This feature is not a Philadelphia-Delhi international flight round trip. This sober journey is for all free people to sail between the oldest and the largest democracies for free and reflect upon their republic’s state of affairs. And this is about the Will of the Free if they can protect it. This column is plainly about the churning of radical politics and the noble fight transpiring within the societies of the two great democracies, between the left and the good.
Let us closely look at what has politically transpired in the 2020 US elections. So, who has called the US elections? The cable networks and tech giants or the federal and state election authorities? Was there any regard to the rule of law and due process? We must seriously ponder why and how the democratic nations have become so impatient, divisive, and corrupt from within. And how come the media Mughals and the tech overlords have grown to become so powerful and successful that they have the gumption to attempt to install a government in a democracy. I hope we have some insights along the ride.
Delhi to Philly
Right from 2016, democrats have relentlessly bawled about Russian collusion and foreign interference in the US election. The collusion allegations have been a grave concern for all Americans as it affects the integrity of the US elections and democratic systems. Accordingly, Democrats have unleashed a $50 million Muller investigation for two and a half years, making it the greatest political witch hunt in the US history. Ironically, the head of the powerful executive is at the receiving end here. Even Republicans and Donald Trump had to cooperate and endure with that sham investigation to get to the bottom of it. Not to mention this political charade and hooliganism have been vehemently peddled by the mainstream Media and Tech giants, who could not digest a conservative Trump winning in 2016.
Trump has been the most charismatic outsider who had rocked the establishment boat, stonewalled radical democrat’s agenda, and fought tooth and nail against media and tech giants’ influence on public policy and governance. Most media networks and tech giants have never covered Trump, his America First policies, and his successes in good light and objectively. Democrats, Media, Tech Giants, and most of Hollywood have colluded together to push forward socialist and meaningless progressive agenda. They have stopped at nothing to block Trump in 2020.
Interestingly most Americans, republicans and democrats alike, have grossly failed to recognize the real interferer in 2020 elections, who lives amongst them within the US. The mainstream media and tech giants enabled by democrats have become way too big and powerful that they get to shape the national narrative, promote their own progressive agenda, and thereby have dared to directly interfere in democratic processes like the elections. Media networks have made us all believe Joe Biden as the winner of 2020. But the real winner is somebody else, something dark. To put it in Joe Biden’s frequent blue states red sates rhetoric:
“It is not Joe Biden or Donald Trump, but it is the Hunter Biden who has won the 2020 US elections.”
Mainstream media and tech giants have entirely blacked out Hunter Biden’s financial shenanigans with a design to protect Democrats and Biden. It is that embodiment of Hunter Biden, the corrupt and the shady, who has won the 2020 US election as declared by the media and not Biden or the Trump. The truth about the real winner is yet to be revealed.
When American people are continually bombarded all through the elections season with a disproportionate volume of skewed television advertisements, opinion polls, and surveys that Joe Biden enjoys 15-20-point lead ahead of Trump; the average voters tend to suppress their choice or avoid voting for the underdog or skip voting all together as they may feel their vote to the other side would not matter. Although these polls & surveys may not seem to significantly alter an election outcome, it does interfere with the voting choice of an elector. This tacit interference in the free and fair election coming from media and tech giants is from within the US territory and society.
Unlike the USA, India has a ban on publishing and broadcasting exit polls, surveys on TV, radio channels, cable networks, websites, and social media platforms all during the election season until the polls’ closing. This ban enables a level playing field among the political contestants. It inhibits systemic imbalances and interferences by the powerful on the voter’s choice. A take away for the USA from this Delhi to Philly train is to identify the real domestic election interferer and checkmate them with federal legislation to save their precious republic and democracy. Otherwise, this unchecked power of mainstream Media and Tech giants disseminating opinionated content and skewed the electorate’s pulse before the elections turns out to be a purge on Americans’ fundamental right to a constitutional republic.
Further, India has an autonomous central election body backed by constitutional legitimacy. This election body attains sweeping powers during the election season to administer free and fair elections at various levels. Apart from that, India has multiple other institutional mechanisms like top bureaucrats from other states (who do not have answerability to the state executives) are appointed as leading poll observers to ensure election administration integrity.
Although India is a young democracy, it has robust, seasoned, and successful election mechanisms upheld by a strong federal structure. On the other hand, the US Federal Election Commission is merely a toothless regulatory body. All the election-related rule-making and administrative powers are vested with the states. The state legislatures and executives in the US can frame their own election laws and rules as per their conveniences. Another key takeaway for the USA from this Delhi to Philly train is to reinvent the US Federal Election Commission to a constitutional authority overseeing uniform and robust administration of free and fair elections, at least for the federal offices. Otherwise, the allegations of stealing elections, the nuisance of voter frauds, recounting, legal battles are bound to occur every election year, and the American people have to endure the same political theater every four years with different actors as it is happening in 2020.
Another distinguishing factor is India’s election system’s effective implementation of the universal adult franchise, making one-person-one-vote a central feature of Indian democracy that upholds equal representation in voting to eliminate plural voting and to avoid discriminating haves and the have nots. No person in India can vote twice or vote without valid identification proof. Some negligible tallying errors may occur, here and there, during vote counting, but significant irregulates are not systemic or institutionalized. Interestingly Pennsylvania has made unfounded systemic laws with utter disregard to fundamental principles of universal adult franchise, one-person-one-vote by embracing the absentee ballot or mail-in ballot mechanisms recently.
It is absolutely shocking to know how Pennsylvania lawmakers have designed the absentee ballot or mail-in ballot scheme. In 2019 the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act-77 reforming Pennsylvania’s election laws to regularize and expand absentee and mail-in voters. Again, in March 2020, Pennsylvania passed Act-12, further updating Pennsylvania’s election laws. This Act-12 provides voters who have received a Mail-In or Absentee Ballot – who do not wish to vote on that ballot – the ability to surrender their spoiled Mail-In or Absentee Ballot & Declaration Envelope to their polling place on Election Day by signing a statement to the same effect, and to then vote in-person on the voting machine. This legal corruption at the policymaking level is direct in black and white. Anyone can easily read Act 77 & 12 between the lines to understand the criminal intent. Democrats controlled cities like Philly have become an epitome of voter fraud and election corruption by aggressively advancing such arbitrary election laws.
Technically, according to Act 77 & 12, Pennsylvania voters can request a mail-in ballot early on; and can also go to the polling station on the election day and sign a statement that they have spoiled and remitted their nail-in or absentee ballot, and then vote-in-person on the voting machine. After physically voting on the machine once, they can again drop-off their mail-in ballot at their polling place, which becomes double voting. And nobody knows who maintains an account for spoiled and remitted mail-in or absentee ballots. Another bizarre provision in the new Pennsylvania electoral system is that a voter can cast a provisional vote in-person without presenting proper identification proof.
Coronavirus has mostly happened to the world from early 2020. But undue innovations to electoral systems by democrats stronghold battleground states like Pennsylvania have been in the making since October 2019 with an intent, long before the advent of coronavirus. There was no clarion call to expand or regularize absentee ballot or mail-in ballot. Still, such reforms have taken root with an eye on the 2020 US election.
The stage was set with good planning long before the coronavirus, 2020 primaries, and presidential elections with the sole purpose of tampering with the election process and manipulating an election outcome. The absentee ballot or mail-in ballot was expanded as a mainstream voting procedure with a design to cause utter chaos if caught or to silently manipulate an election outcome if not got caught; all for an easy power grab.
Such undesirable laws championed by the governing top tantamount to the innovations of the evil that is very much designed to rob all people of their future. Those laws are a pure form of diet corruption perpetrated in broad daylight under the guise of legitimacy from the local legislature and executive. Media and tech giants have shielded their immoral enactments, colored, portrayed, and presented it as a progressive move and thereby insulated all of it from the spirited public scrutiny. Thankfully, patriot Americans, democrats, and the fighter Donald Trump will not take this diet corruption and gross election fraud so easy lying back.
Philly to Delhi
No doubt, progressive media networks and tech giants have become a powerful and unaccountable constituent in the American polity. But, the most incredible absurdity is that even legitimate governments and independent world leaders, including that of India’s PM Modi, have fallen pawns to their content, for they have become the habitual consumer of the narrative biscuits tossed out by media and tech giants. Of course, media mafia and tech overlords have been successful to artfully shape the global narrative that Joe Biden has won the 2020 US election already; and have a significant number of people and governments around the world to buy their coronation of Joe Biden as the next president of the USA.
But China has not fallen for it as they have not congratulated Joe Biden immediately on the results night or until a week after media declaring him as the winner, which says a lot that the Chinese government really have their tab on the American democratic systems and have a strong understanding and deep-rooted intelligence machinery at play in the USA. In India’s case, only PM Modi can reveal as to why he has jumped the gun so fast, for he seemed to have gotten manipulated with misguided advisory into tweeting a congratulatory message to Joe Biden for his so-called spectacular victory as projected by US media. Biden’s poll performance was neither spectacular nor a victory. Since official election results were not declared, India should reach out to Trump, course correct to save its face, repair the dented relationship with the sitting US president, irrespective of whether Trump emerges victorious or not in the 2020 presidential elections.
Young democracies like India should be very wary of the growing power of tech giants and media networks. The US leftist media narrative is routinely picked up by the Indian mainstream media just to parrot it to the Indan public without any application of its mind or conscience. Although tech giants and media networks are great employment and wealth generators in India, they do operate the most essential and influential platform technologies that enable citizens’ participation in the democratic process. Tech giants and media networks have become power harbingers. Their absolute power is corrupting them absolutely, as well as abusing the democratic institutions and processes.
India’s GDP is about $2.6 trillion and a single tech company, say Apple’s market cap is about $2 trillion. Google’s market cap is about $1 trillion. The inference here is that the combined wealth of just two companies, Apple and Google, is more than India’s GDP. It is not untrue to state that a handful of five tech giants can be double the size of India’s GDP.
The direct correlation between wealth and power need not be emphasized again, and it is universal. Tech oligarchs’ overarching influencing power can be left to one’s wildest imaginations when we look at 2020 US elections. Even the most powerful democratic nation on the face of the earth is not immune to their influences and manipulations from within.
Tech Giants and the Media collectively have become the regulators of the governments, free speech, and national agenda everywhere. Their influence on policymaking has already seeped deep into the legislative branch, as most legislators need social media networking and media coverage, and the taming of the executive branch is just taking green shoots. So, a key takeaway for India from this Philly to Delhi wagon is for the Indian civil society and Indian leaders to be vigilant and thwart all manipulations, interferences, and influence of the media and tech giants on democratic institutions and processes. Indian people simply cannot afford to fall prey to any powerful and unaccountable lot.
