The US voter fraud is fraud

By Charles Dunaway

The Republican Party has been complaining about voter fraud for decades. By this, they mean attempts by individual voters, either organized or not, to vote fraudulently. The allegations are that voters may register illegally or in two or more jurisdictions, or that somehow people are voting more than once.  The actual incidence of such fraud is infinitesimal.  In a recent investigation, the New York Times found that the idea of voter fraud was intentionally planted in the public discourse as part of a disinformation campaign by the Republican Party.

The methods of preventing this alleged fraud are the real objective.  To prevent this non-existent threat, Republicans pass laws requiring voter ID cards for every voter, engage in mass purges of voter rolls, eliminate early voting, and disenfranchise those convicted of felonies, even after they have served their sentences.  These measures are not designed to prevent a handful of cases of voter fraud, they are designed to discourage likely Democratic voters.  The measures not coincidentally target minority groups.

In the upcoming election, Trump has made a number of statements alleging that mail-in ballots are rife with fraud or likely to be invalidated because of voter error.  While there have been incidents in which mail-in ballots were handled inappropriately or not counted, preventing those problems would be a far better solution during a pandemic.  Solving those problems, however, is not Trump’s goal.  His goal is to cast doubt on the integrity of the election because he might not win.

Never in our history has a sitting President attempted to undermine the nation’s faith in an election.  His opponents seem to be countering this by impugning the President’s character or calling him a liar.  They haven’t passed legislation to address the legitimate concerns about increased mail-in voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  We are thus heading into an election only days from now that could well be catastrophic.

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Trump is calling on his supporters, including his armed white supremacist supporters, to be “poll watchers”  - a flagrant attempt to intimidate likely Democratic voters and keep them from the polls.  Both parties have hired an army of lawyers, Republicans to challenge voting methods state by state, and Democrats to block any attempts by Republicans to halt the vote count or certify the election before all the votes are counted.

What few in this nation seem to realize is that this travesty of an election has dramatic implications for the entire world.  The US is rapidly deteriorating into a failed state, but one with a huge military and an arsenal of nuclear weapons.  If Trump wins, the belligerent, arrogant, and dangerous moves he has made over the last few years will continue.  If Biden wins, the US will still see itself as the exceptional nation with an obligation to lead the world and remove any competitors for world domination, it will merely do so in a more diplomatic way.   Regardless of the outcome, the grossly bloated military budget of the US will be increased, and the economic inequality that is turning the nation into a Banana Republic will continue. 

The American people could not change course even if they wanted to, and most don’t.  The next move falls to US allies, particularly in Europe.  The European nations need to reject US sanctions on Iran, China, Venezuela, Syria, and Russia.  They need to embrace the Nord Stream II pipeline and seek closer relations with China, Russia, and Iran.  NATO should be abandoned and US military bases in Europe should be closed.  The world needs their help to isolate the US and curb its power. 

Many pundits in the US are considering the possibility that Trump, sensing that he will lose the election, will pull off an “October Surprise” - an intentionally crafted media event designed to boost his chances.  It could be announcing a COVID-19 vaccine or a withdrawal of US troops from one or more nations, or he could launch a military attack against a designated enemy.  We have a dangerously incompetent and ill-informed narcissist making decisions for the US and there is little that can be done to curb his power in the short term.

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Charles Dunaway is an American political commentator in Oregon. He is a retired computer systems consultant who has been producing and hosting a radio program called Wider View for the last 4 years. The program is distributed nationally by the Pacifica Network and is available as a podcast at widerviewradio.podbean.com.  The program focuses on the United States' imperialist role in the world and the political stagnation in the nation that helps maintain that role. 

He recorded this article for Press TV website.

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