“We don’t do mail-in voting, Cliff — that’s a Democrat tactic!”
I hear it all the time. Republicans, unfortunately, have an unfounded aversion to mail-in voting simply because it’s been a foundational part of the Democrats’ strategy for decades. Many seem to feel like adopting it will create a perception that they’re the same. And to be honest, considering the fact that a large percentage of Republicans are operating as Republicans in name only, I kind of understand where they’re coming from.
But the truth is that far too often, we’re losing elections that we absolutely should be winning because Republicans are more concerned with optics than they are with victory.
That’s not just a loss for Republicans, it’s a loss for the average American and for the future of our country.
I don’t like mail-in voting any more than you do. I believe our elections should last for one day, be conducted with traditional paper ballots, and counted on the same day.
But that’s not the system we have right now. Over the years, Democrats have changed the laws to loosen regulation on the single most important aspect of our government. They have consistently weakened the protections that were designed to ensure free and fair elections, and they’ve used those newly created weaknesses to give themselves an unfair advantage.
Many would argue a fraudulent advantage.
And for as long as those rules have been changed, most Republicans have continued to play by the old rules. The outcome of this self-imposed limitation is abundantly clear when looking at the type of anti-American “leaders” who are now in power all across the country.
We need to follow the wisdom of noted philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, here.
When the old “rules” are no longer being followed by your opponents, you have no moral obligation to continue following them yourself. It’s not a matter of “being the bigger person,” in this case. That’s just moral grandstanding. And it’s not a matter of legality because the laws have been changed.
So at this point, it’s nothing more than political and, more importantly, societal martyrdom.
This is why every single Republican needs to go all in on mail-in voting.
We don’t control the media, Hollywood, academia, or big tech, so our message gets suppressed amidst a tsunami of left-wing propaganda. That has led to a steady societal shift to the left over the last several decades simply because liberals have been so effective at convincing Americans that conservative principles were in the extreme minority.
But when we talk to Americans, face to face, we find that most Americans actually align with conservative principles, and they oppose leftist ideology.
And you’ve probably seen evidence of this yourself. Just a few years ago, conservatives mostly hid in the shadows on social media, in the workplace, and even in public spaces. Most rarely expressed their views out of a justified fear of being ostracized by an angry left-wing mob. Liberals are known for posting negative reviews attacking companies that employ or are owned by conservatives, demanding conservatives be fired, and even doxing and threatening conservatives.
Those attacks still happen, but the environment has changed.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he turned it into a true public forum, free from the censorship that liberals love to impose. I believe this was the catalyst because it showed millions of Americans that their views actually weren’t in the minority. Despite the claims from the left that everyone was leaving X, it continued steadily growing, further proving that most Americans support conservative principles.
Then, after the 2024 election, even Facebook and Instagram, once known for their censorship in support of liberal ideology, followed, shifting to a more free speech approach.
As a result, we now see a majority of reactions to leftist propaganda disputing or even outright mocking it, and exponentially more people freely expressing their views.
That makes now the time to strike.
Americans are tired of liberal policies that drive illegal immigration, drug use, crime, and fraud, and they want someone to step up and fight back. I believe that is the Republican Party, but in order to do that, we need to actually win elections so we have the power to do something. And we can’t wait for the next presidential election or even the midterms. We have to focus on the ground game to win the hundreds of smaller local elections all across the country.
That’s where mail-in voting comes in.
Right now, Republicans need to go all in on mail-in voting to take away the competitive advantage the Democrats have historically held. That, coupled with the political shift in our society over the last few years, will give us everything we need to win and take back America.
This is ours to win, but it’s also ours to lose. It all comes down to whether we’re willing to do what needs to be done to win—and in my opinion, that’s mail-in voting.
Cliff Maloney is the CEO of Citizens Alliance. You can follow him @maloney on X.
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