On Tuesday, the New York Times published an opinion piece written by Peter Beinart that suggests that the United States election system is so compromised and corrupted that it needs foreign assistance to ensure a fair election.
Citing an atmosphere of “chronic racist disenfranchisement,” the piece calls for Joe Biden and the Democrats to appeal to international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States should they feel that the American election was conducted unfairly.
“Americans are not so inherently virtuous that they can safely disregard the moral discipline that international oversight provides,” Beinart wrote.
President Trump has repeatedly denounced the Democrat’s “mail-in voting” scheme, pointing out the obvious flaws of such a system and the mountains of evidence showing that such a system is unreliable at best.
But in Beinart’s eyes, America’s election system is rigged against Democrats, despite the fact that it’s been in use with very few changes since 1788.
“Democrats must now win the popular vote by three, four or even five percentage points to be assured of winning the Electoral College. They must achieve that margin in the face of a strenuous Republican effort to ensure that many Democratic ballots are not counted. And even if they overcome both of those obstacles, Mr. Trump may still not concede.”
But it’s Democrats such as 2016 election loser Hillary Clinton who are truly pushing the “never concede” strategy, largely due to mail-in voting.
“Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances,” Clinton said in August. “Because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually, I do believe he will win if we don’t give an inch and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is.”
Beinart cites the case of Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who appeared on video before the U.N. Human Rights Council in September claiming that the country’s August election was “stolen.” Beinart believes that Joe Biden and the Democrats must do the same thing should they lose in November or if President Trump refuses to accept a Biden victory.
“In that case, Joe Biden should follow Ms. Tikhanovskaya’s example and appeal to the world for help,” the piece said.
Specifically, Beinart points to an imagined disenfranchisement of Black voters in America as a reason that the United Nations or some other foreign entity needs to be involved in monitoring America’s election.
“By impeding Black voters, the United States still violates the Democratic principles it has helped enshrine into international law. After observing America’s 2018 midterm elections, a team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) cataloged a long list of undemocratic practices.”
Those “undemocratic practices” included voter identification laws and America’s decentralized system with states and municipalities in charge of their own elections without federal oversight. The OSCE report claimed that such practices “effectively disenfranchised around 11 million otherwise eligible voters,” and concluded that American elections “contravene … international standards with regard to universal and equal suffrage.”
Beinart writes: “If Mr. Trump and his allies halt the counting of ballots, or disregard them altogether, Democrats should use the OSCE’s report as evidence in an appeal to same body where where Ms. Tikhanovskaya made hers: The U.N. Human Rights Council.”
Never mind the fact that the Human Rights Council’s current membership includes serial human-rights abusers such as Venezuela, Afghanistan, and Pakistan; or that the United States withdrew from the organization in 2018.
While conceding that international oversight would not likely make much difference in the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, there are other dubious reasons to allow such scrutiny.
“While appealing to international bodies may not change the election’s result, it could change the Democratic Party itself. Today, many prominent Democrats remain enthralled by the very myths of American exceptionalism that Black activists have long challenged.”
Unfortunately, Beinart and the Times are not alone in believing that the United States should allow international interference in our sovereign elections. Claiming that President Trump is “actively sabotaging the integrity of the 2020 vote,” the Boston Globe is also calling for “international scrutiny” of the 2020 general election.
“President Trump has used the bully pulpit to undermine public confidence in the election, alleging — with no evidence — that 2020 is going the most ‘inaccurate and fraudulent election in history.’”
Again, such evidence for the inaccuracy and potential for fraud in mail-in voting is mountainous. But never let facts get in the way of unhinged leftist rhetoric.
Such calls for international oversight of American elections are reckless and pointless, and only serve to do exactly what the New York Times and the Boston Globe are accusing President Trump of doing: undermining confidence in the 2020 election.
