Lies, Damn Lies and Elections

Here’s a little secret that I’ll let you in on…politicians lie. Yes, I know that might be shocking for some folks, but the vast majority of Americans have come to accept this unfortunate reality. Politicians make all kinds of lofty promises on the campaign trail, trying to convince citizens that all will be right in the world if only the electorate will usher them into office. But once politicians have succeeded in reaching office, many of those dazzling campaign promises evaporate in the face of reality. Citizens are often disillusioned when they realize that the candidate they voted for has absolutely no intention of fulfilling their campaign pledges. Those empty promises were simply a way of attracting more votes.

It’s very easy for politicians to promise a lovely future for everyone. Much more difficult is making that glorious future a reality. Inevitably, ugly problems persist. Politicians are then forced to explain why the world has not in fact righted itself in the way that they promised during the campaign. So they begin to play the blame game. Failure of course is not their fault. It’s just that the problems were worse than expected, or perhaps the problems couldn’t be alleviated because of circumstances beyond their control, or perhaps their political opponents prevented them from making any progress.

During good times, these dynamics are reversed. Politicians are quick to take credit for success, even when prosperity has nothing to do with their own policies or actions! Now to be fair, there are plenty of times when politicians tell the truth. Nevertheless, American citizens must pay close attention. It can be very difficult to discern reality from illusion in the political sphere. Politicians have a very slippery relationship with the truth.

However, there are occasions when politicians go far beyond even their normal level of dishonesty. On January 11th, President Biden gave a high profile speech in Atlanta, Georgia regarding voting rights. This was one of those moments when a politician descended to extraordinary levels of falsehood. As writer David Harsanyi aptly put it, “These were little more than the mendacious ravings of a demagogue.”

A little background is helpful here. Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, receiving 306 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 232 electoral votes. Biden received 81.2 million votes nationwide compared to Trump’s 74.2 million. However, the outcome of the election hinged on just a few states. Joe Biden claimed Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia by a combined margin of just 42,918 votes! If the extremely narrow margins of victory in these three states had been reversed, it would have resulted in an electoral college tie with each candidate claiming 269 electoral votes. (Under these circumstances, the election would have been decided in the House of Representatives.) Thus, the entire election outcome rested upon less than 43 thousand voters. Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 was similarly dependent on a relatively small number of voters in a handful of swing states.

Clearly, recent Presidential elections (as well as additional important races) have been decided by razor-thin margins. Needless to say, it’s crucially important that Americans have confidence in the integrity of our elections. Yet there were many disturbing aspects to the 2020 elections. Due to the pandemic, many states – for the first time in history – allowed voters to deposit their ballots in unattended drop boxes. An unprecedented number of voters cast absentee ballots. Some states even mailed absentee ballots out, even though voters had not requested them. The issue of “ballot harvesting” emerged, whereby unsupervised partisan political operatives are allowed to collect ballots. You certainly don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to find these developments concerning.

Thankfully, Republicans in Georgia and elsewhere have set out make our elections more secure. The recently passed election law in Georgia requires drop boxes to be placed only in secure, supervised locations.

Since 2008, Georgia has required in-person voters to present identification. Now, absentee ballots will also need to have a valid ID number instead of a signature, which can be difficult to interpret. Absentee ballots will need to be requested earlier, allowing the post office adequate time for delivery by election day. Interestingly, Georgia voters have always been able to obtain an absentee ballot no questions asked. Meanwhile, in the deep blue state of New York, an absentee ballot requires that the voter provide an excuse such as travel or illness. Fascinatingly, the liberal citizens of New York last year were presented with a ballot measure to allow “no excuse” absentee voting which they soundly defeated 55%-45%.

Georgia also expanded early voting periods, generously allowing early voting up to three weeks before election day, substantially more than New York.

Finally, Georgia’s law prohibits third parties from providing gifts, food or drinks to voters standing in line at the polls. This provision prevents political activists from applying last minute pressure to voters. But polling places themselves will still provide drinking water. Meanwhile, if lines at any polling location exceed one hour, the law requires changes be made prior to the next election.

As the chart below indicates, common sense measures to provide greater election security enjoy strong – if not overwhelming – support from American citizens.

Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats have responded to the new Georgia voting law by debasing themselves with a torrent of lies. Biden has repeatedly claimed that Republican efforts to ensure secure elections are actually a dark conspiracy to suppress voter turnout. During his speech in Atlanta (as well as on many other occasions) Biden has dishonestly referred to such measures as “Jim Crow 2.0.” The President claimed that the new Georgia law was intended to “subvert” future elections. He accused Republicans of undermining the democratic process: “Their endgame? To turn the will of the voters into a mere suggestion – something states can respect or ignore.”

Biden’s purported goal was to gather flagging support for Democratic election legislation. The content of these bills is highly revealing.

The legislation would first and foremost nationalize election law, despite the fact that the US Constitution explicitly grants authority over elections to the states.

The bill would require the use of drop boxes, even though, prior to 2020, these boxes have never before been used in the nation’s history.

States would additionally be forced to allow no excuse mail in voting. This regulation is quite odd, since as we noted above, Georgia allows no excuse mail in voting while Democratically controlled states like New York and Delaware require an valid excuse to vote by mail.

Democrats have long opposed voter ID requirements. Their legislation would force states to accept many less reliable forms of identification. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have consistently claimed that voter ID is an evil Republican conspiracy intended to discourage minority voters from reaching the polls. The facts say otherwise.

Currently, 26 states have some kind of voter ID requirement on the books. Georgia instituted a voter ID requirement in 2008. Nonetheless, with Barack Obama at the top of the ticket that year, black voter turnout surged to 68%, exceeding white turnout of 64%. A similar pattern occurred for Obama’s reelection in 2012, when blacks went to the polls at a rate of 65% versus 62% for whites. True, black turnout dipped slightly in 2016 and 2020, but this was undoubtedly due to the fact that Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were less attractive candidates for black voters. The take home point is that, time and again, states implementing voter ID requirements have experienced no detrimental effect on minority voter turnout. Again, polls consistently show that voter ID enjoys strong support by all Americans, including minority voters.

Sadly, none of these facts matter to Joe Biden. Instead of engaging in a good faith discussion of how to make our elections both safe and accessible, Joe Biden chose the path of spectacular dishonesty. He portrayed those who disagree with him as sinister agents of villainy. Biden declared, “The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation. Will we choose democracy over autocracy, light over shadow, justice over injustice?”

Biden compared those who opposed his legislation to some of the darkest figures in American history. “Do you want to be on the side of Dr. [Martin Luthor] King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?” (Ironically, Biden apparently did not consider the fact that George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis were all Democrats.) Joe Biden has often presented himself as the President who would unify Americans following the tumultuous Trump years. Yet his own angry, divisive and irresponsible words have often exceeded the rhetoric of Donald Trump.

Even though Biden was chastised by many across the political spectrum for his false and intemperate remarks in Atlanta, he seemed not to notice. During a press conference a few days later, Biden astonishingly claimed that future elections could not be trusted unless his legislation passed. “I think [elections] would easily be illegitimate. The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in proportion to not being able to get these reforms passed.” Furthermore, Biden made the despicable threat that if his legislation didn’t pass, the Republicans would seize “the kind of power you see in totalitarian states.”

When it comes to voting rights, Biden and his fellow Democrats have piled lie upon lie upon lie. Caustic rhetoric has poured forth from the mouth of the man who promised to heal our divided nation and encourage greater civility in our public discourse. The same folks who complained bitterly that Donald Trump threatened the norms of our democracy have expressed an eager willingness to cast aside the Senate filibuster and pack the Supreme Court in order to achieve their goals.

Any honest observer of the President can see that Joe Biden’s mental faculties have deteriorated dramatically in recent years. But old Joe can’t claim ignorance. He still has enough marbles rolling around upstairs to grasp the facts we’ve reviewed above. Yet sadly, Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats have chosen to embrace a level of deceit that is extraordinary – even for politicians.