How does this happen?
Posted on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 10:34 pm
How exactly would one go about stealing an election?
And I’m not talking about how Dubya stole the 2000 election from Gore. I’m talking about the Iran thing that’s going on right now.
I suppose it helps to control the media. If you can put a gun to someone’s head and say “Tell them I won,” that probably helps. But can you take it farther than that? Like, exactly how far has Ahmedinejad gone to make it look like he won? Just tell the news to say so? Or did he (and is it possible to) actively play with the actual paper trail results?
Grand Ayatollah such-and-such has all but called for a recount, or said it was invalid, or something. But if one was really intent on stealing an election, how much would a recount matter? I mean, if you’re gonna steal an election, you probably put a gun to someone’s head (figuratively or literally) the first time and told them how to report things, so wouldn’t it make sense that you would do the same thing for the recount? I mean, really. Even if it’s just to make things look good, you’ve got a gun to your head, so you’re gonna be all like “yeah, that other guy totally got… like… three extra votes that we missed the first time.” And it doesn’t matter at all.
Or do you take it a step further. Don’t even worry about the media, or the election officials, but physically force people to vota certain way so that whatever paper trail exists is actually “legit” so far as any outside entity can tell.
I really am genuinely curious how this whole thing works. I mean, there was that “election” in North Korea recently where ol’ Kim Jong Il got something on the order of 98% of the vote. And we all knew it was a sham, because it was kind of one of those things where no one even pretended it was anything other than a sham. But this Iran thing… they at least had the makings of a legitimate vote, but the “winner” played around with the results just enough that it looks like they tried and that it was fucked with at the same time, which I think was the biggest part of why it’s all going to hell in a handbasket now. He would have done much better to win by just 1-2% which would have at least looked legit, or to dispense with all question and win with 98%. As it is, garnering 65-70% just reeks of election tampering, because it’s too much to be legit but not enough to be an obvious sham.
And then there’s the other side of the whole issue, which is, why?! From what I’ve read, the “President of Iran” isn’t really the guy in charge anyway. The Guardian Counsel, and the Lord High Ayatollah So-and-So are the kids who really call the shots. Such is the problem with a theocracy… the “election” can’t be trusted to the plebian masses, so the real running of the country is in the hands of those “chosen by God Himself.” So as best as I can figure, this whole election was some degree of worthless in the first place. It would be like the White House Press Secretary rigging an election for himself. Dude, you’re just a mouthpiece anyway… so why all the fuss? It’s not like you have any say in the matter. You know, we know, everyone knows that you just do what you’re told to do. So is it really worth the possibility that the plebian masses are going to get pissed and take out everyone?
That’s all I’ve got. If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment. I’m done being all philosophical. Enjoy. 
