Alan Zendell, August 28, 2025

Every American has known for weeks (and many of us for much longer) that Donald Trump is openly attempting to rig the 2026 mid-term elections by demanding that red states engage in the most extreme gerrymandering. Even more disturbing, however, is the revelation that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose only qualification for the job is being an extremist right-wing sycophant, is now the point man on attempting to reverse the Nineteenth Amendment – the one that guaranteed women the right to vote.

When Trump told evangelists in 2024 that he would “fix things so good” they wouldn’t ever have to vote again, it was his typical incoherent wording designed to be taken as either a threat, a reassurance, or just rambling nonsense. But it would be dangerously naïve after what we’ve seen in Trump 2.0 to believe anything other than that it implied the coup-like power grab, as described in Project 2025 which is driving this administration. What Trump, and the Heritage Society that drafted the Plan meant, was that we should return to the eighteenth century in which only white males who owned land could be trusted to vote.

Wake up, America. That is the reality we face. Trump and his fascist extremist followers are attempting to undermine the basic principles on which our country was founded. Nothing is more fundamental to the survival and health of a democratic nation than the right to vote. If we, the citizens of the United States, no matter our gender, our age, or our social values allow MAGA extremists to rig elections and the Supreme Court doesn’t stop them, we’re done as the nation we thought we were. You think that’s not possible? That’s what the leaders of the Soviet Union thought right up until the day it ceased to exist.

If you’re as old as I am, there’s a great temptation to say, the hell with it. It’s our children’s problem now. My father’s generation fought World War 2; my generation fought in and against the Vietnam war, and my kids’ generation allowed itself to be misled into devastating wars in the Middle East, both of which diminished our country. We spent a decade in Vietnam and two decades in Iraq and Afghanistan, thirty years of humiliation and defeat because of misguided leadership. If we cede responsibility for our future to our children and grandchildren, we must do it in the context of a cautionary tale.

For me, that caution is really a conflict between what I absolutely believe and a growing realization that I might be wrong. I absolutely believe that every American citizen older then eighteen has the right and expectation that their vote be counted with the same weight as everyone else’s.  If you don’t agree with that basic principle, you ought to be the ones ICE is deporting. I would never make such a radical statement if I didn’t believe it, but I also recognize that it’s overly simplistic.

For decades, we’ve debated voting rights, swinging in every possible direction. As a nation, we appeared to decry restricting votes of women, people of color, virtually anyone who wasn’t male and white. We fought against literacy tests and rules that made millions of votes less important than others – that’s the express purpose of gerrymandering. When they can’t stop you from voting, they rig the vote count so your vote is wasted if you’re on the wrong team. But having declared all that, I’m beginning to wonder if that highly progressive view isn’t seriously flawed.

What it leaves out is that voting is not only a right, but a responsibility. And part of that responsibility is assuring that we understand what we’re voting for. Far too many Americans live in the fantasy world of social media, or are too lazy to look beyond what the influencers running our media want them to think. And that makes them nothing but fodder for the Trump chaos machine. I am shocked at the ignorant nonsense I hear many people spout these days. It demonstrates, clearly, that the destruction of truth and facts this administration is so good at is working. So, all you Americans who are still working for a living and raising families, or all of you younger people not yet sure where the future will take you, make damn sure you know what you’re voting for if you expect to live in a country that respects your rights as defined in our Declaration of Independence and our Consitution.

If you don’t take this seriously, maybe we’ll have to introduce some real qualifications to be eligible to vote. The issue isn’t literacy or citizenship, it’s responsibility. If the spectacle of a three-hour long televised Cabinet meeting scripted to allow everyone not named Donald Trump to kiss Trump’s ass before the entire world doesn’t nauseate you, I suggest that you self-deport from the voting booth next year. You’re not qualified to determine the future of our country.