November 7th: Distopian Fretting
I'm beginning to sound paranoid to myself, but I really do worry about what 11/7 is going to look like.
So does Andrew Cohen.
We know that one of our two parties has become unhinged, that it exhibited a willingness to steal the election of 2000, and that it has made moves already to steal the election of 2012 by engaging in a widespread campaign of voter suppression.
We also know that that party has many ties to voting machine companies.
Why, exactly, are we not up in arms (figuratively speaking) about the situation? Does anyone really doubt that there are many and powerful people in the GOP who would steal the election if given the opportunity? Are we all just sitting around hoping that they are...what? Too lazy to do it? Too scrupulous? That they will develop consciences in the next two weeks? Do we think that it doesn't matter that they own voting machine companies?
The situation is exacerbated by the asymmetrical nature of the parties. Think about how Democrats would react if it were revealed that the Dems had stolen the election. Then think about how Republicans would react if it were revealed that the GOP had done it. Dems would demand a do-over. Republicans would say: better luck next time.
So does Andrew Cohen.
We know that one of our two parties has become unhinged, that it exhibited a willingness to steal the election of 2000, and that it has made moves already to steal the election of 2012 by engaging in a widespread campaign of voter suppression.
We also know that that party has many ties to voting machine companies.
Why, exactly, are we not up in arms (figuratively speaking) about the situation? Does anyone really doubt that there are many and powerful people in the GOP who would steal the election if given the opportunity? Are we all just sitting around hoping that they are...what? Too lazy to do it? Too scrupulous? That they will develop consciences in the next two weeks? Do we think that it doesn't matter that they own voting machine companies?
The situation is exacerbated by the asymmetrical nature of the parties. Think about how Democrats would react if it were revealed that the Dems had stolen the election. Then think about how Republicans would react if it were revealed that the GOP had done it. Dems would demand a do-over. Republicans would say: better luck next time.
posted by Winston Smith at
2:39 PM
2 Comments:
NOT THE DISTOPIA
Where everyone be dissin' everyone else ALL the time.
But yes, this seems horrible. This whole electronic voting without a paper trail thing has to stop. We need to have a simple federal standard of a secure voting system with a voter-verifiable paper trail.
This seems so simple. Wtf.
I really hope shit doesn't hit a huge fan. In many places, all we have regarding the veracity of our voting system is exit polls, though they did not do us much good in 2004.
Additionally, I fear only hardship will make people suddenly start caring about stuff like this. I fear further that, as society and the world develops, hardship will become increasingly sudden and destructive in its strikes.
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