Ukraine Elections Canceled [semi-satire]

The proclaimed rationale for President Biden's pledge of unlimited funding for Ukraine's war against Russia is to "defend democracy."

This week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that "now is not the time for elections. Now is the time for a battle on which the fate of the state depends."

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin also used the current war as a reason to postpone scheduled elections.

It seems that neither side believes that elections are an essential feature of democracy. So, why is it necessary for the United States to continue to finance one side of this war?

If you missed any of the other Semi-News/Semi-Satire posts you can find them at...

So much for sap-happy Biden’s propaganda to gin up billions more tax dollars for Ukraine.....
that the entire world is in a fight to protect Zelensky’s “democracy” from Putin’s autocracy.
<><>Zelensky’s “democracy” now has absolute control of Ukrainian media,
<><>Zelensky’s “democracy” outlawed opposition political parties;
<><>Zelensky’s “democracy” makes him the only candidate allowed on the ballot,
<><>Zelensky’s “democracy” outlawed Ukraine’s Orthodox Christian Church,
<><>Zelensky’s “democracy” declared absolute power,
<><>Zelensky’s “democracy” gave him absolute power under martial law,
<><>Zelensky cancelled “democracy’s” presidential elections to remain in power.

Might be time to put on his dancing shoes.

Look. I know common sense is a dying characteristic but since it is, I’ll slow walk you through it.

1. Ukraine, like England during the Blitz, is under constant threat of bombardment, from an enemy that quite likes to make “symbolic” gestures like bombing central Kyiv while the UN Secretary General was fresh off a flight from Moscow.

2. If Russia knew exactly where a large chunk of voters would be on a specific day, the election would be a total turkey shoot.

3. In most developed countries, gifting a turkey shoot to the enemy while the enemy is sending rockets into civilian areas, is not normally considered a good idea. When America ever, God forbid, experiences being under daily bombardment, then the American people can decide for themselves if giving their enemy a glorious turkey shoot opportunity in the name of preserving democracy is a really good idea.

3. Sane countries don’t insist on holding elections in the middle of any other kind of national emergency.

For example, if Iceland was due to hold elections this week, they would probably postpone. And, if during Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had been intending to hold elections, the world would’ve understood that this would be kinda impractical while the city was under water.

4. The USA’s priority should be dealing with the clearly fraudulent, easily tampered with voting systems and machines first - that’s a far bigger affront to democracy than moving the election date.

Here’s how Iceland does it. https://www.stjornarradid.is/verkefni/kosningar/sveitarstjornarkosningar-2022/information/english/; https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b5627.html. Note, in their Constitution they allow for a 2 month window for the election to be held but additionally allow a change in the law can allow dates to be moved.

That is how NORMAL developed countries do it. They get their voting systems right first, they make sure only elegible people can vote, they make sure elegible people can only vote once, they make sure the dead and the illegal immigrants cannot vote, and they amend their Constitutions or laws transparently to accommodate edge cases so that if elections need to be brought forward, or delayed, that can happen.

Ukraine, ironically, was therefore more advanced than the USA in that it had voting systems that were far more tamper resistant, but it also had Constitutional provision in place in the event of a major national emergency or the country being under martial law by virtue of it being invaded and under bombardment.

5. Americans might like to try and remember, the USA is very privileged in the sense that being under sustained aerial attack from an enemy nation is something that the USA has no experience of. The closest you’ve ever got to it is a single day of Islamofascists flying hijacked planes into buildings. The next closest was Pearl Harbor. It is highly unlikely that the USA would just shrug off a sustained Blitzkrieg and carry on as normal, given the USA went medieval on its attackers after PH and 9/11.

6. By the way, some Conservatives on FR keep reminding us that technically the USA isn’t a democracy; it’s a constitutional federal republic. This means that there’s actually no barrier to the USA postponing elections while under bombardment from an enemy nation if there’s Constitutional provision for that scenario.

So the people who are best qualified to make this argument are in fact the conservative Constitutionalists who, if they actually practiced what they preached, would say that the sign of a healthy government for the people is that the government values the safety of its people more than it values the result of a election that’s rigged up to be open to manipulation.

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