Thread by @QOrigins

Everyone agrees it's *very* dangerous -- and *very* bad for democracy -- to have GOP electeds screaming "fraud!" every time they lose an election, then trying to install Stop the Steal types to *run* the next round of elections.

But how can we impose *consequences*? My take: 1/9

* Pass laws -- at the federal and state levels -- making it a crime for an officeholder or political candidate to say that an upcoming or just-completed election was fraudulent, *unless* a court finds it really was fraudulent. Trials would be super-expedited; penalties, 5-10 yrs.

This, of course, would run into 1st Amendment issues right away. But the Constitution is not a suicide pact, and the threat is grave.

Also: y'know how gov't employees don't have unrestricted free speech in all circumstances (& can't perform certain political activities AT ALL)?

Why *is* that permissible?

Well, bc we recognize the danger of letting the vast powers of the government be used to campaign for an incumbent. That would be very bad and destabilizing for our democracy.

*So is the shit the GOP is doing.* So: criminalize it.

Likewise, the duty of certifying the actual vote count is purely ministerial, meaning that the people who *do* the certifying are just checking that the math is correct and then stamping it approved.

But the GOP is appointing Stop the Steal types to those positions...

and, where the relevant positions are elected, PLENTY of Stop the Steal candidates are running.

It seems VERY clear that their plan for 2024 is to simply refuse to certify elections that Republicans don't win.

Make *that* shit a crime too, punishable MUCH more severely than just claiming the election was stolen -- make it, I dunno, a 25-year minimum sentence if you, in a position w/a ministerial role in certifying the election, refuse to certify it.

And if you say, "But what if the election really WAS fraudulent?", well, hey, you can raise that as a defense. And the same super-expedited trial schedule applies, but YOU have to prove it really was fraudulent.

Of course, we still have the specter of hung-jury shenanigans.

But here's the thing: this course of action would throw the bad guys *on the defensive* and would scare a lot of them off from TRYING TO SUBVERT DEMOCRACY.

And maybe my ideas ARE bad and shitty. Please come up with better ones! Esp. if you have influence! We gotta try SOMETHING.

P.S. Seriously, we should hold candidates and elected officials to a *higher standard* — in terms of protecting democracy — than a random citizen who DOESN’T have power and influence.

To me, that is blindingly obvious. I can only hope it’s obvious to enough of my fellow citizens