I have been working as a chief election judge[i] in Prince George's County, Maryland since the 2020 election, where I canvassed ballots for six weeks.  My wife and I attended one of the Trump rallies in D.C. at the time, but I went alone to another that followed and the last one on January 6.  Most recently, I was stationed as a chief election judge for the primary and a regular election judge for the midterms this November.

My election assignment was at the Senior Center in Laurel, Md.  I was part of the "A" shift serving four of the eight days of early voting.  On my second day there, I was walking from my car to the door of the Senior Center, which required me to pass by the large Tom Dernoga campaign tent.  Delegate Mary Lehman hailed me as I passed by, offering me a Democrat candidate voter's guide.  Interestingly, both Tom and Mary are uncontested in this election.  I have been to some of Mary's campaign events and have even voted for her in the past.  Our exchange follows:

Mary: "Here, vote for Democrats."

Me: "Mary, do you think we need more Democrats in Maryland?"

Note — the Maryland legislature is 7 to 1 Democrats to Republicans.

Mary: "Well, you have Hogan."

Me: "Yes, for a couple more weeks."

Mary: "You don't plan to vote for Cox, do you? He sent buses of people down to the January 6th insurrection."

Me: "Mary, I was at that event. It was the presidential speech. My wife and I go to a lot of the big DC events, the Pope, the President, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission. If there is a shooting when the Pope comes, we don't say that we went to the shooting. We went to see the scheduled event."

Mary: "Well, there was clearly an insurrection there. Why didn't you just leave when you saw it?"

Me: "First off, everyone came to hear Trump's speech, which was an hour late. I walked from the Ellipse to the Capitol with 15 nuns from Texas. Fifteen minutes into our journey, police cars drove through our ranks to deal with another group that was ahead of us, that missed the speech."

Mary: "Why didn't you just leave?"

Me: "I did leave, but from a distance it was clear that there were no weapons involved, and we could see guards lowering a barricade and waving people through. I can email the video of that to your office tomorrow."

Mary: "I won't look at it."

I was dumbfounded by this response from someone I trusted.  I definitely did email the Googled YouTube clip of the guards at the gate to Mary's state email address.  In retrospect however, I don't think Mary is the only Democrat to take spin over videotape.

As I watch the election results roll in, it's clear that the parties are separated by two completely different sets of issues.  Democrats have a profound hate for Trump, devotion to Critical Race Theory and the environment, and a love for abortion.  Republicans want a country with a border, low gas prices, a rising stock market, and control of their kids' educations.  We also prefer not to be at war all over the world, especially if it involves countries that have done business with the Bidens.

My wife and I had planned to retire shortly, but like everyone else, we lost almost a quarter of our life savings from our 401(k) in just two years.  It's worth considering how much longer we will have to work if these losses persist for the rest of Biden's term.

The hard part for rational people to understand is the "I won't look at it" part of Mary's response.  What this implies is that the other side cannot be convinced by any number of facts to dissuade them from a borderless country with rampant inflation and historic problems.

Things are worse in the country now than I can recall in all my 64 years.  Yet people still continue to pull the lever for Democrats who are responsible for the very problems we are experiencing.  No amount of money, pain, inflation, crazy gas prices, or event video will change liberals' minds, and the rest of us are forced to just endure.

In several days, I fully expect Trump to announce his candidacy for 2024.  I have to hope that Republican wins tonight and a competent president like DeSantis or Trump could indeed make America great again.

David Flynn is a Dark Matter researcher who lives in Prince George's County, Maryland.  He is a Catholic author of five science fiction books.  "A New Empirical Fit to Galaxy Rotation Curves" in scientific journal peer review.  His books can be found on his website.