Resnic
Diamond Member
- May 2, 2021
- 12,131
- 14,106
- 2,288
- Banned
- #101
I was just watching some video of deluded Trump supporters who were at the Capital on 1/6. Repeating all the usual myths about voting machines being hooked up to the internet, votes gone missing, votes being changed, a rehash of the false accusations Trump made for months. A rehash of the untruths pushed on Faux about the Dominion machines. Not to pick on Faux. Many right wing media outlets reinforced the charges of voter fraud either directly or by innuendo. Many still are.
Millions of Trump's base supporters still believe this, as Bill Barr said, "bullshit."
We can't have a significant percent of the population be detached from reality if we are going to successfully govern ourselves. Self governance requires hard work, participation, being informed on the issues no matter what your position on them is. It requires informed debate so people get a chance to hear both sides of the issues we need to design solutions for.
At this point, we have become dysfunctional in our collective ability to debate issues because we can't agree what the facts are. How can we shore up our election procedures to ensure fairness if we can't agree what the problems are? How can we solve the problem of climate change if we can't even agree it's a problem?
I offer no solutions because I am pessimistic about the efficacy of available remedies. The reason, the mixed messages from media outlets leaving their audiences with a choice of which narrative to consume and therefore believe. One side saying Trump won the election, climate change in the era we now live in is not man made, gun control equates to gun confiscation, and more outrageous falsehoods like China owns Biden, Obama is a Muslim, and Dem's eat babies. Unfortunately, many on the Right have become the political equivalent of National Enquirer readers. Attracted by sensationalism and absent critical thought.
For those optimists out there who disagree with me, I invite you to read the replies from the conservatives on the board.
Sounds like "I'm painting myself as open minded and willing to listen because we have a mutual problem. But really I only want to hear replies I agree with because I don't like trump or conservatives."
But I'll play a long.
1 hand count ballots under scrutiny. No electronic voting machines.
2 no more mail in ballots unless you live outside X amount of miles from a voting center, over a certain age or disabled or stationed outside the United States.
2A when elections open you must register and verify in person or via phone 90 days prior to the elections and the cut off date is 14 days prior to the election so they can be mailed out and recieved in time.
2B all mail in votes must be counted and put in the system before in person ballots can be counted and once mail in ballots are counted that's it, no more. None of this "we found some mail ins behind a file cabinet at 3am".
3 a state issued ID or government issued ID is required for all voting. If you can't even manage to get a 3 dollar state ID you shouldn't be voting.
4 only American citizens can vote in any election and citizenship must be held for atleast 5 years prior to voting.
5 all ballots must be stored and sealed in boxes and can't be opened unless a investigation is issued and must be kept until the next election at which time they can be destroyed.