The Steele report

Please note this article is mainly about another jurisdiction but it should be noted injustice is universal. My father used to say , be aware , if unjust things can happen elsewhere they can happen here given the right circumstances.

I have watched with interest the backward view of lawmakers in Georgia. What’s happening there would be difficult to get away with here. In the US the States make the rules regarding how people get to vote. In Canada we have a third party Elections Canada entrusted with the rules. Provincially there is a third party as well Elections BC.

So what is going on and what is behind the changes and what might be the long term effects? The southern white population is motivated by fear a fear they themselves created. Instead of providing services and acknowledging a changing world they are in fact creating the outcome they fear. Beyond their view of twisted politics they are baptized in a religious Christianity that even Christ Himself would reject. How would one know that? Their faith has become polluted by fear that is generated by ignorance. Their leader and example was about love and enlightenment. Worshiping fear is like rejecting the message their founder brought to their ears. In Georgia the new law makes giving a person a drink of water, in a line up to vote, a crime. I rest my case. It is a version of conservative Christianity that is rejected by mainstream conservatives and that will become evident down the road.

Nearly a century ago it was the Southern Democrats that were the bigots and segregationists. Remember George Wallace, the segregationist was a Democrat. So what could happen? Building walls or instituting Jim Crow segregation laws and measures to restrict the voting rights of non whites over time does not work. Even Apartheid in South Africa was not in the end sustainable.

The 2022 election should not be about make every sacrifice and vote against Republicans who support injustice.. Once handed a monumental defeat the Republican Party can right its own ship and return to a measure of respectability. Politics and its outcomes are like a rubber band pull it right and it snaps back left. The problem for democracy is ensuring neither side is give power to excess.

In Canada we have seen versions of voter miscalculation and the results of one sided government. We have been lucky in that fanatics with oppressive intentions have not won the day.
Something as deadly for democracy has presented a problem it is called complacency. Complacency opens the door to the less desired outcomes the realm of politics can deliver. That is what we are witnessing south of our border. Recognizing it is the greatest prevention measure. To recognize it we have to pay attention to it when it happens elsewhere.

In America the Republican Party will learn soon enough bigotry, and suppression does not ensure political longevity even within their own ranks once fear is overcome.

Fred Steele