imaginary, non-existent problem.

Oh - and poll taxes were declared unconstitutional a ways back, so forcing someone to pay for a new birth certificate or passport (only 48% of Americans hold passports) seems to me to be, well, illegal.

I know most people who pay attention are aware of the issues discussed in this post. and most of us know this really about Republicans suppressing unwanted voters rather than the integrity of our voting system. Nonetheless, we need to constantly and tirelessly combat this war on democracy, and even a hero such as Heather Cox Richardson can miss the message very once in a while.

I can’t even believe this has to be said after 10 years of bullshit on voting fraud, but it does:

Writing, or stating, that there’s a consensus is not enough. It’s that there is no evidence or proof of rigged Presidential elections, and this should ALWAYS be mentioned whenever allegations of voter fraud are brought to the fore. Such allegations should be summarily dismissed with derision and ridicule if they are not accompanied by evidence or proof.

Schism - Show Me the Goods