David Marshall

(2/2022) We often give our thanks and support to members of the U.S. military for their service which they rightfully deserve. In 2021, American troops continue to serve combat tours in harm’s way. With it comes the understanding that such deployments could possibly result in physical injury, psychological scars or even death. About six-in-ten combat veterans say they witnessed someone in their unit or ally unit being injured or killed. It is a high human price to pay in protecting democracy worldwide. The strength of democracy will always depend on the courageous service of military men and women in the line of duty. After the 2020 presidential election, the nation is now witnessing a new group of heroes stepping forward. Not that they didn’t exist before, we are now seeing firsthand how election workers also play a critical role in the protection of democracy. An election worker has been defined as any individual who is an election official, poll worker, or an election volunteer. The strength of democracy rest on civic-minded citizens who are conscientious and knowledgeable when ensuring that our elections are accurate, safe and accessible. Unlike the military soldier, we never considered their civic duty as being in harm’s way. Recent events has changed that perception.

Over the course of the past year and a half, Americans who serve as frontline election workers are being subject to a wave of intimidation and violent threats. Some have faced protest at their homes, subject to racist attacks and received death threats. The Philadelphia City Commissioner, a Republican, after rejecting claims regarding election fraud received a message warning that if he didn’t tell the truth, "your three kids will be fatally shot." These type of cruel threats and acts of harassments to workers and their families are not isolated to Philadelphia, they occur nationwide and are happening on a regular basis. David Becker, founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, spoke truthfully when saying, "We need to address the fact that we are going to lose a generation of election administration professionalism and experience, because these individuals did not sign up to be soldiers in a war." Regardless of what a person believes, it does not justify one person threatening the life of another person. Unsurprising, intimidated election officials are leaving their positions in part because the threats are becoming normalized, besieged workers receive little protection from law enforcement and very few individuals are held accountable for making threats. Many people are numb to the idea that intimidation of election workers doing their jobs reveals a democracy that is in decay. Compare what is currently happening in our nation and look at the manner in which foundations of democracy have been undermined in countries such as Hungary, Venezuela and Turkey.

If there is ever a time in our modern history where our nation needs honest and civic-minded people to step up it is now. Just as we give our thanks and support to our service men and women in uniform, those who oversee our free and fair elections need our thanks and support as well. Democracy dies when good people do nothing. It is a fact that most people on the receiving end of the intimidation and threats are genuinely frightened. They deserve much better. So as a nation, how did we get to this point?

The Founding Fathers knew the development of our young nation was going to be a long term work in progress. The authors of the Constitution made the goal very clear when the Preamble was written. It states, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…" They had the foresight to know the nation was imperfect. Therefore, they set a baseline with the intention of the nation progressing and striving toward becoming a perfect union. With the goal in mind, future changes would be needed to reflect a nation growing in size and a nation evolving culturally and socially. The Founders held trust and belief that future leaders would be responsible stewards in establishing justice, domestic peace and to maintain an effective system of checks and balances. The Founders trusted that feature leaders would have the integrity and character needed to keep the institutions of democracy strong while keeping the best interest of the country always as a first priority. Democracy dies where there is a void of quality leadership. In order to become the "more perfect union", we have to first have respect and true love for the union. Destroying the system of checks and balances established by our Founders does not align with the love for our nation many of us claim to have.

It was never intended for the American democratic society to make advances over decades and centuries only to lose them by regressing backwards beyond the point of our original baseline. Allow yourselves to consider the words of Robert F. Kennedy, "Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom, decency and justice." Democracy dies when people are deceived. Many people close their eyes and ears to corruption by way of deception. When people are deceitful, it can occur on two fronts (deceiving yourself and deceiving others). As civic-minded citizens, we cannot close our eyes and ears when leaders cause others to believe something that is not true in order to gain an unfair political advantage. We cannot fail to speak up and speak out when we see individuals fail to admit to themselves the truth in regards to why election officials are being harassed and violently threaten.

Democracy does not decay without warning signs. David Becker gives us a warning to heed by saying, "It’s not even accurate to say [threatening election workers] was rare prior to 2020. It was so rare as to be virtually nonexistent. This is beyond anything that we’ve ever seen." As concerned citizens, it takes a certain type of courage to speak out. We can do so by following the example of the soldier deployed into combat. Their courage is driven in part by love of country first.

David W. Marshall is author of the book "God Bless Our Divided America" and member of Country First. Country First is focused on recognizing that Republicans, Democrats or Independents don’t have to be enemies just because they have different experiences and perspectives. To learn more about Country First visit www.country1st.com