In a Sept. 9, 2026, opinion piece, a verbose writer agreed with my previously expressed factual statements that voter fraud was minimal and that there is no proof that voter fraud changed election outcomes.
Therefore, America does not need the proposed Republican voter ID laws that disenfranchise older, poorer and rural voters.
Nonetheless, he pretentiously proclaimed that we need better laws, “fair” laws, to make sure that fraud did not change election outcomes, especially in close elections. Kumbaya! That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?
But who is going to pass and enforce those better and “fair” laws?
President Donald Trump has bullied red state politicians to gerrymander voting districts to favor Republicans who will prop up his failing administration because, as he says, “I’m entitled.” His SAVE Act is so intentionally un-American that embarrassed GOP senators refuse to pass it. Trump’s obviously illegal mail-in-ballot scam was shot down by his GOP slanted Supreme Court. And GOP Senator John Kennedy recently said that Congress can’t even pass gas.
Trump, at his recent GOP convention in Dallas, demanded this pledge of his followers: “I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way — I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell like they do, they’d never, there’s never been bigger cheaters, they don’t care.” That was after he offered an illegal $5,000 bribe to every American voter to keep Republicans in office. You may remember him winning a national re-election with 7 million fewer votes than his opponent?
Americans overwhelmingly tell pollsters that our system of government is broken; that too many politicians are self-serving cowards; that working hard and playing by the rules seems to be for suckers; that half of America’s eligible voters can’t be bothered to do their patriotic duty by casting an informed vote; and that our federal government is run by a crime family that pockets billions of dollars while too many Americans can’t pay increasing costs of food, utilities, transportation and housing.
We’re long past frustrating but arguably reasonable disagreements about policy issues, such as tax rates, childcare credits, and healthcare. “Myside bias” smeared with corruption and the arrogance of ignorance overwhelms reason and patriotism. The embers of any marshmallow-roasting Kumbaya campfire died when Trump smirked down that golden elevator eleven years ago to announce his desire to remake America in his own image.
America has been laboring for 250 years to merge who we are with whom we aspire to be. It has been a back-alley fight for America’s soul that has now spilled out into our streets and divided American families.
And ironically, it’s because of the MAGA apocalypse that we now actually need to Make America Great Again. That does not mean, however, that I’ll be wearing a MAGA hat anytime soon. My hat simply says “Equality for All.”
— Chuck Wieland,
Madera