We don't have free and fair elections in the United States of America.
In fact, the phrase is thrown around so loosely I had to pause to think what exactly free and fair elections means.
Here is a breakdown from an article titled: Democratic principles and judging free and fair
A free and fair election is defined by political scientist Robert Dahl as an election in which "coercion is comparatively uncommon."
A free and fair election involves political freedoms and fair processes leading up to the vote.
A fair count of eligible voters who cast a ballot.
A lack of electoral fraud or voter suppression.
Acceptance of election results by all parties.
An election may partially meet international standards for free and fair elections or may meet some standards but not others.
As you can see, many of the criteria listed above are disputed by all political parties, at all levels of government, for nearly every election cycle in the USA.
Here's the catch: To have a free and fair elections, it is best that the country have fair campaigns including fair debates. Something that has never been the case in the United States, in my 60 years walking this planet.
What we have had for many decades is a system where, if you identify with a political party, you are often given no choice but to vote for the one person the party decides is best.
The party's rank and file didn't decide: the elites and power brokers within the party decide and stick the rank and file with their choice.
That is not free and fair. But it is a form of coercion.
For this election cycle, it is the Democrat Party that is forcing their rank and file to vote for Biden or ditch the party. There were two other nominal candidates, Dean Phillips and Jason Palmer.
If you are asking who are Dean Phillips and Jason Palmer, well, that's kinda my point.
How come Joe Biden wasn't on a debate stage with Mr. Phillips and Mr. Palmer? Because then the democratic voter would have actually had a choice and not had a hand-picked candidate shoved down their throats by the powers of the party.
And the Republicans do the same when they have an incumbent.
Which brings us to the sham debate that is happening this evening,
Two senior citizens not fit to run this great country have been foisted upon We the People because the Democratic and Republican parties, along with media corporations, want nothing of any other viable candidate such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chase Oliver, Cornel West or Jill Stein.
It isn't that the aforementioned third-party candidates don't have ideas that move people. It's that they aren't afforded the chance to move people with their ideas in the traditional media. This is mostly because they can't afford the pay-to-play, AKA advertising on legacy media and/or buying polls like the Dems and Reps can.
Given that, major media corporations turn to lying about third-party candidates. They take a small kernel of truth, twist it to a warped place, making the third-party candidate seem like a lunatic, thus convincing the voter that Mr. or Ms.Third Party Person has no chance.
But they do have a chance.
That chance comes from the voter. It comes down to you.
When do you realize that voting for the same two parties will get the same results? Nothing significantly changes, and it won't, unless you change how you vote. Firstly, by paying attention to third-party candidates.
Elections are not sporting events, so rid yourself of the idea that you have to pick a winner.
Elections are about picking the best person, not the lesser of two evils. Voting the lesser of two evils, is still voting for evil.
To change the course of the United States, we need to change how we vote.
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Photo credits: NBC News
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