During the American Civil War, both Northerners and Southerners automatically assumed the war was about slavery. Indeed, elimination of slavery was a happy result of the Civil War, yet there was another issue at stake, one even more important than slavery. That issue was the very existence of our democratic government. President Abraham Lincoln spoke to that issue in his Gettysburg Address, when he stated that the Union should dedicate itself to ensuring “… that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
Today, another issue has caught our national attention, namely, whether our president is fit for office. As with the Civil War, this matter has been accompanied by another issue, far more important than the misbehavior of any president. That issue is, once again, the very existence of our democratic government.
Today, it may be possible for a foreign power — or for any computer geek sitting at home — to change the outcome of our computerized national and state elections. This is a very real threat, and it drives to the very heart of our ability to function as a democracy. Countering this threat to our elections should be an “all-party” effort. All political parties should cooperate to strengthen the security of our elections. As for those politicians who today are reluctant to pass laws to strengthen U.S. elections security because their political party benefited by the election malfeasance in 2016, let those politicians be warned that in 2020, it could be their political party that suffers in the outcomes of the 2020 elections. As of this moment, strengthening U.S. elections security nationwide should be our nation’s first priority. Anyone who states otherwise does not have the best interests of the U.S., and our democracy, at heart.
— Stephan Paliwoda
Anchorage
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