It has still not be proven that Stalin has actually said this. -- Polese, Woodbridge TWP
Regardless, it's true. -- Logan, Memphis, TN
Amen...As with history - you see, we are closer to communism than you think... -- RobertSRQ
Only true philosophically if we think that all men are ignoble. Nietzsche said some men don't lie because it hurts people, some men don't lie because they get caught at it, but the noble minded don't lie simply BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT LIARS. Oh ! to live in a world of the noble minded. Stalin did not have to count in a one candidate, one party system. I have been a Judge of Election. Votes get counted pretty carefully in this country. Florida and Ohio obviously do their own thing. -- Bruce, 'Bama
This quote is apocryphal. Please source your quotes. -- Jim, Murphysboro, IL
Bruce, perhaps you could come to Florida for the next election... -- RobertSRQ
It doesn't matter to me who said it -- it is still true. Beware any attempt to keep ballot counting electronic without paper trail -- there is no reason in the world why there should not be hard copy ballots as backup. Do you think your bank would merely keep track of its money without a paper trail? Anyone who inhibits the use of paper ballots is NOT to be trusted -- period. -- E Archer, NYC
The editor here said 'Attributed' to. It sounds just like the killer of men and liberty. -- Mike, Norwalk
I do not know what bank the gentleman deals with? I transfer money and get electronic deposits all of the time. Pay my bills that way also. Again those who count the votes have no authority but to count, they decide nothing. The only way they can decide anything is my miscounting. Their miscount can be a inadvertent error or an intentional fabrication. The quote therefore should say "THOSE WHO LIE ABOUT THE VOTE DECIDE EVERYTHING". I had a friend who said that he did know how anyone could play a game like golf where you keep your own score. I guess who could not resist the temptation to lie. Maybe we should get pro golfers to be Judges of Election. Most honorable gentlemen in the world. -- Bruce, 'Bama
I don't see the word attributed Mike. Easy enough to believe it is Stalin but would he be that stupid to say it for recordation. Sounds like it could be folklore. He was a killer and dictator but was he a buffoon. -- Bruce, 'Bama
Ineptitud with insufficient cover equal a lie.
lz nanin -- nanin, austin, tx
Bruce, if you have been a Judge of Elections, I bet you weren't using electronic ballots without paper trail. Unless you are a programmer, you would have no way to verify the count. My mother used to work in the Capitol -- there were stories then about entire boxes of votes being thrown away. Why in the world should we expect the government to be so trustworthy? The rules for governance (i.e. the federal and state constitutions) are based on the very premise that people in power cannot be trusted and therefore a system of checks and balances must be observed. The only way to check electronic voting is via paper backup, counted in full view of the public. Electronic voting was implemented as a convenience to communicate the results more quickly to the press -- but at what risk? It is not worth it. There is a very real chance that Bush did indeed 'fix' the election both times. And if there were a proper accounting of the ballots, we would know for sure -- but conveniently, there wasn't -- nor is there expected to be the next go 'round either. Talk about a Brave New World. -- E Archer, NYC
Machines aren't biased...people are
. There was so much cheating before machines that we never knew if we got the people for which we voted. -- bonbon, Andrews
Archer first of all to my knowledge "governments" never run the elections. They may warehouse the equipment between elections and then distribute it out to the precincts but the workforce on election day are volunteer (lightly paid volunteers) citizens usually divided between the parties. I was a judge in Pennsylvania. The voter upon identifying himself is checked off in a book and he signs something, so that is the paper trail I guess. He then would enter a machine that was actually mechanical and would push down a series of levers for his candidates. When he opens the curtain to leave the vote was added to the totalizator I guess you would call it. And the end of the night I had the priviledge of opening the back of the machine and calling out the totals. While I did this a person of the opposite party would look over my shoulder and would be veryfying what I said. As I called out the numbers no less than 6 or 7 other folks of opposing parties are writing all the results on large spreadsheets. In the end there are half a dozen spreadsheets of this data if anyone wrote down wrong numbers on their sheet it would be caught as an anomaly with the others. The paper trail in this system would just be a total number of persons signing at the registration table and the total number who entered and left the machines. They may have done away with those machines, they were very bulky to haul around the county. I think todays system of mark sensing is better and yes it does create somewhat of a paper trail. -- Bruce, 'Bama
All I can say is, lottery drawings are held with more integrity than electronic voting machines. If we cannot get our election officials to treat voting with the same transparency and redundancy as lottery drawings, then something is amiss. I have been developing banking and transaction systems for government and Fortune 100's for 25 years -- they do not leave anything to chance -- there is paper backup and system redundancy everywhere -- why the hell then isn't the same attention paid to casting and counting votes, hmm? Because the battle for public office does not stop at the voting booth. It is high time we started having a bit of skepticism of politicians and their 'systems' -- we are being duped daily, why would it stop on election day? Perhaps it is because the people actually think their vote counts instead of the Electoral College where legally the electors can vote their conscience contrary to what the tallies are in their districts. There is so much hypocrisy in today's America, so much bastardization of our institutions, and so much doublespeak from our politicians that so few know how things really work in Washington. -- E Archer, NYC
There is no difference in Florida or Ohio than any other state. People like Gore are perfectly capable of exploiting quirks in election laws to make a big mess out of things. Stalin had no respect for any type of free society. That is how he comes by this type of statement. He couldn't imagine other leaders allowing a free election unless they were just stupid. From his frame of mind that was logical. Apparently Al agrees with him. Stalin was the ultimate result of Darwin's theory. Survival of the fittest. Eliminate the weak and you will be strong. Just because a duck does it that way does not mean we have to. Great quote. -- warren, olathe
So true -- Anonymous, Amarillo, TX
josef stalin was the sickist semtic on the planet -- doug, captiva
The quote can be true because the people who count the votes can lie about the votes, but nowadays, there are usually more than one person who counts the votes, so it would be unusual for them to lie. -- Samurai, Kyoto
-- SK, NJ
-- Polese, Woodbridge TWP
-- Jim, Murphysboro, IL
