Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: I just switched to undecided. [View all]TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)the simple fact is that elections have often been criminal operations since the beginning of the nation.
We have secret ballots because there were times and places where you walked to the poll with your ballot exposed so you wouldn't be beaten and given the "correct" ballot.
Many of us remember the voting machines in the Chicago River, but what we don't often remember is that Nixon was dissuaded from making a case over that because even worse things Republicans in southern Illinois were doing would be exposed. Ballot boxes lost or destroyed, people just flat-out prevented from voting...
Every election since Washington's first one has had candidates pilloried by the press and the competition. Lies and insults were the norm, not the exception. And anyone thinks the press is bad now? NYC had over 300 dailies and weeklies, each serving a specific group, with Pulitzer and Hearst rising above them in a death match and competing drumbeats for war.
We should assume and expect that the other side will pull out its biggest bombs and guns and use every technology to destroy our side. Nixon's aim was not to just win, but to destroy-- and that hasn't changed.
This is what anyone nominated is walking into. Beating it can be done, as we have had some good presidents in the past. I would bet that Warren has a handle on it. Harris, Pete, and Klobuchar, too. I'm not all that sure about the rest of the front runners.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden