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| Five Ways 2020 Fails to Meet International Criteria for ‘Free and Fair' Elections |
| 2020-10-20 |
| [AmericanGreatness] In 1994, a body known as the Inter-Parliamentary Council unanimously adopted a Declaration of Criteria for Free and Fair Elections. While most Americans take for granted that our electoral system meets the standard for "free and fair" elections, few have reflected on the international standards that define the term. Beginning with the 2016 election, the norms have gradually eroded as a new class of bureaucrats and journalists gulp the get-Trump Kool-Aid. The decline of American election integrity may have begun in August 2016, when the New York Times instructed fellow journalists that Trump was so "dangerous" that: . . . you have to throw out the textbook American journalism has been using for the better part of the past half-century, if not longer, and approach it in a way you’ve never approached anything in your career. If you view a Trump presidency as something that’s potentially dangerous, then your reporting is going to reflect that. You would move closer than you’ve ever been to being oppositional. That’s uncomfortable and uncharted territory for every mainstream, nonopinion journalist I’ve ever known, and by normal standards, untenable. |
| Posted by:746 |
| #6 You would move closer than you’ve ever been to being oppositional. That’s uncomfortable and uncharted territory for every mainstream, nonopinion journalist I’ve ever known LOLwhut? This raises questions about protections/privileges for the press. The idea was to enable a free press, ie, one that had diverse views which could serve and inform an ideologically diverse polity. If it's all a Uniparty propaganda bureau, then I would submit that the press has forfeited its First Amendment protections, and the Republic should act accordingly. And to those who would say "But charger! Then they might crack down on our guys!" all I can say is: Have you been asleep for the last few decades? They've been shutting Right voices down for decades, at least going back to the campus speech wars, and even further. At some point, if we are ever in a position to do so, we will need to "make 'em follow their own rules" as Kurt Schlichter would say. |
| Posted by: charger 2020-10-20 16:16 |
| #5 ^ Same here with "CA Real ID" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2020-10-20 12:40 |
| #4 Clean up the voter rolls and mandate in-person voting on election day with photo ID — a lot of the problem goes away. Get rid of MotorVoter laws and require proof of citizenship for registration, and another layer of corruption evaporates. I just upgraded my Ohio driver license when I renewed it, to be federally compliant for air travel and such. I had to bring in my birth certificate, marriage certificate (for the name change when I took Mr. Wife’s), Social Security card, and two recent bills with my name and address on them to prove residency. And then they took a new photo. They gave me a receipt to keep in my wallet until the thing arrived from the central office — hopefully the delay included checking my documents as well as pulling together the physical security features. It cost a little more, but I’ve been waiting for them to get around to it since it was promised after 9/11. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-10-20 11:56 |
| #3 "A Republic, madam-- if you can keep it." Well, we kept it for 240 years. The American Republic had a good run. Welcome to Kakistan. |
| Posted by: Ulavirong Jitch3019 2020-10-20 03:04 |
| #2 Makes one nostalgic for the old Pendergast machine. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-10-20 02:43 |
| #1 But the American norms and traditions ensuring free and fair elections, broken by an out of control get-Trump movement, likely will remain broken for years to come. That is intentional and, to the left, a bonus. They want the system broken. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2020-10-20 01:17 |