It scared me this time, for America -- not assassination -- but "election fraud" that Putin "cleaned up".
Do you understand why it would scare me?
The recent political killings of opposition leaders in Pakistan and Russia are something I have interest in. It turns out that like 5 major political opponents of Putin have been assassinated in as many years. Also, Pakistan's establishment lost their primary political opponent recently, and some of Mussharraf's other political opponents died as a result of his military coup of 1999.
Just last week Putin's govt "disqualified" an entire party from participating in the upcoming national Russian election. Putin's govt "disqualified" an entire party from participating in the upcoming national election due to "fraud".
Putin disqualified an entire party from participating in the upcoming election -- talk about getting rid of the competition at all levels and in all ways -- since he "found" "bad signatures".
Is this what we in America would call being "better safe than sorry"? That cliché, does it serve us well? Is it true, are we better with safe? Is being sorry really the alternative to being safe?
Consider the plight of someone in America who already has the most safety, but the least freedom. Safety is all a prisoner really has. Guards are in your face running your life, and protecting everyone, all the time. But does a prisoner even have safety itself? Prisoners are not really that safe from harm, are they. They can be pushed around, beaten, by anybody at all, and guess what, they are pushed around and beaten. Prisoners really have nothing at all, except their hope for freedom later. Prisoners who are truly stripped of the hope of eventual freedom tend to commit suicide (if they are free to do so).
Do you think you will prefer the safety of a prison? Why haven't you chosen upon your own free will to move yourself into a prison already then? We can think of some pretty easy ways to get into prison if you really want so much safety. We don't really want prisons for homes, because deep down we know freedom is what keeps us safe. We love freedom. The absence of freedom is not safe at all. We take freedom away from bad actors in society, as our number one form of strong punishment, when taking money away is not enough. Anal sex jokes in prison life is mainstream humor.
Who would really want such safety? Better safe than sorry, my ass. As for me, give me liberty.
It scared me this time, for America -- not assassination -- but "election fraud" that Putin "cleaned up".
Do you understand why it would scare me?
The legal wrangling to disqualify people from elections is the threat. Could that happen here?
Specious fraud, fraudulent fraud, calling fraud just because you can, can also be used as an defense, as well as an offense, a cover story. It works both directions. Either way the voice of the public is squashed if election fraud itself is fraudulently claimed. It gets confusing. It gets costly. It could cost them their freedom. Maybe us too. You should think of "free" as in "free speech", not as in "free beer". It's not free beer that Russia has lost.
Who is being honest? This is the question every citizen may be confronted with, if fraud allegations are issued on or around November 2008. In the face of irreconcilable confusion, will you abandon the facts, and your own analysis of them, and instead choose to defer to someone you trust? If you do not trust yourself to decide correctly, do you trust ...authority? Who will be your authority, whom you trust more than yourself, in times of near-panic and fear?
The orthodox authorities will be the ones that most people default to trusting in the face of confusion. That's my opinion based on what I've seen. They default to trusting Putin in Russia's case – the incumbent government.
Putin, seems to me, has fraudulently changed the whole outcome of that upcoming election. And he incriminated the opposition as being the source of the fraud.
But look who is now going to win their election now. That would be Putin or his preferred successor. That's brazen. That's the big lie. And it is working. The big lie works well for Machiavellian authority.
Confusion itself is clearly a potential asset for a Machiavellian, authoritarian incumbent authority, of any party. Russia is a living demonstration.
How hard would it be for some Republicans in the US to "find" some "fraud" of Obama's? Not hard at all, if they make it up. I said "if." To be clear, my sentence is a hypothetical, not a claim, at this time being little more than a mere potentiality about the future.
Because they have within their ranks more people who have displayed more Machiavellian and authoritarian traits than any other group I've seen in America, the Republicans, as the incumbent presidential party in November 2008, could trick the majority of the public, as Russians are tricked today. Not that all Republicans would do such a thing. I admire two Republicans. There is a Republican Senator and a Republican Congressman that I could and might be willing to vote for. In fact I have never found a party in which there was not at least one admirable human saying intelligent, important things. Now back to the topic.
If you ask Russian citizens... I would bet that most Russian citizens, if asked, would say they approve of Putin's strong hand, in cleaning up what needs to be cleaned up. Right? Putin has the strong pimp hand. He cleans up the town.
And the odd Russian who suggests Putin is part of a conspiracy is outed as a "conspiracy theorist." How susceptible are the masses of Americans, compared to the masses of Russians?
In your opinion, is Putin really on the level? Who has committed election fraud in Russia? The opposition, or the establishment? What do you think?
And in Pakistan, is General Mussharraf and his "authorities" really on the level? In your opinion, by means of the Bhutto assassination, has election fraud not already been committed in Pakistan, by the establishment in 2007? Looking back, does Mussharraf's military coup really seem like it was a valid election campaign style? Do you think that since Mussharraf acquired his office by a successful violent coup, he would consider to use violence to also keep his office?
Get in by force, stay in by force. Get in by election, stay in by election. Get in by fraud, stay in by fraud. What do you think?
Is election fraud a concern you share? Is fraudulent fraud in Russia too bizarre to contemplate?
Can it happen here? In your own experience, are your own neighbors, family members, in America really that much more clear minded, compared to Russian citizens?
Google these to get your own information:
- Bhutto, a Pakistani who died by means unconfirmed by authority, having no autopsy allowed
- Politkovskaya, a Russian who was found shot to death
- Litvinenko, who was poisoned to death by exotic radioactive element polonium
- Yandarbiev, whose car was bombed
- Starovoitova, who was found shot to death point blank
- Shchekochikhin, who was poisoned to death by thallium
- Yushenkov, who was shot in chest multiple times