Cross the Rubicon:
To make an irrevocable decision; it comes from the name of the river Julius Caesar crossed with his army, thereby starting a civil war in Rome.
Dictionary.com
We have just completed the most suspect and fraud ridden election in the history of American presidential politics. Leaving aside insane allegations of Special Forces raids on server farms and putting aside for a moment the much more serious and consequential questions surrounding Dominion Voting Systems, the changes made to mail-in voting rules in advance of the November vote mean virtually every vote “total” in the nation is questionable at best.
Starting well over a year in advance of the 2020 general election the Democratic Party began methodically, through means both legal and extralegal to engineer a completely unprecedented expansion of mail-in voting in this country. Where we had previously had relatively narrow and carefully controlled procedures for absentee voting, we would now in many places have mass mail-in voting with ballots mailed en masse to vast swathes of the electorate. Partly, it is clear this was a reaction to the Democratic Party’s assessment of the enthusiasm gap between its voters and the supporters of President Trump. Put simply, the Democrats had to make it as easy as possible for their base to vote. If it came to a choice between sitting on the couch and watching another sitcom or going and standing in line in the cold to support Joe Biden, a whole bunch of people were going to stay home.
But, the Democratic expansion of mail-in voting, engineered it should be noted with the assistance of compliant Republican majorities in many state legislatures, did not stop there. We did not simply mail out a bunch of ballots. We carefully gutted virtually every procedure we had in place to confirm the validity of a ballot received in the mail. Make a list: signature checks, postmarks, date of receipt at the polling place, etc. They were all stripped away.
Expanding voting does not require any of that. In fact, a focus on the expansion of legitimate mail-in voting would likely call for the opposite. It would argue for tighter controls, the implementation of new technologies and all kinds of other checks and balances to ensure that the piece of paper being received in the mail actually constitutes a real vote, cast by a real person who is entitled to vote.
Stripping away safeguards serves only one purpose. It makes it easier to cheat. That’s not a surprise. For years now critics including the New York Times and Jimmy Carter have warned that mail-in voting is a prescription for disaster.
“The flaws of absentee voting raise questions about the most elementary promises of democracy.”
New York Times, October 6, 2012
“Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
Wall Street Journal
Commission on Federal Election Reform, 2005, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker III.
Americans ought to be outraged.
Every lawsuit pending should be prosecuted with vigor. More should be filed. Every state legislator that stood by and watched or, worse, helped, make the changes that opened the floodgates to fraud ought to face tough questions and a primary challenger. And, every single member of Congress ought right now to be facing a firestorm from his or her constituents demanding to know if they are going to hold hearings on this matter or simply rubberstamp the results of the Electoral College.
The time has come to take a stand, and any so-called conservative who ducks and runs for cover ought to be made to understand that voters have long memories, and there will be a reckoning at the polls next time around.
Appointment of a special prosecutor, someone with long experience in complex investigations, seems prudent and just. If the outgoing administration in 2016 could hamstring the Trump administration with a fictitious Russian collusion investigation, it seems more than just that Joe Biden, should he be inaugurated, should have to answer questions about very real and very consequential illegalities.
There is a whole range of things patriotic, energized American ought to be doing right now. There are a whole range of things they ought to be doing in the future. And, then there are things that should not be discussed, hinted at or considered.
Amongst some there is low murmuring that the only way the republic can be saved may be for the military to step in and set the situation right. One by one our institutions have failed us. Even the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) now seems to be just another part of the Swamp. The military alone seems to remember its oath to defend the Constitution. I understand the temptation to want to believe that they have the power and the ability to fix a system, which seems increasingly to work against the average American.
That doesn’t change the fact that even discussing the possibility of military intervention in the electoral process is ill-advised and incredibly dangerous. This is precisely how republics fall, based on the actions of men who were convinced that breaking laws and setting aside rules was in the interest of the greater good. Take a look around Africa, Latin America and large swathes of Asia and you will see the landscape littered with the carcasses of democracies “saved” by military juntas that stepped in to preserve “democracy” and protect the “constitution.” In the process those military leaders killed what they claimed they were trying to save.
In 49 BC a Roman general names Julius Caesar marched south from Gaul toward Rome and arrived on the banks of the River Rubicon north of Rome. By law he was forbidden to continue further at the head of his army. He ignored that law, marched south, entered Rome and, claiming to be saving the Republic, made himself dictator for life. That Republic never recovered, and Caesar’s adopted son Octavius was crowned Emperor in 27 BC.
Ever since the term “crossing the Rubicon” has had a special meaning. It refers not simply to making a fateful decision. It refers explicitly to making a decision that cannot be reversed. It is irrevocable, and there is no hiding from its consequences.
Such would be the impact of even considering involving the American military in domestic politics. Losing this election to Joe Biden would be bad. Losing the republic would be worse.
You can only cross the Rubicon in one direction.
