Exercise the vote: Exorcise the charlatans

Thank God for a jury of our peers. Well, at least, thank the Founding Fathers for having the insight to understand that the people who live with us, work with us and vote with us are best able to sit in judgment — of us.

That truth was brought home this past week when a jury in Connecticut hammered the fear and conspiracy-mongering liar, Alex Jones, when it unanimously decided that his outrageous, hurtful lies will cost him close to $1,000,000,000.

Yep, that’s a billion dollars, and that is what Jones will have to pay the families of Sandy Hook first-graders who were slaughtered in their school 12 years ago. Those are the children, along with their families, whom Jones lied about continually while he raised money from his half-witted followers who believed that the shooting was a hoax and the dead and mutilated bodies were just actors trying to advance some political point.

Meanwhile, the families grieved — as did the whole country, except for Jones’ rubes — while hurtful lie after hurtful lie was forced on them by Jones’ deliberate desire to hurt them and smear the memories of their babies — all while he was raising millions from his gullible benefactors.

Well, the jury listened to the facts and came to a unanimous decision. And that will cost Jones the $1 billion. He says it will never get collected. Maybe, maybe not. But I suspect Jones will never again have a peaceful moment, because the bill collector will get great joy chasing him to the ends of the earth.

Sometimes juries get it wrong, but not this time. Regardless of their own personal beliefs in this highly charged and dysfunctional political world in which we live, those jurors saw Jones for the charlatan he is and felt the pain of his grossly hurtful attacks on those families. And, then, they made their unanimous decision.

I am mindful that besides America’s belief in our justice system and the jury that undergirds it, we have other ways for citizens to ensure that this government of, by and for the people does not run amok.

In just a few weeks, all of America will go to the polls to

elect leaders at the local, state and federal levels — it’s what we do here in the United States. We vote.

And don’t think for a minute there aren’t ballots full of Alex Joneses in every state of the union. And that includes Nevada.

Yes, charlatans abound in these midterms and to the extent that the candidates can fool the voters — just like Alex Jones has fooled the gullible who hang on his every word — our democracy will be injured in much the same way as those families who, after suffering unthinkable personal losses, had to endure the pain of the lies that belied their pain.

But, just like those jurors who didn’t allow themselves the privilege of personal opinions and beliefs — no matter how outrageous and unbelievable they might be — to color their verdict, so, too, must Nevada’s voters see through the lies and focus on what they know to be the truth.

For example, we know that for 50 years, the women in America were equal citizens in that they had control over their bodies — just like men. That wasn’t always the case but it has always been the case for every woman born after 1973.

Today, that is no longer true. Women have been relegated to second-class citizenship by the Republican Party and its minions on the U.S. Supreme Court.

It won’t take too many voters — think jurors — to let the GOP know that they shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature or the good nature of mothers across this country. All voters need to do is see the facts and make the decision — just like the Jones jury did this past week.

And if second-class citizenship doesn’t move you, what about a good old-fashioned insurrection? You know, the kind that tries overthrow a presidential election for the first time in — forever — and a coup attempt that most Republicans claim was just a walk in the park.

The January 6 Committee has just subpoenaed Donald Trump because all roads and all facts lead right to his doorstep. He is the man who incited the riot that led to the deaths of police officers and others and that threatened to tear asunder the Constitution of the United States.

There are people on the ballot right here in Nevada who stand proudly with that disgrace of an American president and ask for your vote. Are they kidding?

Are you kidding when you rationalize that outrageous behavior?

The jury didn’t let Alex Jones get away with his grossly un-american actions and neither should the voting “jury” allow anyone on the ballot who stands with Trump and ignores his outrages against our democracy get away with your votes.

It is time to stand up for this country, even though many of the names on your ballot refuse to do the same. Or, especially, because they won’t!

Yes, charlatans abound in these midterms.