Electoral thought experiment.

What if in the election of 1820 a candidate cheated so dramatically and so obviously it shattered faith in the system?

Well in 1820 there was no popular vote and Presidential elections were done the original Constitutional way.

Do you know what happened in 1824? Andrew Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams despite Jackson winning a plurality but not enough electoral votes. The race went to the House in a contingent election.

Hometown hero, Speaker of the House, and 3rd tier Presidential candidate Henry Clay HATED Andrew Jackson. Personally.

Clay struck the Corrupt Bargain in the contingent election and lobbied enough states to vote for Adams, winning him the election.

In exchange, Adams made Clay Secretary of State.

What if Clay was compromised by a foreign agent? Would anyone have known? If they did would it have made a difference?

Fast forward to 1860. What if a candidate you hate so much is elected? If you're a group of culturally AND geographically similar states, you succeed. We know how that went.

1876, Rutherford B. Hayes wins in not even a contingent election but a 15 person electoral commission. The original election was so corrupted by fraud on both sides they skipped the contingent election.

What if in 1940 one of the candidates cheated so dramatically it was obvious to everyone?

Sorry but this next part is important to the though experiment.

What if the winning cheater had obvious and direct ties to Nazi Germany?

Would we have allowed the Nazis to interfere with our Presidential elections? We weren't at war yet with Germany and even had plenty of Nazi sympathizers in America. In 1944 that answer would be a no-brainer but in 1940?

1960. Everybody now knows as fact JFK cheated to win Illinois and thusly the Presidency. Nixon, despite the modern caricature of him, was a patriot and "for the good of the country" did not dispute the results even though he had evidence and every right too.

Perhaps because the cheating was carried out by the mob it was acceptable because hey, they may be criminals but at least they are American criminals, right?

What if it was by the Soviets instead? What if of all JFK's affairs he had lots of Russian honeys on the side?

Or what if Bobby Kennedy had "business dealings" with the Soviets? What if Edward Kennedy was paid million of dollars to be an advisor to a Turkish bath house in Moscow?

Would that be worth investigating? Would the media have tried as hard to cover it up?

What if Iran paid millions of dollars to Carter's campaign in 1980?

2020. We know the results. We know all the foreign connections with China and Venezuela. We know the Constitutional violations of certain states to scam the vote.

What happens when mountains of evidence and legitimate Constitutional complaints go ignored?

What is the remedy when the people whos duty is to protect the integrity of the United States don't? We've seen state and local official do it. We've always relied on SCOTUS to do the right thing, but what if they didn't?

I will say that a Civil War like 1861-1865 won't happen. Like I said earlier the Confederacy was culturally and geographically similar. Today the "blue" states and "red" states are spread out and intermixed.

Secondly and most importantly the US military WILL NOT engage in armed conflict with itself, nor will it "pacify" civilian US territory.

During the Civil War, army units were comprised and commanded of men from the same state. There were Massachusetts Infantry regiments, and Alabama Cavalry Regiments.

In today's military a soldier from Mass. serves beside a soldier from Alabama.

And a sailor from Texas is bunkmates with a sailor from California.

So there will not be a 2nd Civil War, not in a conventional sense.

So what is the remedy. That I don't know. I can't even begin to speculate but fortunately I don't have to. That's Boss's job.

And Boss has it figured out. Just because he hasn't told me or you is nothing to worry about.

A good coach doesn't advertise the trick play that wins the game. A good general doesn't tell the enemy what his secret weapon is.

Be of good faith and good cheer. Enjoy Christmas. All will be well.