WHAT IF IT WERE TRUE?

In a couple of days, the electoral college will vote to certify the presidential election. A lot of Republicans are going to protest, saying there’s proof of voter fraud in several states. I doubt if that effort is going anywhere, but it makes you wonder if they’re going to keep pursuing it, like a dog with a bone. What if it were true, after all? Would we have to redo the entire election?

This latest election has been a wake up call for many voters, who thought the voting process was uniform across the United States. In my state of Indiana, you have to have a valid ID, and a signature check in order to vote in person or by absentee ballot. That seems like a pretty reasonable requirement. However, I did not know that other states have different rules. You can vote by mail with no signature or identification. Paper ballots can be run off on xerox machines, and they will be considered valid. In states like Nevada, people can vote twice.

Up until now, I believed that real people counted the votes. I was unaware that the task had been assigned to machines. It really undermines a person’s faith in the entire electoral process.

If certain states have allowed these loosey goosey voting requirements to go on for a long time, then it seems that both political parties are at fault.. Somewhere along the line, someone should have stood up and asked for election reform. But since they didn’t, they have only themselves to blame for the current mess we’re in.

What’s happened now is that most American’s believe that our electoral system is deeply flawed. Many of us have lost faith in the entire process. That’s not good for our country in the long run. The Democrats may have benefited from the loopholes in the system this time around, but it could come back to bite them in future elections if the Republicans figure out ways to beat the system in future elections.

Again, what if it were true? What if proof of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election finally comes to light a year from now? Would we have a do over election? Would Biden have to move out, and Trump move back in the White House? There’s no precedent for this scenario, and no rules established. I guess the legislature would have to figure it all out.

December 18, 2020December 18, 2020

WHAT’LL WE DO NOW?

The 2020 Election is pretty well over. Yes, it’s being contested, but it doesn’t look like that effort is going anywhere. According to various polls, at least half of Americans think there was voter fraud, but there’s no proof. That may stir up a little flurry in the media, but the pre-election frenzy has fizzled out. As Richard Nixon said in 1962, after losing the California governor’s race, “you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” Trump could say the same thing. What’s going to happen to people like Rachael Maddow, Sean Hannity, Don Lemon, and Tucker Carlson? What will they rant and rave about, and what’ll we do now?

Print media will have the same problem. Have you read the newspapers the past few days? If it weren’t for the coronavirus epidemic, I don’t know what they would have to report. They’re filling their pages with more and more “soft news” on topics like disease, domestic abuse, and jail overcrowding.. Honestly, I don’t know why we still take two newspapers. Guess it’s just force of habit. None of our adult children have newspaper subscriptions, and I don’t think they’re going to start buying newspapers now.

Cable news, especially, will suffer. CNN, MSNBC have provided fodder for the liberals . while conservative Fox News scores highest in prime time viewing. . Network news is federally regulated, and makes it’s money through advertising. Higher ratings mean they can charge more to advertise. Unfortunately for them, Cable news isn’t heavily regulated, so they can up their ratings and attract more advertisers because of all their outlandish political diatribes against one party or the other.

This past week, we’ve done a lot more channel surfing. We’ll watch anything but cable news. The other night, we watched a fascinating documentary “Mountain Men.” Since both of us come from farm backgrounds, it probably appealed to us more than the average city slicker.

Actually, it’s been rather relaxing. You don’t have to endure irritating social media posts about politics. Or avoid people with opposing political views. The excitement is over. But, what’ll we do now?

December 7, 2020December 7, 2020

WARNING! VOTER RAGE IS DANGEROUS

The contested election of 2020 between Biden and Trump has reached the boiling point. And it couldn’t come at a worse time. People are already feeling that they’ve lost control during this Covid-19 pandemic. And now, all of a sudden, many fear that their vote has been compromised by a rigged election. It’s like being caught in a tornado following a hurricane. That helpless feeling that our lives are veering out of control. Warning! Voter rage is dangerous.

Most people can’t remember another supposedly rigged election, but I do. The Kennedy-Nixon election in 1960 was so close that it only took the votes in the states of Illinois and Texas to throw it to Kennedy. Historians believe that John’s wealthy father, Joe Kennedy, had the money and political power to somehow rig the votes. I was living in Chicago at that time, in a northern suburb that was strongly Republican. People were furious, but they didn’t contest the election. I’m not sure why. They say Nixon thought about it, but in the end, he decided to concede. He was young enough to know he could run again. And he did.

Kennedy’s election was fraught with controversy, and it didn’t get any better after the Bay of Pigs fiasco when 98 Cuban American’s lost their lives. But John redeemed himself with the triumph of the Cuban Missile crisis. For awhile, the Kennedy era was like Camelot. These young beautiful people were America’s version of royalty. And then it all went South. Kennedy’s assassination was soon followed by the killing of his brother, Bobby. Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who many thought had helped rigged the election in Texas, then took over. But that didn’t end well, either. The Vietnam War caused him to resign from politics, and not run for re-election.

So that’s why this contested election has me worried. Whether it’s Biden or Trump, the winner won’t have won in a landslide, like other popular presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson. Voter rage will always be simmering beneath the surface of the political landscape. It won’t take much to make it erupt into something very ominous. In contrast to Kennedy and Nixon, we now have two old men with nothing to lose but the election. Warning! Voter rage is dangerous.