The upcoming elections in Pennsylvania and Washington County
will be explosive. Who could have guessed that in the Senate race this November,
a six foot eight inch unconventional Democrat from Braddock (Lt. Governor, John
Fetterman) would face off against a Republican, Muslim, television celebrity
from New Jersey, who recently voted in Turkey (Dr. Mehmet Oz)? More bizarre, a
year ago, no one would have picked a little known Christian, nationalist from
Franklin County, supported by self-described patriots, (PA Republican Senator, Doug
Mastriano), to oppose the well-connected Democratic State Attorney General from
Montgomery County in the gubernatorial race (Josh Shapiro).
In Washington County, the political climate has heated up
again as a group of dissident Republicans (who also call themselves patriots)
gave up their efforts to audit the results of the 2020 general election and
embarked upon a new crusade. An organization titled Election Integrity in Washington
County, aided by an elected Row Officer, presented a petition at the last
commissioner’s meeting. Its purpose was to decommission all the county’s voting
machines and return to paper ballots.
This commentary will examine the growing segment of the
Republican Party, now self-identified as “patriots.” It will discuss why
concerned voters should pay close attention to what these individuals and their
leaders are saying.
To the casual eye, the word “patriot” has obvious appeal. It
is difficult to argue against a person’s love of country or willingness to
defend its democratic principles. In 2009, an offshoot of the Tea Party
movement began calling themselves patriots. Over time, the usage grew into favor
until the term patriot became a popular way for 2020 Trump supporters to describe
what is actually white nationalism. Today, so called patriots gleefully attack
and label as non-patriotic all segments of the political spectrum who disagree
with them. This list includes people of color, non-Christians, Democrats and
more recently, traditional Republicans.
Doug Mastriano won the Republican primary by championing far
right causes and promising to replace secular government with evangelical
religious values. During the primary, he blanketed the rural counties with fiery
stump speeches, closed to the media. His message appealed to the patriot
movement.
Mastriano pulled in “anti-vaxers” by promising to ban all
mask and vaccine mandates. He attracted “stop the steal” supporters by pledging
to rid the state of voting machines, mail-in voting and to compel all
Pennsylvania voters to re-register with strict ID requirements. He won-over
evangelicals by ensuring the enactment of a universal “conservative parental
rights” law for public schools and promising to ban all abortion. Mastriano
also courted gun owner votes by promising to make Pennsylvania a “permitless
carry state”.
Recent
revelations in the media have disclosed much darker intent within the Mastriano
campaign. Facebook videos posted by the Republican nominee
espousing far-right positions were taken down as the state senator shifted to
the general election. The deleted messaging referred to climate change as “pop
science.” He called Republicans who would not support him as having “disdain
for veterans.” More than 50 tweets were deleted that promoted QAnon conspiracy
theories. In a recent campaign filing
Mastriano disclosed that he paid $5,000 in “campaign consulting” fees to social
media platform Gab. This site is a major social media platform for white
supremacists and anti-Jewish groups.
Turning to Washington County’s avowed Republican patriots,
there are inconsistencies in their social media, press releases and video
presentations. What they are for and what they are against are head
scratchers. First, they seem clearly
against term limits for county elected officials and against the governmental status
quo that has existed over many decades. However, rather than support and place
their patriot members on a commission to review how to improve government (the referendum
on a Home Rule Commission), they fought vigorously to defeat formation of a
study group. This contradicted their positions and ensured that the form of
government and term limits would remain in place.
Second, they are now opposed to voting machines in Washington
County. What the patriots fail to mention is that since 2016 the Pennsylvania Department
of State has certified seven voting systems that meet the latest standards of
security, accessibility and auditability. All Pennsylvania counties were
directed to implement one of the systems. Washington County is the proud owner
of one of these certified systems and has never experienced a hint of failure
or fraud.
The few cases of alleged voter fraud cited by the patriots
stem from paper ballots not machines. In
all cases, the alleged ballot fraud favored Trump. Lastly, the local patriots
prepared and submitted to the commissioners a petition calling for a referendum
to dispose of voting machines. The petition language was legally deficient and
well short of the number of signatures required.
It is my view that the patriot movement has failed to
demonstrate any leadership qualities that would benefit Pennsylvania or Washington
County. In fact, these individuals and their leaders are better described as
insurgent agitators who support an autocratic form of government, attack
democratic institutions and who seek to defeat the voting rights of Americans
who disagree with them.
As conservative Republican, Liz Cheney commented at the end
of the last televised January 6 hearing, “patriotism is being weaponized” by
Donald Trump and others seeking power. It is time to return patriotism to its
proper meaning, a recognition by
Americans of the wondrous common experience of our shared pluralistic democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment