General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I Think we Should Be Extremely Concerned about the Evil that Brought us Trump: Election Fraud [View all]Time for change
(13,714 posts)The book, "Code Red -- Computerized Elections and the War on Democracy", by Jonathan Simon, proposes 5 answers to that question. I'll summarize them here:
1. There is enormous pressure on the "losing" candidate to concede (the result of our corporate news media).... For many such candidates, challenging an election, no matter how suspect the results, can understandably be seen as an act of political suicide...
2. As for the Democrats successfully elected and serving in office, it would take a rare politician to challenge, or even support a challenge to the legitimacy of the system that brought him or her to power.
3. Democrats depend on and are obsessed with "turnout"... Democratic strategists fear that playing up any concerns about the honesty of elections or vote counting will discourage and lose potential voters...
4. Democrats are firmly entrenched in the corridors of power and would remain so even as a minority party under Karl Rove's projected 40 year Republican dynasty..... Election rigging can transform the American political spectrum, sliding it further and further to the right, without in any way disturbing the two party system and the power it bestows and Democrats and Republicans alike. It is not at all clear that most Democrats would care to jeopardize that arrangement, opening the electoral doors to progressives, mavericks, and third parties. The true victims of election rigging is not the Democratic Party but the American people.
5. Simon's 5th reason has to do with the difficulty that many people from all walks of life have in believing that such things can happen in the United States of America -- a beacon of Democracy to the rest of the world -- a severe kind of psychological denial.