Election fraud is a serious issue which should not be thrown around lightly. In the age of US imperialism, democracy has been proclaimed the humanitarian government which is corruption-proof. Americans often hear of voter fraud occurring in developing countries, where a constitution has only been partially formed, and codes and laws are easily manipulated.
In many foreign countries, revolts and protests are occurring as a result of the lack of democratic process in their countries; however, in the United States, the greatest threat to democracy is vote-buying election fraud. In the remainder of this article, several key points will be highlighted to identify how the United States, the beacon of democracy, is the largest victim of vote-buying election fraud in the history of the democratic process and the world.
In simple terms, vote-buying election fraud means that a candidate uses monetary means to manipulate the voting choices of the citizens of a town, city, county, state, or nation. This can be through bribery, blackmail, or it can be most easily achieved through mass media.
For example, in the 2012 US election, almost $200,000,000 were spent on the entirety of the campaign. One can also notice how political ads run rampant during election season. In these commercials, neither candidate uses their airtime to broadcast their plans for the pressing issues this country faces. Instead, Americans often get ads which seem to insult the public’s intelligence. Obama’s “big bird ad” is a prime example of ads which dilute the information regarding political issues and electability in each candidate.
The news media and popular forms of entertainment via television, internet, and radio are all tools in a clever politician’s arsenal. While this may sound like conspiracy theory, a politician is one who takes advantage of the general public’s misconceptions created through corrupt news media. Special interest groups, the military industrial complex, and banks are largely responsible for the mass deception of knowledge which has been accidentally created as a result of the television’s powerful effect on people’s intellectual capabilities. One may notice the similarities between presidential candidates, and this is not an accident- both candidates’ beliefs are only slightly altered to give the appearance that they represent two different paths for the country.
In short, vote-buying election fraud is rampant throughout the United States, as the divide between the upper and middle classes divide. Naturally, an all-powerfully oligarchy would try to take its place.