Dec 17, 2016 4 min read

If the actual results of the U.S. election are part of your argument about Russian interference in said election, you have missed the point entirely.

Take your party allegiances and personal political ideology and put them aside for a moment. They have no place in this discussion. None.

As Americans, we are fond of proclaiming there is much more that unites us than divides us, but those are just empty words if we throw this issue into the social media/cable news echo chamber and allow it to fade into the wind because one of the Kardashians posted a killer selfie on Instagram and broke the internet. This is no joke, and no, I’m not exaggerating.

I am not advocating any radical solution, which may disappoint my friends on the far left. But we as Americans absolutely deserve honest answers to three very legitimate questions.

1. What was the extent of Russia’s interference in the U.S. election?

2. Who, if anyone, from either campaign knew about said interference and allowed it to occur for their own political gain?

3. What role, if any, did the FBI play in the election? Specifically, did the FBI, through its agents, engage in political activity under the banner of legitimate law enforcement?

The reason these questions must be answered in an objective and factual manner is simple and fundamentally crucial to our system of government. Those of you trying to make this about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump are fixated on the battle when you need to be looking at the war.

There is no polite way to say this. If you are unwilling to acknowledge the fact that a foreign government waged an unprecedented propaganda campaign to influence the ability of the American electorate to make an objective decision, you are at best a complete and utter fool.

So, just because “your guy” won this time, you’re going to ignore the unmistakable warning signs of how easily our public opinion and therefore our elections can be compromised? Let me interrupt your tea party by asking what makes you so sure the next time around “your guy” will be on the outside looking in? You say you’re for “country first”? Then put up or shut up – right now.

The second we as a nation allow our own narrow-minded partisanship to trump citizenship (no pun intended), we have declared ourselves open for business to every thug and despot with an internet connection, and one of the most critical pillars of our democracy – the right to self-determination – has lost all legitimacy.

George Washington summed it up eloquently: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.”

Have we finally reached the tipping point? Is our inability to manage our own factions opening the door to despotism? These are serious questions demanding honest and objective examination or debate. Anyone willing to look the other way because the ends justify the means is just flawed in their thinking.

You can’t be so focused on building walls to keep individuals out that you allow entire nations to sneak in under the radar. How can you say with a straight face that keeping a handful of Mexican immigrants or Syrian refugees out of the country is so critical to our collective security and prosperity while allowing foreign powers to assert such massive control over our system of government? Nationalism with an asterisk isn’t nationalism; it’s aiding and abetting treason.

The American Experiment is just that – an experiment. And sometimes, when we stop paying attention either accidentally or intentionally, experiments fail.

You want to protect America? Then stand up and do it by rising above partisanship for, like, five minutes to demand the truth for once.

White is a former state representative for the 46th Legislative District.