Word recently that the US Postal Service is attempting to take nationwide control over who can receive vote-by-mail ballots brought to mind an image begun back in 2020 but set aside when the 2020 Election suggested (prematurely, it turns out) that our nation’s red vs. blue fever had broken.

Viewed in conjunction with continuing efforts by ‘red’ states to gerrymander dissenting citizens into insignificance, this new tactic makes clear that Mr. Trump and his MAGAminions have abandoned any pretense of winning over the majority of Americans to their views and aim instead to silence all opposition in order to ensure perpetual Republican control of the Federal government.

No doubt some critics will point out that the U. S. has never been an absolute democracy, governed by plebiscite of every citizen on every issue, but a republic, or a representative democracy, or however they prefer to state it. All true, but however you characterize their hard-fought compromises, our founders and the imperfect Constitution they handed down to us certainly intended perpetual competition between varying points of view under accepted rules that allowed a naturally eterogenous polity to choose and change directions at set intervals.

Changing electoral rules in order to lock in a minority’s power are about as ‘un-American’ as anything can be and totally inconsistent with any ‘originalist’ reading of the documents.

Another point that quote leaves unspoken is that, notwithstanding Stephen Miller’s pompous pronouncements, tyranny never lasts. Throughout history, tyrants have trumpeted their power only to be brought down hard, whether through revolt of the tyrannized, invasion by outsiders jealous of their stolen wealth or by the sly knives of their own ambitious underlings.

That is small comfort though, as the longer tyranny reigns, the greater the burdens it inflicts upon the tyrannized. How much better our future and our children’s future will be if enough voters, including Republicans (of which I count myself one), will choose to foil MAGA’s takeover attempt in this year’s elections, and especially that of 2028!

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P. S. – E Unum Pluribus is a speculative fiction exploring one way in which power-hungry monomania could bring an end to the U. S. A. – and what sort of world might be left in its wake. With a thrilling plot driven by murder and conspiracy (as well as gender, class, language and even the origins of faith) the novel is currently being serialized online and anyone can read it, at no cost, by navigating to this website’s home page and selecting E Unum Pluribus from the top menu, or via this link: https://robinandrew.net/2026/01/01/e-unum-pluribus/