By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 21, 2021 | These days we often hear soundbites from people in the news. We seldom get to hear how they arrive at their thinking. Speaking at the Gwinnett Rotary Club recently, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger gave a glimpse of his thinking as he defended Georgia’s count in the 2020 presidential election.
We’ll give you some idea of what he said, in his own words.
“These past months give a timely backdrop to this year’s celebration of President Eisenhower’s May 1st 1958 proclamation Rule of Law Day – the rule of law being the very foundation of our nation. That is easy to do in the good times…..it seems a more difficult ideal for some in more contentious times.
“When I was in the General Assembly in 2015 I wrote an essay on the Rule of Law versus the rule of man. It was theoretical then. Now that I have lived it out, I can say with the strongest confidence that the rule of law is central to who we are as a people.
“When the time came to choose, I came down on the side of rule of law. We can’t let making the right call to defend the Republic be punished by those who don’t understand the importance of doing the right thing.”
Raffensperger
Readers may remember that Raffensperger maintained the integrity of the vote counting in Georgia, refusing to “find 12,000 votes” in the face of pressure from former President Donald Trump, which would have turned the election in Georgia.
“When the election outcome was what it was, I had sworn an oath, just like every other elected official, to uphold and defend the law. It didn’t occur to me or anyone on my team to do anything other than uphold the law and honor the truth. The fact that many others chose a different path still astonishes me to this day… and will likely baffle me forever.
“Consider those elected men and women in Congress, who on the evening of January 6, after the storming of the Capitol and the loss of life, still voted to challenge the results. Someday they will have their own reckoning to deal with. Those actions are what undermine millions of Americans’ faith in the rule of law, on both sides of the aisle.”
Raffensperger maintains that “This isn’t a partisan issue. People of all philosophies and parties are vulnerable to it. Be it the supporters of former President Obama, many of whom saw him as a messianic figure and those supporters of former President Trump who see him in similar terms. Both were built up as saving ‘their people’ from the excesses of the enemy….not a foreign enemy mind you, but the political opponent down the street….their fellow American.
“In these contentious times, we need to rely on the rule of law and restore every American’s faith in it. Neighborly kindness and integrity also go a long way to rebuilding trust as we all work on that restoration.
“We have to do better. Integrity counts. It is up to each of us, in our role in the system, in our community, and in our family, to uphold what is right. We all must work with integrity at the core of our being to restore all American’s faith in the rule of law. It we fail in that, our nation will fail in the long run.”
Thank you, Brad Raffensperger, for your clarity of thinking, and your actions.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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