Daines has duty to put America first
As someone that has seen an entire country devolve into chaos and unimaginable violence due to outside actors influencing our domestic politics and elections, I feel the need to use my life experience to warn Montanans and Americans that we are walking a dangerous road. When you cut through all the noise about the Ukraine investigations and the impeachment inquiry that has followed, the distillation of the issue here is not whether President Trump did, in fact, use taxpayer funds to bribe a foreign government to launch politically motivated investigations into his political opponents or not, it is this; will we now say it is okay for foreign powers to influence our elections or not?
When I joined the United States armed forces, I took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” When I became a citizen, I repeated that oath along with renouncing any allegiance and fidelity to foreign actors or governments. I pledged both of those oaths as a covenant between myself, God and America with only the understanding that someone who has seen the atrocities that can happen when countrymen turn on each other.
We may disagree with fellow Americans on specific policies or how we fix a host of problems that our country faces but those disagreements are between Americans only and no matter how bad those fights get they never endanger our country or our Constitution in a way that the influence of foreign powers in our elections can. American politics, as set up by our founding fathers, is meant to be an adversarial practice, in which ambition is counteracted with ambition. This idea was enshrined in our Constitution through the separation of powers through various branches of government but somehow in the struggle between ambitions some have forgotten this struggle should only be between Americans.
Those who do not recognize that allowing foreign governments to influence our politics will only divide us further are not upholding their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution. They dishonor those who have served, protected, spilled blood and paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to ensure America is governed by Americans and the Constitution.
Americans and Montanans deserve more of a response to this fundamental question of allowing foreign interference in our politics than an eye roll picture in a tweet. They deserve true debate and introspection. Which is why Sen. Daines should carefully weigh the evidence and vote for the best interests of America, not Russia, or President Trump, or Sen. McConnell. If he just falls into party line and votes as he’s told this will only encourage those foreign governments that wish us harm to further divide and deceive us and will contribute to the decline of the grand American experiment in Constitutional Democracy.
When matters that affect the very foundations of our Constitution are being considered Sen. Daines could choose to encourage the Russians to interfere in our political process. If you think that is the correct path for America, if you truly believe that Sen Daines’ sycophantic view that one man is more important than the people he is supposed to represent, then exercise your right to vote for him.
If you, like me, know that some matters are more important than your own political Party, please join me in protecting our country and Constitution.
— Wilmot Collins is the mayor of Helena and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.