Headline: Gov. Inslee advocates for bill that outlaws politicians from lying about elections
“The Big Lie, that we can’t trust our democracy to count the votes, has become a weapon,” Inslee said. “It’s being used all over America, including our state, and it will again incite violence.”
Apparently this bill is justified somehow by the bizarre January 6th, 2021 Capitol incident, and in response makes it a misdemeanor for a politician to "incite violence" or claim an election was stolen. Never mind the bizarre circumstances surrounding that event, or the absence of any real evidence for a real insurrection. We need to pass a law to make things we don't like illegal! Any doubt regarding the supremacy of the State, reasoned or otherwise, cannot be tolerated for long.
I wonder, though, whether this will have unintended consequences. A lot of Washingtonians don't like Jay Inslee, especially as a result of his COVID-19 policies. If the election is close, there will be calls for recounts and claims that one candidate or the other is the real victor regardless of the final tally. After all, objection to election results isn't a partisan fault, but this strikes me as lingering "Orange Man Bad" reactionary posturing, and not a serious response to a credible danger. Part of me hopes Inslee gets bitten by his own bill.
Fortunately, it apparently does not aim to criminalize my own challenges to the legitimacy of democracy or politics. I haven't read the current fine print, though, and I would not be surprised if that gets added in before anything is finalized. The "riot" on January 6th might be a hint that even the average Joe realizes something is fishy abut the system we were told represents us and protects our liberties. We can't trust democracy, whether the votes are counted accurately or not.
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