The problem is, the press here is in collusion with the likes of Rove. Witness the video below on how a Birmingham News reporter was fed information by federal prosecutors to trump up a scandal using a classic Rovian term, “double-dipping.”

I don’t think anyone would accuse the Newhouse papers in Alabama of being the “liberal media.” Obviously their publishers have a “partisan” political agenda, but they are on the right, not the left, of the political spectrum.

There’s little doubt, in my opinion, that Al Gore actually won Florida in 2000 and there’s a lot of doubt about Ohion in 2004 with the Diebold machines being used. That said, unless the voters demand an electoral process that minimizes the opportunity to steal elections, fraud will continue. When control of the federal power and money machine in DC is at stake, it’s no holds barred for Machiavellians such as Rove.

Reform of how ballot are cast and counted needs to be paired with liberalized ballot access. Today, most states make it extremely difficult and expensive for alternative parties and independent candidates to appear on general election ballots.

Combined with legislative gerrymandering and other built-in advantages of incumbency, the result is a virtual guarantee that no one other than Democrats and Republicans will be elected. The last time a third party candidate actually had a chance of winning the presidency was 1912 when Teddy Roosevelt ran as the Progressive Party nominee. That was 96 years ago.

All of that, coupled with an average turnout nationally of about 50% of the voters over recent decades in major elections, make the democratic process a sham. Elected officials can claim to represent “the will of the people” but that claim, like the process that put them in office, is riddled with corruption and fraud.