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Us election map from 2020.
Election Fraud in the US?
Republicans Would Rightfully
Scream if They Knew Democrats Did This
NewsFocus.org, Op-Ed, 011721
The cry of election fraud is oftentimes heard
around the world as struggling nations endeavor for democracy, but when it is
levied within an already established democracy, it gets a lot more attention.
Such is the case with the recent 2020 election,
where US President Donald Trump has cried foul, claiming that the election was
rigged, even though his own administration has declared it to be completely
fair. The charge becomes even more difficult when you know that two of the key
states challenged are under Republican leadership, Arizona and Georgia. In
total, 61 court grievances were quashed by upset judges from
the right and the left, all who felt they were not presented with any facts or
solid evidence of the widespread election fraud that they were led to expect.
Republicans are incensed, however, they wouldn't
be the first party to scream election irregularity.
As contentious as these state elections have
become, everything could have been much more volatile, if perhaps other conditions were present.
FYI: the other three contested states were
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, all Democrat.
Now, here is where things could have become really
ugly (as if they weren't already bad enough)...
If it was a widely known fact that Wisconsin
Secretary of State Douglas J. La Follette, a Democrat, was the co-chair of the
Biden-Harris campaign in Wisconsin, the outcry would have increased tenfold.
If it was a widely known fact that Pennsylvania
Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, was the co-chair of the Biden-Harris
campaign in Pennsylvania, there very well would have been immediate rioting and
chaos in the streets there. One can only imagine the fever pitch by outraged
conservatives.
To be clear, none of this actually happened in
2020. La Follette and Boockvar were not involved with the Biden-Harris
campaign. Some might even go so far as to say that such a conflict of interest
would never be legal and thus not possible, but they would be remiss in
remembering our recent history. This was actually the case in the highly
contested elections of 2000 and 2004, although it was the Republicans who
actually held such controversial state political affiliations, which the
Democrats claimed were a direct conflict of interest.
In 2000, in the key swing-state of Florida, George
W. Bush's state campaign co-chair of his presidential election committee just
happened to be
Katherine Harris, Florida’s secretary of state, who was charged with
overseeing an impartial and fair election. As it turned out, a conservative led
US Supreme Court actually
stopped the final vote count with a 5-4 vote,
handing the
presidency to George W. Bush. Democrats were outraged.
In 2004, Republican
J. Kenneth Blackwell, was the Secretary of State for the key swing-state of
Ohio, while also serving as state co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign. Once
again, liberals were angry.
Then in 2016, there were
allegations of
foreign (Russian)
influence for Trump. Once again Democrats were upset. To this point, one can only imagine the
fervor if there were claims of foreign influence involved with the recent Biden-Harris
campaign. Thankfully this has not been alleged in this election (so far) because it
likely would have made the situation even more combustible and more
explosive.
So be it known to all, yes, we indeed have issues
with our political system and election process, but it appears to cut both ways.
The truth is, our political system has been gamed against "we the people"
for many decades now,
by those with opulent wealth vast enough to usurp a long tenured democracy.
(The Citizens United Supreme Court ruling of 2010 now makes this even easier to do.) The fact
of the matter is, both political parties have been exploited and used
against us along the way. Truth be told, to be non-partisan about it, "We the
people" have been getting screwed from both sides of the political aisle for
some time now, with a see-saw of Good Cop-Bad Cop and a carousel of
discourse.
Make no mistake about it, if anything, the
two-party system is meant to do one thing, divide this nation so it is more
easily controllable by the powers that be. (IMHO) Ask yourself why you
need a left or right view to build public infrastructure such as roads, schools
and libraries? Why do we possibly need a left or right view for anything in life when the
problems that we all face together are not exclusive to political affiliation?
Real problems that affect us all are unbiased and non-partisan. They're just
problems, waiting to be dealt with by "we the people" who are affected by them.
Looking at an issue simply from a left or right
perspective is only using half of the options available, limiting the overall
number of potential choices to find the best solution and thus solve the
problem. Kindergartners would arguably do better than today's partisan
politicians in finding solutions to common problems that face them as a group,
simply because they have no formal divisions and are willing to work together.
Sadly, there is more truth in this notion than most might be willing to admit.
As someone who sits outside both major political
parties, it is much easier to see how fairness truly plays out - or doesn't - in
our election process. I very much wish that all Americans would wake up and
realize how easily we are coerced and steered by powers far greater than
Democrats or Republicans.
As bad as many conservatives feel about the
election outcome, they can find consolation in the fact that the entangling
alliances of 2000 and 2004 were not present in this election.
Can you imagine how much worse things would be if
these conditions were present in 2020?
I shudder to think about what would have happened
because that is one issue of conflict that would have undeniably escalated the
current situation beyond where we are now - which isn't very good.
So let us all make sure to remember our recent
political history - and
thank God we didn't have the issues of 2000 and 2004 in 2020.
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