By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… The manipulation of American elections is a fact of life, but the Russians are the least of our problems. Did the Russians attempt to affect the election? Of course they did. This is a standard practice of large countries. America is continually interfering with the ruling of foreign countries. If there were real elections in Russia, the United States would be working to influence those elections.
Before we get too excited about Russian meddling in American elections, we might want to examine our own role in the overthrowing of governments around the world. We are killing American soldiers all throughout the Middle East in attempts to established governments friendly to the United States. For decades we have interfered with elections in South America in the name of democracy. There are American troops stationed in over 100 countries of the world all in the name of protection for, or the overthrow of, existing governments. We have helped rebels to overthrow dictatorial governments we consider unfriendly to the United States and we have supported friendly dictators against rebels.
There are those who argue that we are merely defending political freedom for those countries; however, that is meddling with the governing of a people. I do not say these things to defend cruel regimes. I am merely pointing out that when political hacks seem shocked that the Russians would try to influence an
American election, they are being disingenuous at best.
Unless one can show that the Russians actually hacked into voting machines and changed votes, I am much more concerned with the internal meddling with elections. I would be much more interested in the number of “dead” people who vote in Chicago each year. How about investigating how many “illegal immigrants” voted in California. The posting of “Black Panthers” with clubs outside polling places to intimidate voters and the gerrymandering of districts to favor one party over the other is more of a problem than Russians meddling. The rounding up of voters and busing them to the polls with monetary and political favors are at issue. One should be concerned about the money billionaires spend to influence elections. I am almost sure that George Soros and the Koch bothers had more influence on American elections than Putin.
Okay, let’s say Putin is a KGB thug who attempted to meddle in American elections, Trump is an egomaniac serial philanderer with no filter for his tweeter account, and Hillary is a serial criminal who as Secretary of State put the nation at risk by not protecting classified state documents. It is time to focus on what can be done in the future, not what has happened in the past, to guarantee the American people leadership without those problems.
It is time for us to realize not only Russia but any nation with the ability to influence American elections will attempt to do so. We need minimize the effect by making the America people aware of the fact and the manner in which this is taking place. The major political parties are not going away so it is imperative that the extremes of those parties are not allowed to control the parties. The extreme liberal Democrat and the extreme rightwing Republican are equally dangerous to America.
One of the most important things that can happen is the establishment of a media that is willing to report facts as they are and not as they wish them to be. There is a place for editorial comment and it’s not on the front page or the evening news. Those who form their opinions from what they hear on FOX News or CNBC are forming their opinions on opinion, and while there may be a factual basis in both cases the facts are highly slanted toward a particular political view.
Opinion is fine as long as it is broadcasted and printed as such. In full disclosure, this column is purely opinion. These opinions are based in fact but they are opinions and slanted. It is imperative that the American people have somewhere that they can turn for the facts allowing them to form their own opinion and make an informed decision as to where they will cast their votes.
In the meantime, the Russians have accomplished their goal of destabilizing the American government. The never-Trump crowd, both Democrat and Republican, have played into the hands of the old KGB fox Vladimir Putin.
No one asked me but… The Clark County School District’s board of trustees is a hot mess. That, my friends, is an opinion. However, I believe it is also a fact.
We have a lame duck superintendent who feels he can direct a school board member to not enter schools in the district.
The superintendent’s number one assistant has reached a settlement of a threatened lawsuit that will allow her to not come to work but continue in her position.
We have a school board member threating to sue the district for defamation of character.
We have a district that continually violates state law and openly defies provisions of AB 469 requiring the reorganization of the district to allow for more local control of the individual schools.
The latest episode dealing with transgender students is one of the greatest studies of ineptitude on the part of a governing body one can ever witness. Granted this is a very emotional issue, but the fact that the school board arrived on the fiery scene with a gas can speaks to the dysfunctional nature of the board. After inciting the public at a number of previous meetings, the board held another contentious meeting and voted to develop a policy dealing with students who have chosen to deviate from their natural born gender. Now that the hornet’s nest has been poked, the fight will intensify as we watch to see where the hornets land. If the board thought they had issues before the decision to develop a policy on the dealing with the complexity of transgender students, they will find the problem has only begun as the public reacts to the actual policy.
In the midst of this controversy, the Clark County School District, as the major contributing factor in the State of Nevada’s ranking as the worst state in educational success in the nation, is looking for a new superintendent. The board needs to find a new ring master for the circus.
Thought of the week… “In a democracy, someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it.”
― Thucydides
History of Peloponnesian War
