Why Isn't Anyone Stopping Republicans from Trying to Buy Elections?
This is a clear violation of law and there should be consequences
Here in Wisconsin we're on the cusp of another important election. Just like last time, an intolerable billionaire who alternates between cutting up your retirement with a chainsaw and crying about how it's so “unfair” that nobody likes him is smirking and handing out checks so that people vote in favor of the corrupt judge he already owns.
You see, he wants to sell electric cars in the state that routinely gets winter days where the temperature hangs ten, twenty, or thirty degrees below zero.
I've lived in Wisconsin my whole life. Do you know what doesn't work when it gets cold?
Batteries.
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The thing that's most bizarre about this is that up until about two years ago, I had to defend the idea of electric energy to every hardworking resident of this state. I've sat in warehouses with men who were dressed in overalls covered in grease. Every single one of them sneered at the idea of an electric car.
Suddenly, every single one of them is voting for those things.
I guess it's a testament to how quickly people can change their minds. But I've never seen so many people who were so set in their ways all of a sudden do an about face. The next thing you know we'll have windmills littering the state even though not four years ago the same people insisted that windmills caused cancer.
It's enough to make your head spin.
But the bigger irritation right now is how the billionaire thinks he can skip across the countryside throwing hundred dollar bills out of a basket like some mangy and deceitful version of the Easter bunny.
“If I give you $100, I want you to vote so that you lose your entire retirement account, social security, and every other social benefit program currently offered by the government!”
Wisconsin Republicans, “OKAY!”
I mean, how ignorant do you have to be? If a billionaire gives you a dollar, it's because he's got a plan to take back $1,000 somehow.
On top of that, there's the fact that this is ILLEGAL!
You're not allowed to say, “Hey, I'll give you $100 to vote how I want.”
Don't believe me? I bet if you jumped online and offered to sell your vote in the next election, you'd be surprised at how fast law enforcement came knocking on your door.
Then you'd be stuck listening to all these self-righteous lectures about how voting is your “sacred franchise” and how you're an “evil non-being” for attempting to enrich yourself by selling your vote and blah, blah, blah.
Ultimately, this is just our two tiered legal system at work again. Rich people can do whatever the hell they want, and a poor person who just wants a couple extra bucks to pay for his child's dental work or something is demonized.
Even if you added the disclaimer, “I will pledge to vote for the candidate of your choice, but that doesn't mean I'll actually vote that way,” the legal system wouldn't have it. They'd slap that down as a transparent effort to get around the law.
But when billionaires offer a chance at a million dollar prize if you sign a pledge, all of a sudden those same fire and brimstone judges are totally fine with it. The double standard is obvious and infuriating, but as always we're expected to just swallow our anger and tolerate it.
They did the same thing in Pennsylvania. Let's have some lawsuits. Let's have some election integrity.
The good news is that the Wisconsin Attorney General actually did file a lawsuit alleging that it was illegal to offer million dollar prizes to voters. The outcome of that lawsuit would potentially be that the billionaire doing such a thing would find himself arrested if he set foot in the state.
That sounds like a good idea to me. Wouldn't it be nice if we arrested people who indulged in criminal behavior no matter how much money he had?
Then, get this, the AG's lawsuit landed on the desk of none other than Susan Crawford! In case you don't know, she happens to be the judge the billionaire is paying people to vote against. Perfect! Poetic irony right? The luck of the draw went to the American people. We'll have justice at last.
But no, Crawford recused herself from the case.
Sigh...
The worst part is that actually was the honorable thing to do. If you're a judge who stands to benefit from a decision, it gives the appearance of impropriety if you rule on it. Ethics demand that you recuse yourself.
Well, no problem right? Surely in a case as cut and dried as this the next judge would find in favor of Wisconsin law.
Except, nope, the next judge refused to even hear the case. So now the billionaire is free to keep handing out his checks. Yeah, the case can go to appeals, but by the time it gets through we might be looking at a bought judge on the state Supreme Court.
Once again, the law is elbowed aside in favor of what appears to be extremely unethical behavior.
I suppose the argument is that Democrats are looking at this and saying, “I don't want to touch that... that behavior is blatantly illegal.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are laughing to themselves as they buy up election after election.
We're also not necessarily getting judges who are saying this behavior is acceptable, it's more like they're just kicking the can down the road to see how it plays out. I suppose there's a possible future scenario where further court cases determine this behavior to be a violation of law. There's also future scenarios where the illegal behavior goes unpunished and another election is stolen.
I, for one, am out of patience with all the lawlessness. I, for one, am tired of politicians and billionaires who don't show the slightest interest in even maintaining the appearance of propriety.
I'm tired of the idea that our elections are for sale to the highest bidder.
It is my fervent hope that I'm not the only one who is disgusted by all this. Perhaps if 51% of the population feels the way I do, there will be accountability after all. Tomorrow will tell.
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For the first time in my 76 years I wish I lived in another country…..I have always been so proud to be an American!!😢
I’m so sick of partisan MAGA judges ignoring the law and common decency/ethics. How can we hold them accountable for their abdication of duty? It is obvious that they would rule the other way if a rich Democrat was blatantly buying votes.