The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power … Power is not a means; it is an end.
1984, by George Orwell
The above quotation comes from George Orwell’s novel about the dystopian world in 1984. At one point in the story, O’Brien, an agent of the Thought Police who works for the Ministry of Truth, instructs the protagonist, the imprisoned Winston Smith, who has become an enemy of the totalitarian state. O’Brien is seeking to rehabilitate Smith through terrifying methods of re-education about the Party’s use of power.
This passage is one of Orwell’s greatest insights in 1984 — a brilliant and prescient novel written in 1949 about what a totalitarian society in the future would look like. And there are astonishing parallels with life in America today.
Consider the Democratic Party’s bill H.R. 1 just passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a strict party line vote of 220-110. As in 1984, H.R. 1 is called “For the People Act” — an example of doublethink, if there ever was one. It should be called “For the Democrats Act.”
H.R.1 essentially nationalizes the running and administration of elections; it is a federal takeover of the election process, although the U.S. Constitution gives the first duty of running elections to the states. The bill would interfere with the states and their citizens’ ability to determine the qualifications and eligibility of voters as well as ensuring the accuracy of the voter eligibility rolls. In short, the bill seeks to enact into federal law some of the worst “temporary” changes that occurred in many states in the 2020 election due to the COVID19 pandemic.
Take, for example, the provision that basically outlaws all state voter ID laws. Today one needs a valid ID to get a job, obtain a driver’s license, buy alcohol, take an airplane flight, and enter many office buildings. But with H.R. 1, you wouldn’t need an ID to vote anywhere. In fact, it effectively prohibits voter identification. This is a license for certain chaos at the ballot box, which leads almost always to a Democrat winning the election.
H.R.1 is nothing more than an eight-hundred-page power grab to ensure that Democrats stay in power in the Democrat-leaning and battleground states for as far as the eye can see. If passed, it will likely ensure that Democrats will control national elections for decades.
The following are a few more of the worst provisions in H.R.1:
No requirements for mail-in votes to be witnessed or notarized
No more laws against ballot harvesting
Same-day voter registration nationwide
Early voting mandated
“Late” ballots allowed for 10 days after the election
Allowing convicted felons to vote in presidential elections, overriding state laws
(For reference, see H.R. 1: No more witnessing on mail-in ballots: page 172, line 21; Same-day voter registration: page 78, line 6; Requiring early voting: page 167, line 23; Allowing for ballots to be counted received 10 days late: page 182, line 7; Mandating that convicted felons be allowed to vote: page 141, line 16. As for ballot harvesting, the bill leaves it alone.)
Having decided that elections are risky schemes, Democrats have decided to abandon the traditional tactic of trying to appeal to voters. Instead, they are trying to replace the voters whose voices they don’t like by overwhelming them with new voters, with no way to check if these new voters live where they are voting, if they are who they say they are, if they are even citizens of the United States, or even if they are the ones who actually filled out the ballot.
This is a not a blow for more democracy. This is a naked power grab.
And what do Democrats do with the power that they achieve? They put forth regulations and act in ways that ensure they will gain more power. Power for power’s sake. As O’Brien says in 1984, “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution to establish a dictatorship.”
Examples of this abound, but several will suffice. Since our founding, a cardinal principle of the American democratic experiment is that we are a society under the rule of law. And this has caused America to be a beacon of light, attracting more than 59 million legal immigrants since 1965. But Democrat-controlled cities throughout the United States (including a dozen or more cities and towns in Massachusetts) have over the last decade declared themselves to be “sanctuary cities,” refusing to cooperate with federal agencies and officers in dealing with illegal aliens.
What is the main reason for defying the federal law? The naïve would maintain that Democrats want to help illegal aliens in their distress. In fact, it is because Democrats know that illegals will increase their voter base. Many immigrants look to the government to meet many of their needs, and accordingly they represent the natural constituency of the Democratic Party. They can deliver the margin of victory in elections, and it is thus in the interest of Democrats to curry favor with immigrants in their communities and even provide benefits such as driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Power over principle, or in this case, disregard for the law to gain more power! And disregarding the rule of law can lead only to anarchy.
Another example of acting to grab more power is the refusal of Democratic administrations in Washington to stem illegal immigration across our Southern border. Since Joe Biden became president, there has been a huge surge of immigrant families at the border. Why? Because Democrats telegraphed the message that they could expect a friendlier welcome with Donald Trump out of the White House. But is this fair? Why should illegal aliens get a more cordial welcome than immigrants who patiently wait and obey the law in attempting to immigrate to the United States?
H.R. 1 is not a “For the People Act.” It is an act to perpetuate Democratic Party power. It is an attempt to accumulate power for power’s sake – as the Left invariably does. It would not make our elections safer or fairer. It would give Democrats an advantage in future elections by removing most safeguards that preserve the sanctity of the ballot box today. This regrettable bill must be stopped.
