CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, September 7, 2020

Election 2020: Dancing into Chaos?

If America is to remain a constitutional federal republic, it is essential that elections represent the will of the citizens who cast their ballots. So, whether for President Trump or for former Vice President Joe Biden, every U.S. citizen has a vital interest in elections that are free from fraud.

Unfortunately, history tells us some elections have been stolen. For example, in 1948, when Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson was in a runoff election for the U.S. Senate, the Election Day tally showed Johnson losing by less than 100 votes. Johnson’s top aide raced to Alice, TX, where he discovered 87 "uncounted" votes. Just enough votes for Johnson to win.

Seventeen years later, in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson committed the United States to an Asian ground war in which Johnson’s quest for reelection dictated how the war was fought. The Vietnam defeat underscores how even a runoff election stolen in Alice, TX, can have world-wide consequences.

The upcoming presidential election brings to mind the Native American tribe that was famous for making rain. Asked the secret of his tribe’s success, the Chief replied, "It’s simple, we just keep on dancing until it rains."

Carpet bombing America with mail-in ballots increases the chance for voter fraud many fold. Do not be surprised if the losing side keeps on "dancing" until enough mail-in ballots are "discovered" to throw the election into the courts, making Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), look like a children’s snowball fight.

But the advent of social media and Internet search engines offers more subtle ways of influencing election outcomes than outright voter fraud. Social media platforms such as: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok have a history of censoring political expression they do not like. Google and Bing are known to direct searchers to stories favored by the staff of Google and Bing.

Without hard evidence, it would be irresponsible journalism to assume that the most popular social media platforms would favor one presidential candidate over the other. But Rush Limbaugh, who is always Right and often correct, says a combined effort by the most popular social media platforms and search engines could sway the election outcome by as much as six points.

Or, what if the social media platforms are used to cause voters to suspect the election-day tabulations will be wrong, suggesting that months of ballot counting and recounting are going to be needed? According to the 12th Amendment, if the Electoral College is unable to decide the outcome of the presidential election prior to January 20, 2021, whoever is Speaker of the House on that day becomes the Acting President. If the Speaker is unable to serve, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes Acting President.

Then, the House of Representatives must elect a President. Each state congressional delegation gets one vote. The candidate who receives 26 votes becomes President. The Senate, by a simple majority, elects a Vice President.

As you can see, a tie vote or other failure by the Electoral College to elect the President and Vice President prior to Inauguration Day could throw the nation into chaos. Pray the outcome is decided on November 3, 2020.

Suggested reading: Amendments 12, 20, 22 and 25, to the U.S. Constitution. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent, Robert A. Caro. (1991). Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. H.R. McMaster, (1998). Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command in Modern War. Lewis Sorley (1998). Formula for Failure in Vietnam: The Folly of Limited Warfare, William Hamilton (2019).

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com