I'm going to admit it- I'm a bit frustrated. I'm frustrated with all of the diaries discussing electronic voting fraud (without offering concrete evidence of such) and the number one reply when I point out the logical inconsistencies in these theories: "Well, the GOP are scum, so I know they're going to cheat if they can."
I've kind of had it with this meme, which is a.) grossly unfair to a lot of people who stupidly support the GOP but are honest folks and b.) not logical. Just because you fear something will happen does not make it any more or less likely to happen. For example, you know that robbers exist. You know that these robbers will mug you if they can. You also know that robbers are found in large cities. It does not follow, however, that if you fear being mugged, and you go to a place where you can be mugged, that you will be mugged. Should you take precautions? Yup. But you should not live in fear, either, and jump at every shadow that crosses your path.
Since I've covered b, I'm going to go back to a, and do my favorite thing when confronting a knotty problem. I'm going to turn it on its head. And I'm going to ask you, fellow Kossacks, to go into a deep dark place in your own heart and think about my thought problem and give me an honest answer. Hey, if nothing else, it'll kill a few minutes that you'd otherwise spend obsessing over polls (like I do).
Follow me below the fold as I set the scene:
It's election night. You're an election worker in a town in Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown are deadlocked, neck and neck, in a battle for the senate seat that, if Warren wins, will represent D seat number 51.
Your co-worker (also a staunch Democrat) and you, due to an unseasonably early snowstorm, are stuck at your closed polling location, where you will be guarding the boxes until morning. Your co-worker has been doing something with the ballots and you go over to see what it is.
What he's done is pull out 500 ballots with votes for Scott Brown and throw them in a hefty bag. He winks at you.
"Just helping out the good guys a bit." He says.
At this point, you receive a celestial vision. The election is so close that there will be a re-count. After weeks of wrangling, the re-count will show that Scott Brown won by 235 votes. This result will be certified, Warren will concede, and Scotty will be on his way back to Washington.
On the other hand, if you let your co-worker march to the basement incinerator, the re-count will show that Elizabeth Warren won by 265 votes.
You think it over. After all, there’s a lot at stake. Senate votes on critical issues that affect American families. The survival of the ACA. All the great legislation that Senator Warren will write and vote on that will help people, perhaps even saving thousands of lives.
Your co-worker lifts the bag, ready to go. You don’t even have to burn them yourself. All you have to do is look away for five minutes.
Do you let him burn the ballots? Do you offer to help him, with glee? Do you try to talk him down? Or do you turn him in and let Scott Brown win the election?
If you chose one of the first two options, how do you justify it?
If you chose one of the last two options, feel free to replace the race I've just given you with one of your choice, one closer to home. Indiana? Missouri? Or make it Obama vs. Romney, in Ohio, in an eerie replay of the 2000 election, for all the marbles. Make the stakes higher... Supreme Court justices, Roe v. Wade, global warming destroying cities, nuclear war in the Middle East... at what point, if any, do the stakes become high enough for you to switch?
And if you can justify "helping the good guys", can you understand that there are other people on the other side that would do what they must in order to win the day for their (misguided) cause?
I realize this isn't 100% fair. Obviously, in a real situation like this, you wouldn't know that your 500 votes would be the difference. We also can't know the future, or what exactly it holds. My intention here is to exercise some brain cells, to promote discussion and, hopefully, maybe, generate a bit of understanding about the other side and how they think.
Maybe we are not as different (or as polarized) as we think we are. We are all human, after all, and that is something powerful to have in common.
7:17 AM PT: Just to emphasize: I know this scenario isn't "realistic". There are many differences between my set-up and reality. But that's okay. This isn't real. It's not even a Tom Clancy novel. It's pure Schroedinger's Cat stuff. So dive in, get the ground rules, and mull it over.