Is Democracy Really on the Ballot?

As it turns out, what Joe Biden sees as major "threats to democracy" are in fact policies, practices, and principles supported by Democrats.

Warning that democracy itself is in peril, President Joe Biden is calling on Americans to use their ballots in next week's midterm elections to stand up against lies, violence and dangerous "ultra MAGA" election disruptors and deniers, who he said are trying to "succeed where they failed" in subverting the 2020 elections.

Does he know that Hillary is still publicly denying the 2016 election?

Is democracy really on the ballot? And is it saved only if Democrats hold control of the government?

Be informed, not misled.

American Family News asks, "Hey, Joe! Hillary herself was an 'election denier' – or did you forget that?"

Associated Press reported that the president declared, "This is no time to stand aside. Silence is complicity.”

"After weeks of reassuring talk about America’s economy and inflation," AP said, "Biden turned to a darker, more urgent message, declaring in the final days of midterm election voting that the nation’s system of governance is under threat from former President Donald Trump’s election-denying lies and the violence Biden said they inspire."

"The president singled out 'ultra MAGA' Republicans — a reference to Trump’s 'Make America Great Again' slogan — calling them a minority but 'driving force of the Republican Party'," AP said.

Biden added. “In our bones, we know democracy is at risk, but we also know this: It’s in our power to preserve our democracy.”

AP notes that "He called out the hundreds of candidates who have denied the 2020 election result and now refuse to commit to accepting the results of the upcoming midterms," failing to mention that many on the Left also are "election deniers."

Hillary has spent the past 6 years explaining that Donald was an "illegitimate" president. 

There is a concerted effort by the media to save the Left and the president from committing political suicide.

In particular, CBS and ABC have consistently been trying to run interference for the failing president.

Multiple polls show the nation isn't buying Biden's new talking points.

Fred Lucas, with The Daily Signal isn't buying it either.

He picked 5 claims that President Biden has made in recent days that are just plain not true.

This is a brief overview. The entire text is included in the link above.

1. "Overwhelming Majority"

Biden professed that democracy, which is generally defined as the capacity to have free and fair elections, is on the ballot. 

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that 71% of Americans believed democracy faced some risk and that only 28% believed their votes would be properly counted. However, the Times story characterized the concern as “remarkably apathetic” compared to concerns about economic issues. 

But, the poll found about one-third, or 33%, viewed Democrats as a threat to democracy, while fewer, 28%, think Republicans are a threat. Also, 59% of respondents said the mainstream media was a threat to democracy. 

A majority of Republicans, 55%, said voting by mail posed a threat to democracy, but 72% of Democrats supported it. Fewer than half of independents, 48%, said mail-in voting presented no threat.

Overwhelmingly, 81% of those who think democracy is in danger believe it can be saved by existing laws and institutions without the need to go outside the law.

2. ‘Election Deniers’

Biden warned that election deniers are “destructive.”

“It’s estimated there are 300 election deniers on the ballot all across America this year,” Biden said. “We can’t ignore the impact this is having on our country. It’s damaging, it’s corrosive, and it’s destructive.”

A left-leaning think tank, The Brookings Institution, also had the same number. 

However, Biden’s party, through the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Majority PAC, and the Democratic Governors Association, spent more than $43 million in Republican primary contests in nine states to help push candidates considered “election deniers” to the GOP nomination, Newsweek reported. The thinking was that these candidates would be easier to beat. 

Further, it’s unclear whether denial of an election result is higher now than in the past. A 2017 Harvard Harris poll found that 68% of voters did not believe Democrats accepted Trump was legitimately elected president. The figure included 65% of Democrats who said this of their party. Meanwhile, 69% of Republicans and 69% of independent voters said Democrats had not accepted Trump as a legitimately elected president. 

This came as his opponent, Hillary Clinton, frequently claimed without evidence that the 2016 election was stolen. 

A February 2021 poll comparing the 2020 election with the 2016 election found 87% of Democrats thought the 2020 election was fair, but 62% said the 2016 election was unfair. Conversely, 61% of Republicans did not view the 2020 election as fair, but 82% said the 2016 election was fair. 

3. ‘Suppress’ and ‘Subvert’

Biden also trotted out a favorite line of Democrats and said “MAGA Republicans” support voter suppression.

“They are trying to succeed where they failed in 2020, to suppress the right of voters and subvert the electoral system itself,” Biden said. “That means denying your right to vote and deciding whether your vote even counts. Instead of waiting until an election is over, they are starting well before it. They are starting now. They’ve emboldened violence and intimidation of voters and election officials.”

Biden wasn’t specific regarding how Republicans are suppressing and subverting voting. However, in the past he has been critical of election reforms. 

4. No Election in History

Biden asserted the 2020 election, in which he defeated former Trump, was the most certain in history because it endured numerous legal challenges in courts and numerous recounts across several closely-contested states. 

"The great irony about the two-twenty [2020] election is that it was the most attacked election in our history, and yet, and yet, there is no election in history that we can be more certain of its results,” Biden said. “Every legal challenge that could have been brought was brought. Every recount that could have been undertaken was undertaken.”

If Biden meant recounts and court challenges did not reverse the vote count, that would be accurate. However, to say that no election in history was more certain is assuredly questionable. 

Past presidential years saw Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon win 49 states in 1984 and 1972 respectively. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson won 44 states. Reagan carried the same number winning his first term in 1980. In his 1936 re-election victory, President Franklin Roosevelt won 46 of the 48 states. 

In 2020, Biden carried 25 states in defeating Trump, as well as the District of Columbia.

5. ‘Violence’ and ‘Silence’

Biden talked about the assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was beaten in the head with a hammer by the attacker at their San Francisco home. 

“We must with one, overwhelming, unified voice speak as a country and say there’s no place – no place – for voter intimidation or political violence in America,” Biden said. 

The president said there is a rise in political violence. 

“There’s an alarming rise in the number of our people in this country condoning political violence, or simply remaining silent, and silence is complicity,” Biden said. 

An Ipsos poll in August found 85% of Americans disagree that it is acceptable for a member of their own party to achieve a political goal using intimidation or threats. So data doesn’t show an upshot in public support for or acceptance of political violence.

Remember, during the riots in the summer of 2020, then-Sen. Kamala Harris, now Biden’s vice president, tried to help raise bail money for those involved in the riots?

Takeaway

All of this is an attempt to distract and redirect the attention of the nation away from Biden's failing so-called "progressive" policies.

The president is flailing for a message that connects with the American public.

It's too late. The Left is living in a make-believe world.

During the presidential debate in 2020, when asked about the militant group Antifa, Biden said, “Antifa is an idea, not an organization.”

The downtown store owners and workers in Seattle, Portland, and a dozen other cities across the country would disagree. They saw their stores and jobs go up in flames and broken glass.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.