Manipulating elections

After Pearl Harbor, the greatest generation overcame deep political divisions and worked together to defeat a common foe. In 2016, America suffered a 21st century high-tech sneak attack from Russia. Exhaustive investigations by 17 intelligence services and special council Robert Mueller prove this conclusively. The current generation has elected to ignore the common foe, splitting into rigid partisan political factions, each convinced of its own righteousness. Families, churches, and communities are bitterly divided with each side touting their own set of facts and unwilling to compromise.

Interestingly, only 3% of the population has even read the Mueller report, and far fewer have read the subsequent Inspector General’s report, yet everyone is an expert.

Impeachment has accelerated partisan divisiveness. Pundits recklessly toss around words like “unconstitutional” and “coup,” while many fancy themselves experts on the beliefs of our Founding Fathers. Likely, they really aren’t. Seventy-eight percent of Americans haven’t read the Constitution, and less than 1% have read Madison’s notes from the constitutional convention, so critical for understanding the intent of the founders.

Many citizens rely on cable news and social media for their education on issues. These sources are notoriously partisan themselves, and compete furiously for ratings, often using anger, fear, and conspiracy theory to lure viewers. The Russians and others salivate at the prospect of manipulating our elections through social media, while our partisan factions brawl on, certain of their righteousness and oblivious to the great peril threatening all that the greatest generation sacrificed so much for.

WILL RICHARDSON, Jackson