How Democrats try to make elections obsolete

OPINION:

With a fraudulent Russian collusion claim no longer in their hip pocket, Democrats are still optimistic about recapturing the White House and the U.S. Senate in 2020.

But they are tired of competing. To ensure the desired outcome, they’ve proposed steps that would finish off the national, two-party system for all intents and purposes.

First, they oppose any efforts to strengthen the border and reduce illegal immigration. They want to ensure a massive flow of undocumented Democrats and recruits for the Free Stuff Army.

Next, they propose doing away with the Electoral College, since it sunk Hillary Clinton in 2016.

As former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted, “It’s undemocratic, forces candidates to ignore majority of the voters and campaign in a small number of states.”

Well — no. If anything, it forces candidates to consider the whole nation, not just packed urban areas where it’s ridiculously easy to stuff ballot boxes and bid the dead to rise and vote. See any honest history of the city of Chicago if you don’t get this.

But Hillary didn’t even need Chicago. Her total in Los Angeles County, plus the four Bay Area counties of San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa, gave her 3 million more votes than Donald Trump. In fact, her total in these areas was 120,000 more votes than her national winning margin of 2,868,686 votes. She also carried New York State by 1,736,590 votes.

So, without the Electoral College, a Democrat would have to campaign only in California and New York. The rest of the country? Who cares?

Next, the Democrats, on a party-line vote, actually passed a law in the House nationalizing elections and weakening electoral safeguards, such as voter ID laws and state statutes that require keeping voter rolls up to date. The communist-sounding For the People Act (HR 1) is a breathtaking attack on election integrity.

This law, which will die in the Republican-controlled Senate this time around, politicizes the Federal Elections Commission, forces taxpayers to subsidize political campaigns and regulates political speech. It imposes mandatory automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, online voter registration, no-fault absentee balloting and early voting. It strips the states of their constitutionally appointed election functions. Further, it mandates including noncitizens, here in the United States legally and illegally, in counts for redistricting, which determines congressional districts and federal funding.

The For the People Act also would expose political donors, opening them up to mob harassment, as was suffered by supporters of the Prop 8 marriage amendment in California in 2008. Finally, it requires states to restore voting rights for felons as soon as they leave prison, in direct conflict with Section 2 of the 14th Amendment.

Some Democrats are also backing the idea of packing the U.S. Supreme Court with more justices so it can rubber stamp their “reforms.” Finally, they are floating the idea of lowering the voting age to 16. An Oregon bill just got a state Senate hearing. To add perspective, let’s review some creative writing from Democratic presidential candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, who had something of a reverie when he was a teen-ager.

Under the handle of “Psychedelic Warlord,” Mr. O’Rourke wrote something that you have undoubtedly heard about by now, but bears repeating:

“One day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street. They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles. This happiness was mine by right. I had earned it in my dream. As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two.

“I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head.”

This is the guy whose party wants to lower the voting age to 16, the age at which Mr. O’Rourke shared his “dream.” The candidate has asked for forgiveness on account of his youthful foolishness.

Perhaps we should acknowledge that age can bring wisdom and that Mr. O’Rourke has also moved beyond his other pornographic scribblings that will not be shared here. But for the sake of the nation, and especially taxpayers, we need to keep the voting age at 18. Sixteen-year-olds cannot own property, buy firearms, get married or enlist in the military. And most of them are being “educated” by fiercely secular, leftist schools that have turned “climate change” hysteria into an idol.

All this said, age does not always bring wisdom. After all, Joe Biden, 76, last Tuesday took a flying leap and blamed “white man’s culture” for sexual assaults against women in America.

All I can say is, speak for yourself, Joe.

• Robert Knight is a contributor to The Washington Times.