Throughout history there have been various instances of electoral manipulations both outright and speculative, and our nation has had its own share (many within recent history – 2000, 2004, etc.). These are commonplace in democracies but, unfortunately, there is no way to ensure a perfect system. What we can do is demonstrate the known flaws and replace them with reasonable alternatives and hope for better results in the future.

Because of our, clearly faulty, electoral system – the public has had its ear to the ground throughout this election. The most recent presidential debate saw the candidates sum up the situation best when they both called each other “puppets”. Republican business magnate Donald Trump repeating the phrase “no, no, you’re the puppet” could effectively be the poster slogan for this election.

The reason the accusations were so apt is because each candidate has been repeatedly accused of circumventing the electoral process through trickery, bribery, and lies. For Hillary, there has always been a lingering scent of betrayal that began when the FBI started its investigation of her email servers for alleged pay-for-play interactions with enemies of the state. Those calls for justice grew louder after Iowa when she and the DNC committed clear voter fraud against Bernie Sanders. They have grown to a deafening roar in the wake of recent emails leaked by Wikileaks proving that Clinton played a major role in the downfall of Bernie Sanders and continues to be a part of establishment trickery.

There was always a question of the legitimacy of the DNC because of the way they seemed to short-stick Bernie Sanders, but now those issues of legitimacy have been confirmed – the Democratic National Convention is, obviously, anything but democratic.

Trump’s role isn’t quite as blatant as Hillary’s but it is just as important. The recent avalanche of information released by Wikileaks has shown that Hillary’s camp actually rallied behind Trump’s ascension to the head of the GOP. Trump’s stance on major enemies of the United States like Putin and his boisterous approach to campaigning was intended to demonstrate a weak democracy in the United States and it is succeeding immensely.

Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that Donald Trump is truly a puppet. But he is a puppet in the sense that the DNC is using him to make Hillary Clinton the clear choice for victory. The third party candidates that have major media traction (Jill Stein and Gary Johnson) are just as absurd as Trump and just as ignorant when it comes to policy knowledge.

By presenting the American public with three losing options and one mostly-losing option, the DNC has established a system that nearly guarantees Clinton a victory. We need to prove the establishment wrong. Democracy can work when the populace is informed and we are slowly getting there, together. Help bring our country back from the brink of absurdity. When you go to the voting booth in November, make sure to write your vote in for Art Drew.