America! Where Are You Now?

 - jim Young

“America. Where are you now? Don’t you care about your sons and daughters?” - Jerry Edmonton and John Kay 

You can argue whether Jan. 6 was an insurrection or an attempted coup led or incited by Donald Trump all you want, but all you have to do is take a look at the preparations being made for the upcoming election to know that something is very, very wrong in the United States today.

Drop boxes for mail in ballots are being sabotaged with incendiary devices to destroy ballots. Snipers are being stationed at polling booths. Poll workers are facing harassment and threats of violence. In some areas police radios will be distributed to election workers to enable them to more quickly contact the police in emergency situations. 

Bulletproof vests, metal detectors, and surveillance drones are being used to protect election officials - the ones that haven’t already quit in fear of their personal safety. In some instances election officials have received a “bump in pay” or even had their salaries doubled as an incentive to work through the election

Entire streets are being shut down in other areas while election results are tabulated.

Polling stations are being declared hostile environments. In some high-risk areas, 2 layers of security fencing will be constructed requiring poll workers to be bused in from off-sight parking lots.

Law enforcement are monitoring anti-government militia groups on social media for any leads to threats of violence on election day.

And in some places the military is being deployed to assist local law enforcement.

None of this is new. We’ve all heard of countries struggling against violence in an attempt to execute a fair and democratic election. However, we usually expect this of countries such as Venezuela or any number of the many Banana Republics around the world.

But this is the United States Of America. A country that has so proudly boasted of democracy and freedom for so many years.

America! Where are you now?

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