(…) but if your eyes are no good, your body will be in darkness.
–Matthew 6:23 (GNT)
I write this on Dec. 4.
It is exactly one month past “the morning after,” Nov. 4, when America woke up to realize the presidential election outcome was uncertain, and to ask why vote totals in some key states had swung by hundreds of thousands–from President Trump to Joe Biden–from just a few hours earlier the night before.
In countries like Afghanistan, where ballots are carried in by backpack or mule train across rugged mountain paths to be counted, one can expect it will take awhile to tabulate results. But this the USA; we would expect better here. Yet here we are, one month later, with unclear, disputed results, and claims and evidence of voter fraud pouring in by the day.
*****
You’ve probably heard “Birds of a feather flock together,” and since I enjoy academia, foreign languages, new cultures, and travel, many in my circle also share those interests. That’s why something a highly-educated friend of mine said the other day shocked me, and so I share it with you now.
My friend is credible and credentialed. Due to today’s hyper-politicized environment, we will call her “Anna.” An American, she was born in the US but grew up in Latin America, so she is fully fluent in both English and Spanish–a remarkable feat in itself. She is brilliant and a quick learner, so she studied at Ivy League universities and later earned her PhD. She traveled and worked extensively across Latin America, in the fields of education and refugee services. Clearly, having grown up in the culture and being fully fluent in Spanish helped her hear first-hand stories and glean profound insights into that region. Simply put, she is “a highly credible source.”
What did she say that was shocking?
Recently we were discussing our election crisis, and she told me: “It’s so disturbing to watch, because I’ve seen all this happen before all across Latin America.”
I asked her to explain, and here is her story.
She has seen dictatorships over Latin America. “I could tell you about El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, Venezuela,” she began. “It’s the same pattern.”
She explained the pattern she has observed repeatedly. First, the military or another branch of the overall system, like big business, makes inroads to get clout. They work to establish themselves as a viable player in the system.
Second, over time they become recognized, accepted, and approved by most people.
Third, after becoming entrenched, they intentionally stir up discontent and strife somewhere in the system. They create “pockets of instability” so it becomes “a bubbling geyser, like at Yellowstone.” The result is normal people are scared and disoriented. The instigators who create the instability and chaos she calls “the forerunners” or “the point of the spear.”
Fourth, having become entrenched and widely-recognized, they promise the frightened, bewildered masses: “Trust us. Let us bring stability. Let us help you negotiate this time of change.”
Fifth, they make their cause look righteous and promise to “bring betterment to society and humanity…but it is really only for the benefit of the ruling few.”
Through it all, they deflect and make sure public attention is always kept from the real point, which is their desire to seize power. They want to make the shift unawares. She pointed out this week’s outrageous reports from Georgia, of thousands of ballots being brought in via suitcases and scanned multiple times, plus the early November 4 hours when mysterious vote spikes gave Biden hundreds of thousands of votes in several states.
She also cited the many cases where vote counting observers were kept far away from the actual machines and counters. “Of course people had to be kept away–it’s all to stay safe from COVID!” is the handy excuse.
She added: “those ‘midnight votes’ were exactly what happened in Cuba, El Salvador, and in a certain way, in Guatemala.”
“They are constantly surveying the national scene, the socio-political, the economic scene, so see where they can get leverage to further their agenda…and they always have an agenda. Their agenda is to insert themselves into the fabric of everyday life, so they can get their ‘forerunners’ to do their bidding.”
She explained that many people do not see the danger until it is too late. They are used to seeing members of the movement and think: “These are good people. These are my neighbors. What they don’t see is the ‘big picture’ ideology, because they are just everyday citizens. People are living their lives and don’t have the bandwidth or acumen to see the forces at play.”
She explained that most dictators move first to silence and wipe out the intelligentsia, because they are the ones who can see the dangers coming and could possibly mount a defense. Many Cuban intellectuals abandoned their homes and property and fled from Cuba to Miami after Castro’s 1959 communist revolution because “they understood” what was coming.
They were the fortunate ones. As time went on, it got harder then almost impossible to flee Cuba. She told the heartbreaking story of one grandfather refugee who fled to Mexico. All he could do every day in the refugee center was sit on his haunches, rock back and forth, and cry out in Spanish, “My country! My country!”
There are many ways to “connect the dots” from Latin American coups to our republic’s crisis today.
Think how “entrenched” many TV networks and newspapers are, plus Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and many more. They have unbelievable clout. Millions trust them. So, when they censor or “fact check” information they don’t like, many consumers accept that. When they laughingly call claims of voter fraud as “baseless,” millions of Americans believe them. Many do not realize that the now-common phrase “The AP has called the election for Joe Biden” has zero legal weight. “The AP” is the Associated Press, a media organization, a private business. However, it’s being used like a bludgeon to convince us all that the election was spotless, Biden won, and it’s time to move on.
Anna singled out a major culprit today: the media’s “selective reporting.” She said she had just seen a copy of the Wall Street Journal, which among newspapers should be unusually friendly to business and Republicans. She was aghast. “I looked for anything about questions about the election…zero!” Speaking of dishonest media, she added: “That’s exactly what happened in Cuba.”
With a positive contrast, she praised The Epoch Times. “They are showing evidence everywhere.”
Just as those Latin American revolutions were preceded by riots and disorder, think of the recent violence and confusion reigning across many American cities.
Just as revolutionaries promise a perfect future, a recent ABC news story covering Biden’s new “cabinet” had the chyron, “America is Back.”
To the question, “if, God forbid, that happens here, where do Americans flee too?” Anna was first silent, then quietly responded: “I don’t think they do. You flee to the heart of God.”
In closing, when asked what message she has for her fellow Americans, she quietly responded: “You’ve got to live with your eyes open, but if you’ve never been taught how to see, or what it is that you’re seeing, it won’t really help. We need to listen to the stories of our forebears. The Jews do this very well, as they pass down stories and often state, ‘Never Again,’ as a warning against another Holocaust.”
That is Anna’s warning, challenge, and encouragement: “Live with your eyes open.”
– Scott Dreyer