After Trump victory at Electoral College, world views collide

[csziggy]

This is a long article with some very good information about the election. I found Ion Sancho's comments most interesting since he has been the Supervisor of Elections in my county (Leon, Florida) for 28 years as a non-partisan official. He is retiring now and for the first time is criticizing one of the major political parties.

I also found some of Sancho's comments very relevant to discussions here about what we as Democrats, liberals and progressives should work on to make our elections fairer. His comments are what I extracted, the entire article is worth a read.

After Trump victory at Electoral College, world views collide
Text by Christine BUCKLEY , reporting from Tallahassee, Florida

Latest update : 2016-12-21

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{Ion} Sancho later questioned the integrity of electronic voting machines used in Florida elections and was featured in the award-winning HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy". He was not surprised by Monday’s outcome at the Electoral College. “I’m a pragmatic realist,” said the man who will retire at the end of the month after almost thirty years (seven terms) on the job. But before he does, he hopes the American people will realise they’ve fallen asleep on the job, and act quickly to take back their power.

The voter suppression story ‘no one cares about’

“It’s good to see that people are disturbed,” Sancho told FRANCE 24, “But now I hope we can focus this energy on real election reform, because voter suppression has been going on here since 2000.” He estimates that more than 1.5 million African-American votes were suppressed in Florida during the 2016 election. Which for him, means that “the real story is not whether Putin manipulated the US election - he did. But our elections aren’t fair; they’re manipulated by both major parties, and I haven’t even started to talk about gerrymandering yet".

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“Since 2010 when the ‘ideological Republicans’ came to power in this country, the focus has been on ideology over facts, which has all kinds of ramifications,” Sancho said. “Evidence or data is irrelevant because faith-like ‘beliefs’ do not rest on evidence and I believe this has destroyed the American republic. Because it means that the end justifies the means for this kind of public official. And that can only lead to disaster for this nation.”

So what does Sancho suggest the average citizen do now? Read history. Educate yourself and your children. Vote and ensure that others have access to the polls. Believe in the public good. Talk about politics and listen to people who don’t agree with you. Debate. Hold politicians accountable. Demand proof and underlying evidence for everything. “All across the board, we need to get to evidence,” he said. “Opinions are irrelevant. One of the greatest con jobs politicians have pulled off in the last 25 years is to convince people that if you’re arguing on principle, you don’t need to compromise.”

Much more: http://www.france24.com/en/20161220-trump-victory-electoral-college-world-views-collide-protests

A favorite quote of Ion Sancho:

“Principles is another name for prejudices.”
Mark Twain, 1900