I honestly hoped it was not true that there was massive fraud in the November 3 presidential election, even though that would mean the candidate I voted for lost. But due to statistical anomalies in vote counts which strongly point to artificial manipulation, convincingly presented by people much smarter than I am, coupled with suspicious maneuvers by officials in charge of the voting process, along with reports of questionable accumulation and counting of ballots, I found it hard to believe that the election was managed in a way that was fair and honest. But if there was a reasonable explanation for all of the apparent weirdness, I was ready to listen.

As I write this we’re into January, yet Reasonable Explanation remains a no-show. Instead, we are to believe that there was, okay, maybe some fraud, but not enough to change the result. Nothing major. And I suppose a certain level of unscrupulous background noise is to be expected during any nationwide election. Dead people voting, people voting twice, lost ballots. We’re a big country, and if some of that happens, I don’t lose sleep over it.

But this time around, it seems like much much more than a few dubious ballots from the living dead. I’ve come to the conclusion that the will of the voters was not taken seriously by the people in charge who, presuming to know better than we do, changed the result to one of their liking. That’s the bad news.

Here’s the worse news: those people have probably gotten away with it by now because finding actual evidence ex post facto that would indict them is a tough one. But a robbery is not negated because you cannot catch the thief. When I hear that we should just accept that the election is over, and move on, I might agree if the point is that we got shafted and need to get over it. We were, and maybe we do, but we should at least walk away with Lessons Learned. How do we learn anything if we are not able to admit openly that there was a problem in the first place?

And here’s the even worse news: the depth of fraud was such that a coordinated effort is suggested. Yes, a conspiracy to steal the election.

My theory suggests that the conspiracy may have happened somewhat organically, to the extent that pathological hatred of Trump may be considered organic. Kind of like Antifa as an “idea, not an organization.” But within this idea, I’m sure there were communications between principal players with the common goal of getting The Donald out of office, and between bureaucrats who coordinated the details, or who just engaged in their own relatively impromptu mischief.

So where among our captains of industry, or our august judicial, political, and journalistic classes, is the widespread outrage, the demand for investigations necessary to at least try to bring those responsible to account, and importantly, the determination to find a remedy to preserve the sanctity of our democratic form of governance? Election fraud in a democracy is pretty serious, no? And yet, apart from a small though intrepid group pushing failed court cases, our fearless leaders and their media propagandists just want to sweep it under the rug. YouTube will not even allow postings that suggest the election outcome was changed by “widespread fraud or errors.” Which, of course, is exactly what may have happened..

Why the silence and creepy censorship? The answer leads to a very dark place. Some of the people who occupy positions of influence and power, including both Republicans and Democrats, saw President Trump as an existential threat to this country, so getting him out by any means necessary was justified in their minds. That was a sinister, and also very foolish, calculus. But stealing the election was a scheme that went too far; a scheme which would itself pose an even greater threat to the country. They may see that now. But whether they were directly involved in it or not, they know there is no good remedy once they publicly acknowledge the depth of the rather obvious fraud which rendered the presidential election, the “will of the people,” a complete farce. How do you undo a screw-up like that without turning the country upside down?

Apparently, the plan among some of the geniuses we have “elected” to office, and their minions in the media, is simply to deny anything strange and outrageous just went on, and national disaster is thereby averted! Thus, they comically pretend everything was on the up-and-up even in the face of mounting indications otherwise -- no need for future charades if they can just get past this one. This goes beyond the guilty covering their tracks, and even beyond partisan desperation for a Biden presidency, and would explain the reticence, even among those who may have supported President Trump, on the topic of election fraud, and the force with which they turn us away from such an unholy thought. It would also explain the zealous disapproval by our social media oligarchs regarding any mention of the subject. A scandal of this size would not be a good look for the leader of the free world, and our “elected” leaders all understand the importance of preserving our democratic system of government. They’re just not very good at it.

As far as conspiracy theories go, mine is pretty tame. I don’t invoke foreign actors or sea monsters, or allege some counterintelligence sting operation that will bring everything to light. I’m saying that election fraud occurred as a natural manifestation of the loathing many Americans have for President Trump. And I don’t rely on wild conjecture to get there. It is certainly no secret that there are prominent people in this country who dearly wanted him to lose the election. And it would be the height of naïveté to suggest that they did not have the means to implement the fraud. I’m just saying that they pulled it off, and that the reason there is such widespread denial of the issue may be because of the enormity of its implications for this country. I’m speculating about motive, but by suggesting it’s not just those who are culpable or self-serving who are denying the crime for obvious reasons, but also those who have our country’s best interests at heart, I’m being nice in a twisted sort of way.

Sadly, or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, this is not a problem that will be fixed with spin and censorship. How deep does the rot go in our system to allow a U.S. presidential election to be subverted in the first place, and who can now be trusted to fix it? I feel like this is the calm before the storm, like we are all in some judicial limbo waiting for a verdict that is guaranteed to alienate one side or the other. Then what?

It could get loud. If we have any hope at this point, any path to get us through this dark place, it is to be honest with ourselves, to look with clear eyes at what just happened, and to resolve, as a nation, together, regardless of political slant, to have a fair election next time. Yes, a fair election. This is America, after all -- didn’t we used to be pretty good at that?

Image: Thomas Nast