Do we have legitimate governance, with the consent of an informed electorate?
If a voter makes a choice based on a campaign that is based on lies, disinformation, promises that are never meant to be fulfilled, incorrect assumptions and premises, psychological manipulation, intimidation, well-funded mass propaganda and the rest of the entire modern Republican operation -- is there a legitimate outcome? Are votes that result from that legitimate votes?
What about a candidate who just lies, saying "what the voters want to hear" with no intention of doing what was implied in the campaign? Are those "legitimate" votes?
A "legitimate" election requires a properly informed electorate given adequate and correct information upon which to make a decision. Trickery, misinformation, lies, misdirection, manipulation, financially outshouting, and all the things we understand as modern "elections" actually mean the results are not legitimate and anti-democratic.
Never mind mass voter suppression, gerrymandering and the other ways our system has become "rigged" against allowing democracy to function. Never mind possible tampering with voting machines. Those things are also for real. But alongside those, this general non-functioning of democracy has become "normalized." We do not even expect candidates to just tell the truth about issues that are important to us anymore, and when they do they are considered to be "outside the mainstream."
Look at the extent to which our supposedly democratic system has been de-legitimized. This is not just about Trump, this has become systemic. Saying what is needed just to get votes is a violation of democracy and de-legitimizes the outcome. Tricking people, lying, manipulating, outspending all de-legitimize the outcome.
How can we restore truly functioning, free, informative news media combined with an attentive, educated electorate? How can we restore legitimacy to our entire democratic process? The first step is to call it out, stop accepting it, see it for what it is and say it for what it is.
