America is notorious for electoral rigging, fraud commonplace since at least the 1824 presidential race, the outcome called the “Corrupt Bargain.”

No winner emerged. Under 12th Amendment rules, House members decided, choosing John Quincy Adams after weeks of hard bargaining over Andrew Jackson, a future US president.

Historian Robert Caro called Lyndon Johnson’s 1948 senatorial primary win “brazen thievery.”

Five right-wing Supreme Court justices choosing George Bush over popular and later determined electoral college winner Al Gore in 2000 was arguably the greatest of all US election scams – showing voting is a waste of time.

Back room deal-making decides things. Monied interests control it. Elections are meaningless exercises in theater.

With today’s sophisticated technology, electoral fraud is easier than ever. Microsoft software tallied Iowa caucuses votes – a major US corporation easily able to determine the Democrat and Republican winners. Establishment candidates won both contests.

Were enough voter preferences switched to rig things against Trump and Sanders? Were outcomes in both party races predetermined?

Will upcoming primaries be tainted? As long as monied interests control things, electoral fairness is pure fantasy.

Trump so far hasn’t questioned his loss to Ted Cruz. Sanders and Clinton finished in a virtual tie, Clinton declared the winner by less than half a percentage point.

He demands a recount, wanting raw vote tallies released, suggesting possible irregularities. At the same time, not knowing what happened. “Did we win the popular vote,” he asked?

His campaign director Jeff Weaver doesn’t “anticipate…contest(ing)” specific caucus results.

He urged an investigation into Monday’s process. For example, six times a coin toss determined a caucus winner. Clinton won each time, possible but unlikely – odds to do so a slim 1.6%. In other words, a near-impossibility.

Was Sanders cheated in Iowa? It wouldn’t be the first example of electoral rigging in America – nor the last.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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