This is the letter I sent to my Congresswoman this morning. It is part rant and part call to her better angels and actually stand up for America and not party.
Dear Representative Brooks,
It is clear that the President of the United States and the leader of your party is obsessed with the notion that he will always need bigger crowds and more votes than ever before to feel comfortable. Reports are that he is outraged by the vote totals and further by the Women's Marches around the country last Saturday. It is clear that this has led to him fully buying into both fake news stories about voter fraud and his own apparent conclusion that 3-5 million people voted illegally in the last election. (Thus suggesting the popular vote total was erroneous.) This is disturbing on many levels and want to see if you, as my representative, can do something about the ongoing lying coming from a podium with the White House seal on it.
1. The crowd for the inauguration was smaller than in 2009 and likely smaller than many other swearing in ceremonies in modern times. That is fact. The idea that the White House press secretary lied about that and blamed the media is not only troubling it is worthy of a dictator's minister of information, not an American Press Secretary.
2. President Trump's continued harping, to members of Congressional leadership, of this voter fraud is clearly not something that will make the country great. (BTW we are great now and have been) It will make us look dysfunctional on the world stage. That is dangerous to national security.
3. An investigation in voter fraud in 2016 will cost the tax payers a great deal of money and will in no way find any substantial voter fraud. States Attorneys General have already weighed in on this. Yes there is some voter fraud, mostly in the absentee ballot system or by a handful of people who vote outside where they live. (did a republican in Indiana do that?) but in no way has been seen to sway an election.
4. In person voter fraud, for example, voting as a dead person, would have to occur on a massive level to have any impact on most elections. If non-citizens are going to vote using false documentation which is the argument they open themselves up to a system that is built to catch them. Why would someone who hides in the shadows of society do that? To what purpose.
5. Three million people is a large number and about 1% of the voting population in the Presidential elections. Who is quietly organizing them? How is this a secret? If there are non-citizens voting they must be in collusion with many officials. Is the President accusing the the Democratic party of being so smart they could organize this but so dumb they only did in a state they were going to win in any case unless Ronald Reagan came back from the dead?
Rep Brooks, you are seen as a straight shooter by many Democrats that I respect. I have been highly critical of you but this goes beyond party and frankly beyond politics. This is about our nation, this is about the integrity of the United States. I am not like you in how you see the path to honoring our American values, but what I know is that you do want to honor them from your perspective. This is not normal. Please stand in the well of the House and say you will not vote to appropriate money for this snipe hunt. If you have a specific concern then craft legislation that protects voting integrity without blocking legal voters from access to the polls. Indiana may have done that with its voter ID law. I see no evidence of massive voter suppression here. (I do see it in other states and the courts have as well). But please, the GOP is looking for grown ups. Be one.
George
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