By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III
Historically the American government has used American media to promote and rationalize the need for “regime change” in foreign countries. Misinformation, distortions, and lies have been presented as truths in order to convince Americans that “dictators” must be overthrown in order to protect American security, American interests (usually business and/or access to resources), or to stop the rise of a socialist/communist leader.
Today ultra-conservative interests are engaging in similar tactics. They are not using the military; it is a bloodless coup. A small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus is attempting to effect regime change by corrupting the American democratic process. Under the pretext of “voter fraud” ultra-conservatives are working fervently to decrease the number of legally registered Americans that will be able to vote in the 2012 election by enacting laws requiring voters to show government issued photo identification at the polls.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “More than 5 million Americans could be affected by the new rules already put in place this year — a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.” Too many in mainstream media are blindly reporting this false “voter fraud” issue as fact and not asking those who are promoting it to provide evidence to support their claims.
