{"id":2147140,"date":"2024-01-11T22:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T03:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-trump-ballot-question\/"},"modified":"2024-01-11T22:41:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T03:41:46","slug":"the-trump-ballot-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-trump-ballot-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump ballot query"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">6<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-trump-ballot-question%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2147140&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>&#8220;I&#8217;m from the\u200b government, \u200band I&#8217;m here \u2063to help&#8221;: The Ominous \u200dRise of the Elite Class<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe nine \u200dmost \u200cterrifying words in the English language are: \u2018I\u2019m from the government,\u200c and I\u2019m here\u2063 to help,\u2019\u201d\u2063 Ronald Reagan \u200bonce said, but the 40th president\u2063 could never have\u2062 known just \u2062how right\u2063 he was.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At the time\u2063 it \u200dwas spoken and forever\u2063 since, Reagan\u2019s \u200bstatement has been taken \u200dto refer mainly to the excesses of the federal\u200d bureaucracy:\u2063 the shameful, wasteful, pernicious\u200b but still rather comical unintended consequences of the administrative state. In hindsight, however, Reagan\u2019s insight foretold something far more\u200b ominous, intrusive, \u2064and pervasive.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we \u200blive in\u2062 the shadow not merely \u200dof incompetent but well-intentioned government \u2063do-gooders but\u2062 an elite expert class.\u200d Assured of\u200c its own superior intelligence,\u200d values, and status, the elected and unelected brethren of this class seek \u2063not so much to instruct citizens\u2064 on how to live their\u200c lives\u2063 but\u2063 to do some \u200cof the living for \u200cthem. Take\u200c the\u2063 once-uncontroversial matter of gas\u2062 stoves. For those\u200c poor souls convinced that grilling salmon \u2062contributes\u200d to the melting of the ice caps,\u2064 it\u2019s not sufficient to \u2064argue against the use of gas appliances in \u2064homes, possibly because they realize that no\u2062 one would listen \u200dto them, so they \u2064have turned to measures that, in some \u2064cities and states, \u2064have led to bans of the \u200dstoves \u200bthemselves.\u200c For an elite certain of its own\u200d virtue, \u2064and equally \u2062certain \u2062that the great unwashed \u2064has long since\u2062 stopped respecting them, why\u2064 bother\u2063 with persuasion?<\/p>\n<h3>Obamacare and the Erosion \u200cof Personal Choice<\/h3>\n<p>In hindsight, former\u2064 President Barack Obama\u2019s\u2063 Affordable Care Act was \u200cthe leading indicator of \u2062the mindset among our\u200d new\u200b overlords: Personal choice \u2063is\u2064 all well\u2063 and good so long as the \u2063public \u2063reaches\u2063 the right choice, and if people have to be somehow \u2062compelled to reach that right choice, so be it. If you were a 30-something \u200bfreelancer,\u200c entrepreneur, \u200dor gig worker who,\u2063 for whatever reason, was considering forgoing health insurance, Obamacare\u2019s penalty-by-tax return sought to banish such \u200dthoughts \u2063from your mind. The idea was to\u200c lead you\u2062 to make the correct decision by removing you\u2063 from your own decision-making process.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed,\u200c during the worst months \u200dof\u2063 the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials and their\u2063 elected flunkies viewed personal choice as a nuisance they could not \u200dbe bothered with.\u2064 The same set of assumptions that governed Obamacare led\u200b to\u2064 the imposition of mask mandates and \u200bvaccine cards. The thinking went something like\u200c this: \u200cLacking the scientific\u2062 bona fides \u200bof Drs. Anthony Fauci, Deborah Birx,\u200d Francis\u200d Collins,\u200d et al., citizens simply could\u200b not be counted upon to heed the good doctors\u2019 advice. Therefore, it was no longer \u201cadvice\u201d \u2014 it was the law\u2062 of the land. Mandates\u2063 rendered citizens\u2019 private judgment moot.<\/p>\n<h3>The 2024 Election: A\u200d Federal Emergency?<\/h3>\n<p>Now we come to the 2024 presidential\u200c election,\u2063 which the elite has deemed too consequential, too important, too dangerous, in the sense that the\u200c \u201cwrong\u201d outcome might be attained through the election of Donald Trump, \u200cto be decided by\u2063 the fickle finger of fate. \u200cNo matter that\u2064 \u201cfate,\u201d in this reading, is\u2063 the decision of a plurality of\u2064 voters\u2063 on Election Day.\u200d By the lights of the elite class, however, the evil of Trump is as self-evident\u2062 as the necessity of masking and vaccines \u2062to\u200d quell the spread of COVID-19, and\u2063 anyone who dissents \u200dmust be overruled. Therefore, the election\u200b must be rebranded \u2064as \u2063a kind \u2062of pandemic: a federal\u2064 emergency that requires government intervention \u200bto protect us \u2062from ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last year, we have seen an \u2062extraordinary series of actions that\u200c seek to render Trump not unelectable at the ballot box \u200cbut unelectable before he even reaches the ballot\u2062 box.\u200d Trump is \u2064correct when he refers to the prosecutions against him in New York, in Georgia, and by \u2063special counsel Jack \u200cSmith as tantamount to \u201celection\u2064 interference.\u201d Even if some of these cases have a\u200d kernel of legitimacy or might have\u200c been\u2062 pursued against Trump had \u200dhe\u200c not been running\u2064 for office, the fact\u200d remains that \u2064they\u2064 have not\u2064 been \u200dbrought in an ideal world but in this world. \u200dThese trials and their outcomes may have the practical\u200c effect \u200cof making voters\u2019 preferences \u2062in the election dependent on \u2063the whims of judges and juries.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps sensing that Trump will draw out, bog\u200c down, and possibly prevail in some of these cases \u2014 and certainly realizing \u200dthat, short of a conviction, Trump stands as good a chance as he did in\u2062 2016 and \u200bin 2020 of winning the White\u2064 House\u2062 \u2014 the Colorado\u200b Supreme\u200d Court and the\u2064 Maine secretary of state have decided they \u200dhave had enough of these pesky voters who remain attached to the\u200c Trump era of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-green-introduces-bill-to-boost-us-poland-defense-ties-on-nato-anniversary\/\" title=\"Rep. Green Introduces Bill to Boost US-Poland Defense Ties on NATO Anniversary\">relative global peace<\/a>,\u2064 low\u200c unemployment, and robust\u2063 border security. These people, \u200bthe elites know in their hearts, \u200bwill never learn. So, in Colorado\u200c and\u200c Maine, \u2063the\u2064 14th\u200d Amendment, the\u2063 far Left\u2019s new favorite \u200cpart of the Constitution following the failure of the much-vaunted 25th Amendment, has been invoked to\u200d remove Trump from the ballot and thus eliminate any chance that \u200dthe weak-minded among us will check the box \u2063beside his name. Don\u2019t make arguments against Trump. Just\u2064 delete his name.<\/p>\n<h3>The Elites&#8217; Disregard for Democracy<\/h3>\n<p>I credit\u2064 all \u200cof these institutions and officials\u200d with a \u200bmeasure of \u200dgood faith: They are probably sincere in their belief that Trump is a \u2062menace, but \u2063understand that\u200b they are equally sincere in their \u2062belief that the public \u2014 that\u2019s\u2063 you \u2014 is too\u2063 ignorant, prejudiced, and mercurial \u2063not\u2063 to\u2064 vote for him.\u200d Dear reader, they have no\u200b more confidence in your ability to vote for someone other than Trump than they did\u2063 in\u200b your decision to wear a mask or get a vaccine.\u2063 This \u200dis the final fruit of our commissars treating personal decisions, such as whether to wear a mask amid \u2064a pandemic or whom to vote for, as being subject to their advice \u2063and consent. \u2062Astonishingly, the elites\u200d have convinced themselves that some candidates for\u2063 office are not only unfit for office\u2064 but unfit even to stand\u200c for office\u200d and that it is they who shall make the determination. \u2062They forget \u2062that the\u200c sorting of\u2064 worthy and \u200bunworthy candidates is the purview of voters, not elected \u2062officials, prosecutors, juries, or judges. But they don\u2019t\u200c really \u201cforget\u201d this fact. In their anti-Trump mania,\u200c they just choose to skip \u2063this\u200c part from Civics 101.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, on some level, Trump\u2019s adversaries must recognize that \u2064their campaign against Trump is recklessly, egregiously, \u200cappallingly undemocratic. Just imagine the\u2064 media narrative if a Republican president \u2063was in the White\u2063 House and,\u2063 under his direction or merely under his watch, his leading Democratic opponent was \u200bbeing \u200cprosecuted and, state by state, \u2064shoved off\u2063 the ballot. Yet, if challenged\u2062 on such grounds, the anti-Trump elite would undoubtedly \u2063mount the same defense as\u200c our COVID-19-era rulers: They \u2063would\u2064 promise\u2062 that \u200bit\u200c is only \u2063just\u200d this \u200done presidential election, presumably \u2063the\u2064 last one for which \u200dTrump will run, in which your ability to\u200b vote for the candidate of your choice\u200d at the ballot box will be compromised or curtailed. Those who would believe this implicit promise are as foolish as those who bought\u2062 into the fiction that COVID-19 shutdowns would last for a mere\u200c two weeks, just\u200b enough\u2063 time \u200cto \u201cslow the \u200bspread.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard,\u201d wrote H.L. Mencken, and if what the people want is\u2063 a \u2062second Trump administration, they deserve to get that, too. He is indisputably the preferred\u2062 Republican \u2063candidate,\u200d and understandably so. Anyone who attests\u2064 to a belief in the\u2062 will of the people, as do Trump\u2019s \u200dopponents when\u200d they\u200c speak, endlessly, of his\u200d alleged threat to democracy, must\u200c cope with that\u2062 reality.<\/p>\n<p>The judicial and \u200cpolitical forces that have gathered\u2062 to prevent people \u200cfrom exercising their right to vote for Trump lead me to\u200b conclude that it is long past time to revise Reagan\u2019s famous joke about\u200b government\u200c overreach. Forget bureaucracy and red tape. \u200cToday, \u200bthe most terrifying words\u200d in the\u2062 English language are\u2062 surely: \u201cI\u2019m\u2063 from the government, and I\u2019m here to \u2062do your \u2062voting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Peter Tonguette is a contributing writer to the Washington Examiner magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What are the potential dangers and consequences of the elite \u2062class making decisions\u200c on behalf of the general public?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Crucial step in the democratic process.<\/p>\n<p>This\u2062 rise of the elite class, \u200bwho believe they know\u200b better than the average citizen, \u200bis deeply troubling for several reasons. Firstly, it undermines the fundamental principle of democracy: that power lies in the hands of \u2063the people. By dismissing\u2064 the choices\u2063 and preferences\u200c of the general public, the elites show a complete disregard for the democratic process and the will of \u200bthe people.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, the increasing intrusion of the \u2062elite class into the lives \u2062of citizens erodes personal\u200b freedom and\u200d individual\u200b autonomy. \u200dThe assumption that the elites know what\u200b is best for everyone and should therefore make decisions on their behalf is not only paternalistic but also dangerous. It erodes the\u2064 principle of personal choice and undermines\u2062 the notion that \u200bindividuals have the\u2064 right to make decisions that align with their own values and preferences.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, \u200bthe elite class&#8217;s tendency to dismiss dissenting opinions \u2064and label them as dangerous or unworthy of consideration is deeply concerning. Democracy thrives on the robust exchange of ideas and \u200cthe\u200c ability\u200b to engage in meaningful debate. By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/feminist-naomi-wolf-blasts-nazification-of-public-discourse-under-cognitively-impaired-biden\/\" title=\"Feminist Naomi Wolf Blasts \u2018Nazification\u2019 of Public Discourse Under \u2018Cognitively Impaired\u2019 Biden\">silencing dissenting voices<\/a> and disregarding alternative perspectives, the elites create an echo chamber where only their\u2063 own views are heard and considered.<\/p>\n<p>This \u200dphenomenon is not limited to one particular political ideology or party. \u200dIt cuts across the political spectrum, with elites from both the left and the right asserting their superiority and seeking to impose their worldview \u200con others. The problem is not limited to a few individuals\u2063 but has become ingrained in \u200cour political and social systems.<\/p>\n<p>So, what \u200dcan be done to counteract this ominous rise \u2062of \u200bthe elite class? Firstly, it is crucial to\u2063 prioritize and protect the\u200b principles of democracy: equal representation, freedom of speech, and the right to participate in the decision-making process. The voices and choices\u200b of the general public must be heard and \u200drespected, even if they challenge the beliefs and preferences of the elites.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, it is essential to promote transparency and accountability in government and other elite institutions. The actions \u200cand decisions of the elite class should\u2063 be subject to scrutiny \u200cand review, and\u200c mechanisms should be in place to hold them accountable \u2064for \u2062any abuses of power \u2063or violations of democratic principles.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, it is important to cultivate a culture \u2062of critical thinking \u200dand civic engagement\u2062 among the general \u2062public. Citizens must be empowered to question authority, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gods-plan-includes-abortion-shout-your-abortion-posts-billboards-across-southern-states\/\" title=\"'God Supports Abortion': Shout Your Abortion Billboards in Southern States\">challenge prevailing narratives<\/a>, and actively participate in the democratic process. By promoting an informed and engaged \u2062citizenry,\u200d we can ensure that power remains with the people and not in the hands of an elite class\u2063 that believes it knows best.<\/p>\n<p>The rise of the elite class and their intrusion into the lives of citizens is a threat to democracy and individual freedom. It\u200c is essential\u200b that \u200bwe recognize and address this issue before it further undermines the principles that our societies are\u200d built upon. As Ronald Reagan warned, the words &#8220;I&#8217;m \u2064from the \u200cgovernment, and I&#8217;m here to\u2062 help&#8221; should not be taken lightly, as they can mask a dangerous and ominous agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The scariest words in English: &#8216;I&#8217;m from the government, here to help,&#8217; as Ronald Reagan warned. Little did he know how accurate he was. Over time, his statement has come to symbolize the potential concerns associated with government intervention<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2691,"featured_media":2147141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2147140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2147140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2147141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2147140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2147140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2147140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}