Steal this Election -- Part I - Introduction

Steal this Election

Part I - Introduction

In 1970, Abbie Hoffman published an interesting little book called, appropriately enough, Steal this Book. Its major premise is that corporate America has screwed up our society to the degree that many illegal behaviors have ceased to be immoral, and have become moral imperatives instead.

The book then proceeds to explain, in step-by-step detail, practical ways to lie, cheat and steal as a revolutionary lifestyle -- with the end goal being the collapse of capitalism and the US government.

While I can't say that I agree with Hoffman's underlying premise, I still think it's a fascinating work and I intend to use it as a model for a thought experiment -- imagine a loosely coordinated group of techies and non-techies, mechanics, technicians and accountants, all engaged in civil disobedience.

This civil disobedience would take the form of the intentional and obvious manipulation of the electoral process at all levels of American government, with the end goal of significant election reform and a return to the pursuit of a noble ideal: a democratic republic of the People, for the People and by the People.

Now, before I spin this thought experiment, let me lay out some premises of my own:

1. Without significant reform in campaign finance, a truly representative government cannot exist.
   
2. The electoral process is broken, and the degree to which it is broken increases exponentially at each level of government.
   
3. Whether an incumbent be innocent or complicit in an apparent election fraud, it is always against the best interests of that incumbent to support a fair and thorough investigation of such fraud.
   
4. No one group is 'to blame' for the sorry state of the electoral process.
   
5. Some degree of election fraud will always exist, but this can be mitigated.