Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Nonconcession as protest

As I write this, Trump has probably lost this election. (Yeah, I'll eat one.) But - I say that Trump is right not to admit he has lost. Because someday someone important (unlike Trump) will lose who (unlike Trump) doesn't deserve to lose; and when that happens, we're in trouble.

I have been unkind to Richard Spencer in these pages. But I'll grant him this last word, because he deserves to have it: mass absentee or early voting is a bad thing. The election should be an *event*—a captured moment in time—not an ongoing poll over the course of a month or two. To that Mishneh Torah, I'll add some Talmud - from @GidMK: Fun statistical point - choosing when to stop counting is basically p-hacking! If you pick the result before the end of the trial (vote count), you can push the result either way. [This against Nate Silver, arguing "durr let's stop counting now AZ/MI/WI are'z blue an' PA red".]

We need a Federal standard to vote in Federal elections. Until we get that, we have no democracy. Whoever claims to respect the will of the people or even a rule by law needs to stop this "ballot harvesting" nonsense immediately.

If it takes a Constitutional crisis, so be it. Because otherwise this document is meaningless. If it takes a Trump to make a stink about this, again: so be it.

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