Don’t believe what I say because I am smart, because I agree with you, because I am a celebrity, because your friends say I am right, or because I say you are smart. Believe what I say only because you thought about my words and considered alternative ideas. Think for yourself. I could be wrong.
You think Trump really won? How about Gore against ‘W’? I am going to use the Trump election fraud thing as an illustration; but this holds for so many other things in our lives.
Do you believe in God?
I am less interested in these faith based questions than in these: Why, with all the hard data – showing that Biden really won, was Trump so adamant that HE won? And why do so many people just take on faith, ignoring real evidence (or the lack of), that Trump is correct?
Methinks the man doth protest too much! (Hamlet…). Why is he so sure? Did he pay/make some bargain to ensure that he won? Did he cheat, just not as well? Was his cheating discovered and nullified by Democrats, more skilled, efforts? Is that why he is so angry?
This is not a new thing. Just do a search for election fraud books and articles. There are LOTS. They are not fiction. They are historical fact. Here’s a quote from Edward Foley’s Ballot Battles “A rigged gubernatorial election in New York in 1792 nearly ended in calls for another revolution, and an 1899 gubernatorial race even resulted in an assassination.” So it has been going on since the beginning. Note, this happens on all sides, for all elections, every party, every level. All over the World.
Now, with Social Media, bots, governmental (and foreign – e.g Russian, Iranian, North Korean) cyber warriors, proprietary ‘closed system’ voting machines (with corporate owners vowing to give the election to certain candidates), and – yes – a willfully unthinking and under educated voting population (71% of Republicans have the legal minimum of education – a Pew survey on voters), huge corporations (and Unions) ‘urging’ employees to vote certain ways, the ability to sway elections is PROBABLY rampant. We KNOW it happens. It ain’t just ‘volunteers’ rounding up grandmas and driving them to the voting booths anymore.
And, what about the manipulations by the candidates themselves? Playing to the times and demographics and polls. But, ‘A leader is supposed to do what the voters want in a democracy!’, you say… Yes, but, there is also a long history of popular promises to the voters reneged on by politicians… Is that NOT the norm now? How about the GOP and DNC picking candidates based on color, age, weight, ethnicity, sex, vs capability and integrity? Santos…
Further, what about the parties pandering to their perceived bases to get votes vs standing by their guiding principals? The Republican party promotes itself as minimalist government and individual rights – but isn’t governmental interference in personal reproductive rights contrary to that? It could be argued that the Democrats broad welcoming of unvetted immigrants is, cynically, only because they largely vote Democratic once given the right – vs pure altruism. Shouldn’t the Republican pro-business stance advocate for immigrants who provide cheaper labor?
So, the election results are perhaps less interesting than our response. Let me come back to the interesting question (to me): Why, in the face of all that, do so many voters just accept what their Media says (Fox etc for Repubs and MSNBC etc for Dems)? Why aren’t we more skeptical and digging for truth? What is being pushed and what is NOT being told (it is usually just as important)?
I was amazed to read that surveys (the same Pew Foundation poll as above) found 60% of Republicans thought Trump was second, only to Reagan, in esteem – of ALL presidents. Really (Lincoln, Roosevelt(s), Franklin…)? I mean look at his actual accomplishments with respect to all others … He talked a good game, and saying there was a need to curtail unlimited illegal immigration, or slowing renewal on unbalanced ‘free’ trade (NAFTA/USMCA etc), was possibly useful. But what did he actually implement relative to other presidents, what did his people accomplish? Yes, we got a much more conservative Judiciary, Space Force, cut corporate taxes hugely (35 to 21%) and removed the tax penalty for not having health care insurance, passed some prison reform (First Step), significantly destroyed ISIS capability, killed Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani, pulled us out of Syria (mostly) and started the pull out of Afghanistan, the Abraham Accords. Did I miss anything? Those were the things some have considered positives (but obviously debatable). Is illegal immigration still a problem (did he actually lower the numbers)? Hard to say. Numbers DID go down, but all over the World immigration was down comparably due to the Covid pandemic (I am waiting to see if the GOP is behind funding the immigrant caravans to the US border…). Did he build The Wall? Some possibly good stuff, but not all that much relative to many of our other presidents. He was too busy getting into fights and firing key staff.
I find it really interesting to read the different ‘news’ reporting on the Ukraine/Russia ‘Special Operation’ on RT.com and Ukrinform.net, or what’s happening in Israel on aljazeera.com, jpost.com, memri.org. Fascinating to see the same event reported from differing perspectives. But terrifying to see how these events are manipulated, absorbed, and the distortions amplified, on various ‘unbiased’ media. And we accept them as truth. We primarily only hear those voices that echo what we already believe. For example, the numbers reported for Israel’s retaliation in Gaza, on most media outlets, are very high. Much higher than what the Israeli army reports. In a few news sources they acknowledge that the numbers reported most often are from the historically unreliable Palestinian Ministry of Health (a division of, and funded by, Hamas), but most references do not include this. Nor do most of those sources cite that Israel is attacking to get back hostages taken by Hamas and likely hidden deep underground. Are the IDF numbers more accurate, unbiased? Who knows? But the point I am making is to consider the source and ask what they gain and what they are not saying.
Just think. For yourself. Whether you love Trump or Biden, Putin or Zelensky, Capitalism or Socialism – whatever – be critical of what you hear and, more importantly, what you believe. Hear, don’t just listen, to what alternative viewpoints say. Consider those too.
I say this mostly as a reminder to myself….