Here’s what I learned about elections back where I’m from. And I know that Americans are very very special and already know everything and the idea that somebody can have something useful to communicate is ludicrous but still I’ll try.
At the actual polls, you can falsify 10-12% of the vote max. Nobody falsifies 80% at the polls, not even Putin.
So if you are going in and you are not the establishment favorite, remember that your starting position is -15% or better yet -20%. This means that to win you need 65-75% of the vote. The moment you tell yourself that you need fifty percent and one vote, you have already lost.
Another issue is that votes are decided before people get to the polls. Putin fakes 10-12% but the rest is completely sincere.
This leads us to the another important point.
Whoever controls the media of mass communications always wins. The reason why Putin always gets his sincere 60% is that every TV channel repeats all day long that there’s no alternative to him, without him there will be chaos, thuggery in the streets, Nazism, and hey, there’s nobody better anyway. Of course, they never allow anybody better to appear on TV, so the illusion is complete.
So here’s a recipe in a society where soft totalitarianism has triumphed. Get yourself a TV network and shoot for 75% of the vote.
And forget the word “unfair” because nobody likes a whiny loser.
Aside from the part about the TV station, this is a great life strategy, as well.
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