Election suspicion is a result of simmering distrust in our institutions SHARYL ATTKISSON

Amid the dueling claims and information chaos in the wake of Election Day 2020, we’re seeing the consequence of the loss of faith in our basic institutions by at least half of the American public. These Americans have seen stark, specific examples in recent years of how justice is not equally applied.

They have watched as some federal agents and officials of the intelligence community, who should be helping to protect us and to uphold the laws, instead have embarked upon propaganda campaigns and operations that involved committing shocking violations and potential crimes, such as conducting illegal spying, filing improper wiretap applications, unmasking the protected names of innocent U.S. citizens, engaging in illegal leaks of confidential or classified information, and destroying evidence and documents. These lapses didn’t just happen during the 2016 presidential election; there is evidence they have been going on for years, unmitigated.

These Americans have watched, too, as those within our institutions, who are in a position to hold the guilty parties accountable, have failed to do so even as the evidence poured in and as the weeks, months and years have dragged on.

They have witnessed many of the institutions encompassing the nation’s media, social media and the internet getting away with increasingly offensive, restrictive censorship of certain people and certain thoughts —

Those who are suspicious are not the ones to blame for their lack of confidence in all of the institutions involved. They’re simply learning from experience.

If power is increasingly centralized in one place and in one office - then of course, the political stakes and incentive to grab power become extremely high.

History has shown us the brutality, extremism and political corruption that takes place when emperors compete for power.

And of course, we have seen a growth in centralized/Federal power in the USA since the start of the Progressive era, but which has gone parabolic since the late 1960s.

Why would the USA avoid this same fate as other empires?

I worked for many years in third world nations of immense corruption and wealth. The voting system were simply an amusing farce. That farce today now exists in my nation. What follows this great farce is very bad in the extreme. It is called tyranny.

Even more oddly I have worked in a couple of nations that were under rule by kings or Sultans with absolute power. A perfect example was Oman. Sultan Qaboos had absolute power. He loved his nation and did all he could to bring a very backward nation into the real world. He succeeded. He was an absolute ruler. He was loved by his nation.

Odd story about his palace circa 1978. I went down there to take pictures and just walk about outside. The palace guards most politely indicated not to take pictures and just move away. His security really sucked. Oddly he did not need it. Colonel Roberts ex British Intelligence but really still the same took care of all of that.

Perhaps a book will be written about Colonel Roberts one day. It would be most interesting. His name on a piece of paper was like God.

Some friends of mine from the UK wanted to visit me in Oman. The whole process was a nightmare as there was internal instability in Oman at the time. There was a war in the South of Oman. Visas were looked at closely and often denied. My friends could not come.

I sat outside of Colonel Roberts office for a few hours. The staff denied me access. When he came out I politely cordoned him and explained what was happening. I had the paper in hand to be signed. He immediately signed it most graciously. He had power but it was used properly.

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