The Only Election That Matters

Grandma, dat boy, & me

My maternal grandmother was neither an educated nor an erudite woman. She had a knack for saying stuff from far left field. She was great at sage advice, some of which still holds up today...like never believe a butcher when he tells you it's a glatt kosher chicken...there is no such thing. Her best statement outta the blue ever was, "You're gonna marry dat boy." (I did.)

Her own world view came from surviving pogroms in Odessa and young widowhood. She was a practicalist of the first order. Over the years, she imparted some pretty strange and some pretty sage wisdom, and one of the best things she ever told me was something along the lines of never believe what the politicians tell you; they have a secret plan and they're not gonna tell you what it is. They talk out of three sides of their mouths.

The healthy dose of skepticism she instilled in me has served me well, and right now, it's like she handed me the key to understanding the 2022 midterm elections. I'd been dancing around the feeling that I was missing something in the big pictures. Lying in bed before dawn this morning, I was thinking about the arc of the elections and what really mattered. Since the GOP has declared their only goal is to stop anything the Biden administration wants, whether or not it is good for We, the People and the country, what difference is there if Congress is blue or red? Some Democrats act like Republicans anyway, so there's never a winner, only some form of stalemate. 

Governors are the same thing. Their legislators are going to play games with any agenda because there is no super-majority to get anything done. This midterm is a waste of money. It doesn't matter who wins or who loses. 

Or does it?

There is only one office that will make a difference. In 27 states, the office of Secretary of State is on the ballot. In at least 13 of those states, an avowed election denier is running for office. 

These are the only elections that matter at this moment in time. 

In case you don't understand this low-level, seemingly insignificant officer, let me explain what the Secretary of State does on the state level: this office serves as the state's Chief Elections Officer; implementing electronic filing and Internet disclosure of campaign and lobbyist financial information. Maintaining business filings.

That means the Secretary of State controls how the election is run. It means the secretary of state has great influence in the matter of how balloting is executed, what ballots are accepted, and how financial information is disclosed to the public. 

If the Secretary of State is an election denier, there is a chance they can refuse to certify an election with an outcome that does not jive with their political beliefs. 

Kim Crockett is running for Secretary of State here in Minnesota. She is a 2020 election denier. When asked if she accepted the 2020 outcome, her reply was:

I don't think we'll ever know precisely what happened. What I can tell you is that Minnesota laws were not followed.

That has repeatedly been proven to be untrue, yet, she still has refused to say whether or not she would accept election outcomes. During a debate with incumbent Steve Simon hosted by CBS affiliate, WCCO Radio, she was asked by moderator Blois Olson if she would accept the results of the election. Her reply was a little terrifying:

I think that's kind of an odd question. We aren't there yet. We're weeks out. And we'll just have to see what happens between now and the certification of the election.

Magnify Kim Crockett with 27 states, and suddenly you have more than half the states in the US with election certifiers who may be unwilling to uphold the law and the Constitution. 

The following states are voting for Secretary of State:

Alabama	Indiana	North Dakota
Arizona	Iowa	Ohio
Arkansas	Kansas	Rhode Island
California	Massachusetts	South Carolina
Colorado	Michigan	South Dakota
Connecticut	Minnesota	Vermont
Georgia	Nebraska	Washington
Idaho	Nevada	Wisconsin
Illinois	New Mexico	Wyoming

Watch these states for the lower level results. Secretary of State is the lynchpin. The other one you want to keep an eye on is Attorney General. Working in concert, those two offices on the state level can change the trajectory of a nation.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Tomorrow, while you're watching the election results come in, 

keep in mind that this may be the last time We, The People, 

have anything close to a free and fair election. 

What To Expect When You're Electing

I am increasingly convinced most of the people running for office in this country...and state...have no idea

1. how the federal government works
2. how the office they're running for works
3. what actual powers are held by elected officials in any office

Tyler Kistner, running against Angie Craig for the MN-2 Congressional seat, seems to be under the impression that Joe Biden and Angie Craig are running the county. Dished up in an ad of false modesty about how he and his family can't afford Joe and Angie's policies, he provides no information, either in an ad or on his website, about his solutions. Just that there are problems. Hey, Ty! We waited FOUR years to hear the GOP plan to replace the ACA....and we're still waiting. You got a plan? You even have a clue? How about sharing that with the rest of us mere constituents you're trying to win over. So far, Craig has been a staunch ally for ALL Minnesotans, not just the Democrats. Ask anyone who takes insulin or has a small farm. Kistner, being an ex-Marine doesn't mean you have the smarts to sit in one of those chairs. You flap your lips incessantly, but nothing besides inane rhetoric comes out.

Jim Schultz, on the other hand, is under the incredible impression that the Attorney General's office can pick and choose its focus. He seems to think they should only be handling crime cases when, in fact, the Attorney General handles everything that comes down the road into the office. 

From MPR's statement on Attorney General candidate stances:

Schultz, a Harvard-educated lawyer who previously worked in the private sector, believes the AG’s office should enforce the laws on the books, increase the number of criminal attorneys, and refrain from bringing lawsuits against vaping or oil companies like Ellison has.  

To that, Ellison, a former six-term member of Congress who earned his law degree at the University of Minnesota Law School, said Schultz is “missing the lion's share of the job. But I will say that, yeah, public safety is a part of it … but it's by no means the whole thing. And we would miss-serve and undermine the welfare of the people of this state if we did not protect the markets and protect consumers.” 

Excuse me, Mr. Schultz, but I want my attorney general to deal with all this stuff because that's what he's supposed to do. It can not just be shoved to the side as you suggest. If you're not sure about the role of an AG, you can read up on it at the website for The National Association of Attorneys General.

No discussion of Idiocracy would be complete without at least a mention of Herschel Walker and his fantasy resume. Here are some tidbits from THE NEW REPUBLIC:

1. He did not graduate from University of Georgia in the top 1% of his class as he claims. He did not graduate at all. And he certainly was not valedictorian. 
2. He did not found a charity called Patriot Support. In fact, it's a for-profit arm of Universal Health Services.
3. He was not a cop for Cobb County in Georgia. He was given an honorary badge.
4. He did not train with the FBI: “I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?” Nope. And you're not. 
5. He does not own the largest reupholstery business in the country. He owns NO reupholstery business at all.

I would also like to add that I am increasingly convinced way too many voters have no idea how the government works or what actual powers any elected official actually has. It was pretty obvious Feckless Toddler had no idea how any of it worked, and it was made painfully clear as he called people to try to overturn the elections, not to mention pressure his own vice-president to become a federal felon. 

If you don't know what the offices are  or what they're supposed to do, how can you vote for someone to fill that office? Unless, of course, they're promising you ice cream for lunch every day. That Herschel Walker has even gotten this far is terrifying. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you are not sure what any office is supposed to do,

Google it. 
I asked, "what's an attorney general supposed to do," 

and got a whole list of websites. 

It's so easy to find out so you can make an informed decision.