"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Monday, September 17, 2018

About The Midterms

Whatever happened to fair elections? A lot of people are wondering:

A new poll provides evidence that there is an increasing lack of faith in American democracy. According to a new NPR/Marist poll nearly half of American voters do not believe that their votes will be counted accurately in November’s midterm elections. In addition to that bad news, nearly 40% do not believe that U.S. elections are “fair.”

And strangely enough, distrust of the system is highest among non-whites, women, and Democrats.

It's a sobering article, worth reading.

This sort of struck me as more than a little both-siderism:

There has been a trend in recent years for the party in power to try to suppress voter turnout, which is undemocratic, and this must change.

I'm not saying that no Democrats anywhere have tried to rig the system (I live in Chicago, remember -- where, amazingly enough, our elections are very transparent, but I remember the good old days), but a statement like that needs to be qualified: look which party has been in power in most statehouses in "recent years." And it's the states that control voting.

Thanks to commenter justme at Joe.My.God. for the link.

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