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My father-in-law passed away twenty years ago. My husband was what they used to call a “late-life baby,” so my father-in-law was close to my grandparents’ age. Pa was an old union Democrat. He loved history, and his personal library was stuffed to the rafters with great history books. I was a Democrat and so was he, and we were both early morning birds. We spent many mornings chatting before everyone else got up when he and my mother-in-law would come to visit us.
One day about a year before he passed away, he said, showing me the latest book he had picked up at the local used-book store, “This is all about Herbert Hoover. I can’t believe what I’m reading. He was a great man. Everything they told us about him was a lie.” Yup. For the following year, he was so upset that he had been lied to and that he had fallen for it that we had very few conversations in which he did not mention this great revelation he had had.
The American people have been lied to massively these past four years. I’m willing to bet there will be a reckoning someday.
Can it be before this years’s election is certified? Thank you, please.
The strange thing to me is that people, especially those like my family who come from working class urban neighborhoods, could even doubt that an entrenched political machine can and does regularly pad a vote count. 5% seems like an easy day. You don’t even have to do it in precincts where it’s close – just pad the blowouts an extra 5-10% and the close precincts won’t matter so much and no one will ever question the blowouts. Although, they have many ways to deliver the vote that the bosses want. Walking around money is only one time honored way. They also stuff the box with fake ballots, they discard opposing ballots, they intimidate opposing voters, they beat the bushes (and sometimes intimidate) friendly voters, they trade favors for votes, they trade cash for votes. In modern times add in flexing public union muscles by futzing with the mail and postmarks. Add in software algorithms and glitches.
That’s the phrase I was looking for. Thanks!
In West Virginia, “A dollar and a swaller”
Ekosj,
At least your Grandpa knew exactly who he was and exactly what he was doing. The modern Democratic Party has two halves like Jekyll & Hyde. One half lives in a magic dream world of results. By their magic “concern” for everyone, their imaginary system of socialism will solve all problems. That all of their solutions don’t actually solve problems but create more problems they don’t notice. These Jekylls can’t even imagine your Grandfather or that people just like your Grandfather are out there right now once again doing exactly what your Grandfather once did for the Democratic Party.
Thus as long as Jekyll doesn’t ever recognize Hyde everything will work smoothly. Jekyll will project his own shadow onto the Republicans thus hating them. Meanwhile, Hyde will go about his business with the ends justifying the means. Bribe them or just steal the election. Whatever it takes. Just as long as Jekyll never looks in the mirror, no problemo!
Regards,
Jim
@jamesgawron He was a fascinating guy. He’d get his charges to the voting booth by any means necessary. He thought nothing of the strong arming or the payola; to him that’s just how things worked. But he’d brook no interference with the voting itself. His instructions to me when I first became a poll watcher were explicit … anybody reached out to lay a hand on those voting machines or those tally sheets had better pull back a bloody stump.
One of the local candidates for Congress had an inner city in his district. On election day he distributed money and cases of liquor early in the morning to where the organizers of the get out the vote workers were meeting. By 10 am everybody was drunk and not getting out the vote. It almost worked.
That old decentralized corruption was different and many don’t understand the difference between it and Washington corruption. It was tied to people where they live and work, and while it helped cause the US to lose its competitive edge in big old business, that was because it used Washington power and state and national laws to prevent adjustment. Part of that came from the war and price and wage controls, but it was centralization that drove it down and ultimately destroyed the unions and now is destroying management as well except among the giant new trading companies.
Color me shocked and surprised. My Mom would tell me that you can’t be Hispanic and Republican. That attitude is still all over South Texas.
Ekosj,
I got it. Your Grandfather had a code he lived by. Some of it we don’t like. However, I think we are going to find out that the modern Democratic Party refuses to live by your Grandfather’s code. They’ve rewritten it entirely just like they rewrite the Constitution every chance they get.
I wish your Grandfather was still around. When this stink hit his nostrils, he just might join you in the Republican Party.
Regards,
Jim
Does anyone recall Jimmy Carter explaining how votes were bought in the New Deal era? He said that Social Security checks were commandeered by the election bosses, and in order to get their social security checks, voters had to appear before the boss, mark their ballots as instructed, and then they were handed their check. That’s how you win 4 terms.
One thing about America–once an election is stolen, it stays stolen!
That’s an interesting hypocrisy, do you think he ever realized it?
I think your grandfather would be proud of the way you put thoughts into writing. Great post and excellent comments from everyone!
This is true
I started to reply, but it got kind’a long. So I did a separate post “The Purpose of Party“
https://ricochet.com/826273/the-purpose-of-party/
I dunno, doesn’t seem like that long a post about why someone thinks it’s okay to put compromised ballots into a ballot box, but once the bad ballots are in there, the box itself is somehow sacrosanct.
Not really. He was leading the horse to water, so to speak. But … The voter is on his/her own in the voting booth. They are in secret and free to do whatever they want.
I don’t think he’d be down with compromised ballots.
Meaning he expected people to take the money or whatever, but still not vote the way they had promised or whatever? Doesn’t sound like much of an improvement in quality.