I keep hearing and reading comments from people saying things like, "Even though the Dems are cheating, we are still winning," or exuberant cheers that the cheating that still continues to occur is being "overwhelmed." The fact that we are still fighting the cheating and still haven't put an end to the known source of the majority of the vulnerabilities, which is the machines, is a strong indicator that we are, in fact, not winning. We are hanging on by a thread, at best. And, as I have often argued, we are actually long past the point now of even being free people when we live in a country where we do not have the assurances that our votes are counted as they are cast, but where we only HOPE that they are.
I do not see how anyone could view the video above regarding concerns about the security of our elections expressed by BOTH Republicans and Democrats and arrive at the conclusion that our government (as a whole, all political parties considered) is not a corrupt one that simply does not want our elections to be secure. The best that can be said of them is that they are incompetent, if not corrupt, for allowing the known vulnerabilities to persist--especially given that both Republicans and Democrats have concluded that the problem is rooted in the vulnerability and corruptibility of the machines. We are being played for fools by elected officials on both sides of the aisle who know exactly where the vulnerabilities exist and yet refuse to address them.
It could all be done without ever uttering the controversial word "fraud." All it would take is the removal of the use of services like those provided by ES&S and Dominion. But they won't do it. Not on the national level and not here in our own state. Why not? Governor Ricketts and Secretary of State Evnen say the machines are here to stay. If our Republicans won't fight to secure our elections, then how the hell is it ever going to get done? We need a level of accountability from REPUBLICANS which has not yet taken place.
I worry that any "Red Wave" that we might get in the general elections (after having completely failed to secure our primary elections, which were the first elections following November 2020) will end up being the equivalent of what "flattening the curve" was to COVID-19. I think that there will be a discrepancy between how things appear (and what we are being told) and how things really are. We need to be careful that we don't fall prey to a false sense of security.
Look, on the national scale, Trump used to praise Ricketts as a red-state governor who didn't issue a statewide mask mandate. But the reality here in Nebraska was that our two most populous cities WERE under restrictions and mandates that caused a lot of businesses to go under. And, just as it was happening in other states across the nation, we had people in senior facilities in our state dying alone and without their families at their side because of cruel COVID-19 policies that were followed. We still do.
My point is that the narrative doesn't always match up with the reality of things, and that is where I fear we are headed with any "Red Wave" that might occur. On the national scale, people might think that Nebraska is well-positioned if Republicans Pillen and Evnen are elected in the general election. (And Evnen is unopposed, so he's in.) But anyone paying attention to what actually goes on in our state knows that we are NOT well-positioned with either of them. Neither of them should be trusted. I fear that the failure to secure primary elections all across our nation will result in many establishment candidates getting in or staying in, so that even some of the Republican wins that we see across our nation are not necessarily indicative of any real change. There is no guarantee that a candidate with Trump's backing is going to be one with a spine.
I supported a grassroots candidate over Trump's pick of Herbster because I knew from speaking with Herbster that his campaign was running him and that he was not running his campaign. He might be a great at leading his own business, but he had demonstrated that he was largely being guided by others when it came to politics. And I was proven right about him. Despite the well-timed political smear involving allegations of sexual assault against him by Senator Slama (and cheered on by Ricketts and MANY in our Unicameral), Herbster ended up bending the knee the very day following the primary election and showed up to support Pillen as the winner. He has indicated that he will support the Republican candidate. No self-respecting person would put their vote behind a person who had done such a horrible thing to them.
But this is how politics is. And that is exactly how they try to excuse it. "Well, that's just politics." And now the "new and improved" Establishment 2.0 NEGOP is doing exactly the same thing. Because loyalty to the party matters more than loyalty to the people (and more than self-respect!), they are begging people to embrace Pillen (and also Evnen) as GOP candidates, despite their known corruption.
The GOP will never be a home to conservatives until conservatives stand up to the abuse of the GOP and say NO MORE.
We get what we accept.