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To be absolutely sure, I feel like a true revolution in the US is a remote possibility even under the most volatile conditions. The American people have over 225 years of experience with respecting democratic traditions and the principle of laws above men, to include a bloody Civil War to look back on if ever in doubt of the consequences of failing to resolve differences peacefully (as well as a bloody Revolution that left America devastated, but that aspect of our fight for freedom does not get taught in schools as much).In short, Americans vastly prefer to resolve issues at the ballot box rather than with the ammo box.However, the question does not ask whether a revolution is likely (that’s elsewhere), or whether it would be successful, but what might trigger it. So that’s what I have limited my response to. Although the following scenario might not be probable, I feel it’s the most plausible for what could trigger a revolution in modern America.It’s 2020, and Americans have had it with the two-Party system. Two decades of “Do Nothing” Congresses fighting with successive Administrations, who have turned increasingly to governance by executive decree rather than by law, have left America with no clear domestic agenda while economic and social pressures mount.For decades, major polling firms have tracked the plummet of Americans’ attitudes towards and confidence in their government, and in recent years their moods have been at record lows. At times, even “0%” confidence has been within some polls’ margins of error.Meanwhile, gerrymander-protected Congressmen cushioned by generous campaign donations continue to protect those with access rather than advocate for the nation as a whole. “We’re just responding to the will of our constituents,” they say, even though ever more of them run in decreasingly competitive elections.The disputes in domestic policy are no longer ideological – it is no longer a matter of parties disagreeing with their vision for America – but truly the advantaged versus the disadvantaged. Wealth inequality has transformed from a topic of conversation to something people confront on a daily basis.The 2016 election was one of the most uninspiring in most Americans’ memories, with voter turnout at an historic low and enthusiasm gone beyond the Parties' truly faithful.Two years after the election, faced with still more of the same, the American people decided to make their frustration more apparent, and their resolve channeled into several victories for dark horse, third-party candidates in the 2018 Midterms. It was only a handful of members, but enough to reduce the Republican majority in the House to single-digits. Third-party wins in New England Senate races denied both Parties a majority in the Senate.Political observers expressed their hopes that the voters’ clear message of frustration with the lack of progress in government would force the parties to be more compromising in their agendas, but it did not come to pass. The president, too, did not back down in the face of the independent victories, and continued to use Congressional paralysis as reason to govern by executive order.Going into the presidential election, a charismatic, independent candidate who promises to take the fight to the established Parties grows a large following. His campaign is dubbed “Shock Therapy” for a “flat-lining” America.Despite rising support in the polls over the spring, the Commission on Presidential Debates, controlled by the Democratic and Republican Parties, goes on record as saying that it will exclude the candidate from the debates. This sparks outrage from multiple quarters – not just the candidate’s supporters – and after a demonstration outside the first debate turns violent, the CPD extends the Independent an invitation for the subsequent two debates.The Independent shines on the national stage, eviscerating the Democratic and Republican contenders, who come across as tired advocates for the status quo, unable to rise above ideology for the good of all. He surges in the polls, money and volunteers flood his campaign, and by October there are projections that he could, against all odds, secure an electoral victory.Party stalwarts and pundits, however, cast off these projections as wishful thinking, and claim that their internal polls show no signs of a mass defection towards the Independent.For the remainder of the month, Americans are bombarded with campaign rhetoric that oscillates from combative to panicked, with partisan commentators going well out of their way to demonstrate just why their candidate is all but assured of victory and what that will mean for the country.November 3, 2020Voter turnout in 2016 was down dramatically from 2012, as neither Democrats nor Republicans were particularly enthusiastic about their candidate – to say nothing of the independents’ thoughts – but early signs are that this year’s election has surged to 2008’s level, if not higher.The first polls close at 6 p.m. Eastern time, but it is not until 7 p.m. that results can be announced for certain States. Whereas in elections past the networks are easily able to declare a slew of winners at this hour, the only state they call with certainty is Vermont for the Democratic candidate.It is not necessarily a cause for alarm, though, the pundits say. Voters should be used to the traditional battlegrounds of Virginia, Ohio, and North Carolina being called later in the evening. They gloss over that the reported vote tallies are alarmingly low for the traditional Parties. After some nail-biting, however, Kentucky and West Virginia are sorted into the Republican column soon after 7:30.When 8 p.m. rolls around, normalcy appears to return to the electoral landscape. The traditional Northeast, Democratic strongholds roll over to the Democrats. Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma are called for the Republicans. Battleground states Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Missouri are too close to call, but as the pundits stated before, this should not be unexpected.But when a wave of votes comes in from Virginia, the status quo narrative comes to an abrupt end.The Independent candidate has won the Commonwealth with over 40 percent of the vote. At 8:30, when Arkansas predictably goes for the Republican candidate, North Carolina and Georgia are called for the Independent.Then Ohio goes.Then Florida.Commentators try to remain confident as they make projections about what the rest of the country might do, but it becomes apparent in just a matter of minutes that the electoral math is not looking good for the major Parties. Most concede that the Republican candidate will be unable to get the 270 votes needed to win the election, but surely the Democrats will hold Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, among others, and have a narrow victory.However, too many States remain in play, and the uncertainty grows the longer they remain uncalled.Late in the night, the math becomes clear: In order for the Democrats to win the election outright, they must take at least eight of the twelve outstanding States. Their window narrows once it appears that Missouri will be a toss-up between the Independent and the Republican. More results come in, and New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Colorado fall convincingly for the Independent.There’s no way around the reality of the election’s results anymore. Bewildered pundits declare an event that has not happened in the United States in almost 200 years: Nobody has won a majority of the Electoral Vote, and so the election will have to be decided by the next Congress.On Wednesday morning, the final results are even less comforting to any American who went to bed hoping the election would be settled definitively.Americans split their vote almost perfectly three ways, but the Democratic candidate edged out a slight victory in the popular vote: 35.8 percent against the Independent’s 32.3 and the Republican’s 31.9. The Independent candidate, however, appears to have prevailed with the electoral vote, earning 198 votes to the Democrat’s 186 and the Republican’s 154.Down ticket, a wave of third party candidates have been elected to the House of Representatives, but still nowhere near enough to secure an outright majority. Republicans, still benefiting from the redistricting that followed the 2010 Census, while no longer in the majority, control the most seats.Only one more third-party candidate is elected to the Senate, but the chamber’s edge is to the Democrats.Across the country, the Parties mobilize armies of lawyers and volunteers to dispute the election results before the States can certify them. Yet even if the Democratic and Republican Parties won all of the legal contests where there’s the best chance of victory, the Independent still won too many States indisputably for either of them to secure a majority in the Electoral College. It’s obvious to all that the best they can do is weaken the Independent’s position before the matter is taken up by the incoming Congress.The legal battles continue through December until, as happened 20 years prior, the Supreme Court forces the States still in contest to end their recounts and certify winners so that the incoming Congress can perform its Constitutional duty and elect the next heads of government.The result of their decision causes Missouri to flip to the Republicans, while New Mexico and Michigan edge to the Democrats. This causes the Independent to fall to second place in the electoral count, to only 3 above the Republicans, with the Democrats climbing to above 200.A week following the Supreme Court’s decision, the electors of the Electoral College meet in their respective State capitals. Throughout the week, many commentators have used their respective media platforms to urge the Independent’s electors to be faithless, believing that he will have no mandate to lead, and spare the country the agony of having Congress decide the election.Between having lost the lead in the Electoral College through partisan, acrimonious recounts and a Supreme Court ruling and being bombarded daily by pundits who believe their candidate should simply concede, the tens of millions of Americans who voted for the Independent begin to stitch a narrative together that the Parties are conspiring to nullify the impact of their votes. If anybody should bow out of the election, they say, it should be the Republicans, who placed third in both the electoral and popular votes.There are faithless electors in late December, but not from the Independent camp – and not many. Only one elector from each of the major Parties casts a vote for the Independent, which is not enough to skew the expected outcome: The Democrat leads, but not enough for victory.Americans now get a sobering lesson in the little-regarded Twelfth Amendment.With none of the candidates receiving a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives will be given the task of selecting the President of the United States. The Senate, the Vice President. But whereas each Senator is given the power to vote, in the House, each State Delegation gets a single vote. Moreover, the Twelfth Amendment restricts the selection of Vice President to the candidates who received the two highest numbers of electoral votes, thus eliminating the Republican candidate from consideration. In the House, all three leading presidential candidates are eligible for consideration.The Independent won the most electoral votes before the recounts, but there are only a handful of senators unaffiliated with the major Parties, and are no third party-dominated Delegations in the House. The Democrat won the greatest share of the popular vote before leading in the Electoral College, and the Democrats have the most Senators; but the Republicans, who lost both the popular and electoral votes, control an outright majority of Delegations in the House.January 4, 2021The new Congress convenes and immediately passes a resolution to meet in two days to count the electoral votes. Knowing the electoral situation, the House adopts rules for the counting of ballots that are identical to those passed in 1824, to respect the historic precedent and ensure consistency. After these votes and the recess of Congress, quietly, the Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders meet to discuss a compromise.The leaders agree that nobody wants to see the Independent candidates secure high office, but the question is how to block this from happening without upending the other Parties.In the Senate, the Republicans are urged to support the Democratic candidate for Vice President, as theirs is ineligible for consideration anyway. Republican leaders balk at the proposal, but are eventually persuaded to provide enough support for the Democrats to secure a one or two-vote victory – provided there are no Democratic defections.But what do the Republicans get in return? Democratic support in the House for the selection of the Republican candidate as President? The Democrats reject this. The Republicans trailed too far in the polls for that to be a legitimate possibility.Then what?If the Republicans in the House support the selection of the Democrat as President, then the Democrats will, in turn, support the election of the Republican Speaker of the House. In turn, the Vice President will resign – perhaps in exchange for a high profile cabinet position – and the then-President will select the Speaker as the new Vice President – the Speaker then replaced by another Republican. This would give the Republicans control of House leadership and tie-breaking capacity in the Senate which, given its narrow divide, would not be insignificant.The Republicans are less than convinced and offer no promises.January 6, 2021In the days since Congress convened, it appears to be ever more apparent that House Republicans are poised to select their candidate as President. Even though they came last in the election, they retained control of a large majority of State Delegations in the House. While only a few Republicans have gone on record with their express intent to vote for the Republican candidate, others point to the rules laid out in the Constitution and the necessity of honoring the law.Some Democrats and independents flirt with the possibility of a walkout unless Republicans agree to choose between the leading two candidates, but they simply do not have the numbers to deny the Republicans a Quorum and stall the vote.Tens of thousands of Americans have descended on Washington and Capitol Hill, demanding that their votes be respected. But as the demonstrators come from all camps, and the pressure on Congress already enormous, the protest does not appear to be a particularly persuasive force for those in the Capitol’s halls.A few minutes after 1 p.m., the joint session of Congress convenes in the House of Representatives to verify and count the electoral votes for President and Vice President. As expected, the result is206 for the Democratic candidates169 for the Independent candidates163 for the Republican candidatesThe joint session concludes, and the Members of Congress return to their respective chambers to select the President and Vice President.The Senate is first to go, not as a matter of custom – when the Senate was called upon to select the Vice President in 1836, the Presidential contest was not in doubt at the same time – but because it is easier to organize the roll call necessary to elect the Vice President than it is for the House to take the roll of Members, appoint Representatives as State tellers, cast and tabulate its ballots.By the time the House has confirmed that all 435 voting Members are present, the Senate has, by a larger than expected vote of 78-22, supported the Democratic candidate for Vice President. The news is instantaneously received in the House as its Members mull over their votes.One by one, Members hand their ballots into the Deans of their Delegations, each of whom then proceeds to quietly tabulate the States’ votes with another Member observing. They then wait for the Clerk to call the roll by State.As each State is called, the Sergeant-at-Arms carries two boxes to Delegation, wherein are placed two, identical ballots which declare the States’ selection. He carries one box to each side of the Rostrum, and once all boxes have been collected, 100 Members, two from each State, divide equally to tally and verify the vote of the House.The Republican candidate has prevailed.The presiding officer struggles to bring order to the Chamber as Democrats and independents loudly protest the result. Democratic leaders corner their Republican counterparts to demand answers, but are stonewalled. What are they going to do? Reveal their conspiracy to the public?Outside the Capitol, the scene is even more raucous, and several protesters are detained over the next several hours as many attempt to strike out at Members or otherwise make their disapproval known more physically. Many more protesters are hospitalized as fights break out between rival camps.On the airwaves, commentators and pundits try to play down the shock and anger. “This is how the system works,” they say. “Who should be surprised? Shouldn’t we be relieved that the Constitution has prevailed through this crisis?”Mere hours after Congress’ selection, the President and Vice President-elect hold a joint press conference in which they pledge to help bridge partisan divides and work for all Americans. “We have heard you,” they say. “Now it’s time to move forward.”In other days, these arguments might have prevailed, but Americans no longer believe in “the system.” The system has sheltered the advantaged while doing less and less for those trying to get ahead or scrape by. The system is defending its stagnation and the status quo. The system has obliterated tens of millions of votes for new representation and handed the government over to the minority.Nor do they believe that those in power are capable of bridging partisan divides. They have heard this rhetoric before, and ad nauseum, for far too long and with far too little to show for it to believe it this time.The Independent candidate, though incensed by him and his running mate being shut out by Congress, tries to appeal to people to respect the rule of law and challenge “the corrupt bargain” in coming elections. He promises to form a stronger Party to secure electoral gains in the years ahead and forever shatter the current system.Americans, by and large, are not having it. They no longer want to wait for the next election, or the next, to sort things out. Their anger is real, in the moment, and on the surface.On social media, a passage from America’s most sacred document goes viral:We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.It is soon, and then often, accompanied by an amalgamation of quotes from revered Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson:Every constitution then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right. . . . It might be indeed if every form of government were so perfectly contrived that the will of the majority could always be obtained fairly and without impediment. But this is true of no form. . . . Various checks are opposed to every legislative proposition. Factions get possession of the public councils. Bribery corrupts them. Personal interests lead them astray from the general interests of their constituents.The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.January 20, 2021Seven-hundred thousand people are in the nation’s capital to attend the country’s 58th Inauguration, but it is hard to find the relatively few people who are there to celebrate if not the incoming leaders, the nation’s tradition of peaceful transfer of power. In cities around the country, millions more have gathered in public areas in protest to the incoming administration.At noon, when the President begins the oath of office, he is almost drowned out by the rise of jeers and curses from the crowd. These persist through his very short address to the agitated masses, in which he seems to be begging them to believe that a new age of unity is at hand that will benefit all Americans.When he and the Vice President retreat into the Capitol at the conclusion of the ceremony, their security advises that they forego the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. The number of arrests has already hit triple-digits, and the crowd moving from the Mall to the route threatens to overwhelm the security in place.They dismiss the recommendation – cowering in the Capitol might only provoke further anger – but they agree to delay the start of the parade, in the hopes people will surrender to the bitter cold and begin to disperse, and to remain in the limousine.The parade was supposed to begin around 2:30 p.m., but does not commence until an hour and a half later. The strategy of hoping the combination of cold and impending sunset would help disperse the crowds has worked to an extent, but it has meant that the devoted demonstrators still lingering are even more riled up.As the motorcade makes its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, the protesters’ response is intense, but mostly vocal – at first. Farther down the road, crowds begin to push against the barricades as the motorcade comes in sight, only to be pushed back by police.Between 9th and 10th Streets, eggs and, in defiance of the cold, shoes are thrown at the presidential limousine, and the motorcade begins to accelerate. But before the President and Vice President can make it to the safety of the White House, a protester becomes the spark that ignites the conflagration.At 13th Street, the corner of Freedom Plaza, as the barricades fail, a man is able to break through the police line and charges at the presidential limousine, rock in hand. He lets it fly, managing little more than to scratch the limousine’s paint, but in a fraction of a second is tackled by a combination of police and Secret Service.That alone might not have been enough to enrage the witnessing crowds, but the law enforcement officers, themselves riled by the hours of confrontation they have endured, break discipline and launch into a brief but brutal assault on the president’s assailant. It looks less like the protester is being arrested and more as though he is receiving a summary punishment.More protesters break free of the barricade in order to rescue their comrade, only to in turn be tackled and assailed. Pushing and shouting gives way to punches, and in minutes Freedom Plaza and the avenue are the site of a melee.Media outlets try to avoid broadcasting scenes of the violence to reduce the risk of provoking the millions watching at home; but as law enforcement and crowd control units rush down Pennsylvania Avenue to contain the violence, those who had remained after the limousine had passed take advantage of the thinning police lines and spill out onto the parade route.There’s no hiding the crumbling security situation anymore, and the nation’s capital is plunged into rioting not seen since 1968.Across the country, most of the crowds dispersed soon after the President was sworn in, but many remain in lasting protest, and are mostly peaceful. Once violence erupts in the capital, however, many local law enforcement agencies attempt to preempt the risk of disorder in their own cities and move in to clear the crowds.In all cases, their plans backfire. City after city witnesses the emergence of riots, until soon there’s hardly a State untouched by the anger spilling out from a fed-up population.Road to RevolutionThe Inauguration Day Riots are mostly quelled by week’s end, with isolated incidents lingering through to the end of the month. The final toll is comparable to a natural disaster. Dozens have been killed, with thousands more seriously injured. Property damages surpass one billion dollars.Although the violence has subsided for now, most recognize that Pandora’s Box has been opened. Grievances against the government are spilling out from all quarters, and respect for lawful authority has plummeted. More and more rallies turn violent at the merest hint of a crackdown, which creates a feedback cycle: Law enforcement arrives to the subsequent rally in bigger numbers and with more gear, convincing the protesters that their rights will not be respected, agitating them to violence, provoking a larger response, and so forth.Eventually, jurisdictions begin denying all demonstration permits in order to ease tensions, but this only sparks a rise in illegal protests and acts of civil disobedience.Congress, in the meantime, has ground to a halt. Democratic leaders, still chaffed by the Republican rejection of their compromise offer, refuse to support any scrap of the Republican agenda in the House and use an array of tactics to stall business in the Senate. Moreover, they refuse to confirm any of the Republican President's Cabinet nominations without concessions, leaving the whole of government starving for leadership. The handful of third party Representatives and Senators have given up on attempting to bridge the divide, and instead serve as conduits of public anger at the intransigent government.Meanwhile, down Pennsylvania Avenue in the White House, the President and Vice President often quarrel on the rare occasions where they speak, and the Administration has yet to put forward a clear agenda for moving the country out of its crisis of confidence.Americans’ largest, collective disapproval of their government comes in April, as a record number individuals “fail” to file tax returns. Recognizing the tax revolt, in a rare act of bipartisanship, Congress first passes a law to extend the filing date to the end of June with no penalties for those who did not file by April 15 – but with increased penalties thereafter.The June deadline, however, is not met with an increase in tax returns being filed, but a several-million strong protest on the National Mall. It is the first protest since the Inauguration Day Riots that articulate national demands for changes to the government. There are calls for a Constitutional Convention.Their demands are met with regurgitated rhetoric.In August, after a summer of news about tax evaders being arrested, redistricting favoring incumbents, and the failure of bipartisanship to make meaningful progress in Congress, the electorate’s anger erupts again as Members of Congress, on recess, duck and dodge at town hall meetings and other public events. Several events turn violent. Eventually, Congressmen stop appearing in public altogether.When Congress reconvenes in September, there are angry crowds at Capitol Hill to demand why the Congress has failed to act on an array of measures, with bills to approve a Constitutional Convention among them. Physical confrontations are rare at first – the police are quick to isolate and remove troublemakers – but the thin veneer of peace does not last long against the storm of discontent.On the afternoon of Friday, September 17, as Congress tries to rush through morning business so they can head back to their districts, protesters are successful in surging past the police lines and force their way into the Captiol Building, storming the House Chamber. The Floor is empty, as it usually is during business hours, but their occupation is a major victory in its symbolism and effect.Energized by the scene of their compatriots in command of the halls of Congress, protesters across the country storm and occupy their State assemblies, forcing legislatures in most States to follow in Congress’ footsteps and hastily adjourn.The message is clear: Americans no longer support the rules of the status quo, and no amount of rhetoric will be sufficient to placate them. Two centuries after the end of its first revolution, the American people have risen up again to revoke their consent to be governed under the ruling order.The Second American Revolution has begun.

A case of history repeating itself.Edison the Inventor, Edison the ShowmanNot everything Thomas Edison invented and/or manufactured was an immediate success. Edison once said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." [1] His first patented invention, a machine to speed up the voting process in Congress was a total failure, could have changed the course of American history. With the current 2020 presidential election underway, Edison's first patented machine - and one of his biggest flops - is well worth examining.Edison was a low level telegraph operator who had recently been fired from his job at Western Union for tinkering with a lead-acid battery (which leaked sulfuric acid onto the floor and his supervisor's ornate desk irreparably damaging it) on the job.[2] The event propelled Edison to work on what would become his first patented invention: a machine which recorded the ballots of would-be voters with the help of a simple switch and an electric current.[3]Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution simply states that it’s up to each state to determine “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections.”[4] For the first 50 years of American elections, most voting wasn’t done in private and voters didn’t even make their choice on a paper ballot. Instead, those with the right to vote (only white men at the time) went to the local courthouse and publicly cast their vote out loud.[5] Known as “viva voce” or voice voting, this conspicuous form of public voting was the law in most states through the early 19th century and Kentucky kept it up as late as 1891.[6] As voters arrived at the courthouse, a judge would have them swear on a Bible that they were who they said they were and that they hadn’t already voted. Once sworn in, the voter would call out his name to the clerk and announce his chosen candidates in each race.Vote Recorder - The Edison PapersThe voting machine, a device designed to present a simulated ballot to voters, to register their votes, and to tally them automatically, was invented in 1848 by an English inventor named William Chamberlain, Jr..[7]On June 1, 1869, Thomas Edison patented his very first invention: a voting machine meant for Congress.[8] The 22-year-old businessman might’ve been inspired to design the device after newspaper reports announced that both the New York state legislature and the city council of Washington, D.C., were investigating means of automating their ballot process.[9]Edison’s “electrographic vote-recorder” had the names of all the voters listed twice: in a “Yes” column on one side, and a “No” column on the other. [10] When a person flipped a switch to indicate their vote, the machine would transmit the signal through an electric current and mark their name in the corresponding column, while keeping track of the total tally of votes on a dial.[11] After everyone had voted, an attendant would place a sheet of chemically treated paper on top of the columns and press down on it with a metallic roller, imprinting the paper with the results.The sketch that accompanied Edison's patent. U.S. PATENT 0,090,646, (File:Edisonsfirstpatent.png - Wikipedia)A telegraph operator named Dewitt Roberts invested $100—about $1754 in today's dollars,[12] in the device and set off for an exhibition on Capitol Hill.[13] Edison dreamed the invention would “save several hours of public time every day in the session.” He later reflected, “I thought my fortune was made.”[14] Unfortunately, members of the House of Representatives were completely uninterested, and the committee chairman in charge of deciding its fate declared that:“if there is any invention on earth that we don't want down here, that is it.”[15]The committee didn’t think the vote-recorder streamlined the process enough to be useful, but it’s possible they weren’t too keen on speeding things up in the first place. If the officials didn’t voice their votes aloud, there wouldn’t be any opportunity to filibuster policies or persuade each other to switch their stances—an integral part of congressional proceedings.[16]Edison, of course, recovered from his first flop. The last patent in his name was granted two years after his death, in 1933 ( the patent had been submitted two days before his death in January 1931).[17] In between, he tallied 1,093 United States patents and more than 1,200 patents in other countries. Edison averaged a patent every two weeks during his working life.[18] Even though many of his "inventions" were not unique -- and he engaged in some well-publicized court battles with other inventors whose ideas he "borrowed" , Edison's skill at marketing and using his influence edged out most competitors.[19] He went on to invent or claim (or at least improve upon) the incandescent light bulb, carbon telephone transmitter, the infamous 20 second cat video[20] and many more.It wasn't until 1881 that the patent for the first official voting machine, invented by Anthony Beranek, was approved for use in an American election.[21] In his patent, Beranek claimed “by means of this device all fraud is prevented and ballot-box stuffing impossible.”[22] In the end, Edison's design remained unused, collecting dust in the patent office. Despite the advent of electricity and everything involving computers, the Senate still uses the roll call method to this day.Electronic Voting | US House of Representatives: History, Art & ArchivesIn 1973, More than 100 years after Edison pitched his electric vote recorder, the U.S. House of Representatives held its first electronic vote on the House Floor.[23] A part of the far reaching reforms of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, electronic voting modernized the House Chamber.[24] The first electronic vote was a 15-minute roll call vote of Members; prior to the electronic system roll calls typically took on average 30 to 45 minutes.[25] Some estimates projected the House would save more than 90 hours of work per year with the new voting system.Since states began introducing electronic voting machines and other technology in the voting process, digitizing various aspects of voting has been a boon for democracy in many ways. Online voter registration has supercharged get out the vote efforts[26]. ID scanning at check-ins helps reduce lines. And, of course, ballots submitted digitally allow for near instantaneous returns.Yet, susceptible touch-screen voting machines are prone to error, due to outdated and unsupported software. For over two decades, there have been widespread reports of machines flipping votes because they aren’t properly calibrated.[27] Computerized machines lose votes, subtract votes instead of adding them, and double votes.[28] Because many of these machines have no paper audit trails, a large number of votes will never be counted.Edison's electronic voting machine might have avoided this complication as the votes were recordered and tallied with paper documentation, while increasing the processing time of recording and processing. However, as the American population is coming to learn, speeding up and minimizing voter error is ineffective when politicians are unable to compromise and craft policies that require consensus from Congress.Footnotes[1] Thomas Edison - 10,000 Ways That Won't Work - Due[2] Thomas Edison is Fired from Western Union[3] 10 Inventions by Thomas Edison (That You've Never Heard Of)[4] How Americans Have Voted Through History: From Voices to Screens[5] http:// https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/voting-elections-ballots-electronic[6] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://sociallogic.iath.virginia.edu/node/35&ved=2ahUKEwjOua7RsrrrAhUWCc0KHbxgDfoQFjACegQIAxAM&usg=AOvVaw2zcxhR4sPT2mJ7HCPD9kGU[7] Voting machine - Rochester Wiki[8] 11 Lesser-Known Inventions by Famous Inventors[9] Vote Recorder - The Edison Papers[10] US90646A - Improvement in electrographic vote-recorder - Google Patents[11] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34366.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiz4ILQnbrrAhVQa80KHaqQAU0QFjACegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1PcVVpCvsDSuP4DisNmZaC[12] Inflation Calculator[13] 10 Inventions by Thomas Edison (That You've Never Heard Of)[14] 7 Epic Fails Brought to You By the Genius Mind of Thomas Edison[15] Edison Joins Statuary Hall[16] Popular Science[17] Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.[18] How Patents Work[19] https://www.loc.gov/static/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/biography/life-of-thomas-alva-edison.html[20] This Caturday, Watch Two Kitties Duke It Out in the World’s Oldest Cat 'Video'[21] Voting machine - Rochester Wiki[22] Election Year Patents that Rocked the Vote[23] The First Electronic Vote | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives[24] The First Electronic Vote | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives[25] Error Document[26] Why the heck did we start using electronic voting machines anyway?[27] How Voting-Machine Errors Reflect a Wider Crisis for American Democracy[28] The Problem with Electronic Voting Machines

This is long, but it is the cold truth and what the end looks like. Every time. Every bond. Every “these people don't know us, that won't happen to me.” I will admit, I was that person. This isn't even the worst from what I have read, and it just happened, so only time will tell how much worse it gets. To start, there was no relationship and most of these things have been going on or at the very least, have been being carefully knit together, in advance. At the end is where the claws come out and it only becomes obvious that they are already inches deep inside of you, when you finally attempt to pull away. What happens? So far…*Flip your world upside down, isolating you in hell and turning everyone you immediately interact with against you, either directly or indirectly. Everyone, everyone, everyone. This includes your employer, friends, family, child(ren), and self. Whether it is seeing the devastating deterioration of you, growing sick of listening to the 5 minute clip that doesn't make sense, feeling cheated by the amount of time and devotion the derailment takes to manage, or directly contacting these individuals to sabotage you, you will find yourself alone in hell. You will also turn ‘against you,’ and will hate yourself for not seeing them for who they were, leaving sooner, and “not having better boundaries" against things like coercion, brainwashing, grooming, and insidiously pervasive psychological abuse. You will feel, act, and behave so opposite of yourself, out of necessity.*To join you in hell, they will recruit members of their gang to keep you company. Threatening, spying/stalking, intimidating, harassing, etc. No matter if you thought you had a relationship with these individuals previously. You didn't. They are also likely being manipulated, all along, and simply play a different puppet in the shitshow.*Rewrite the entire story and attempt to shove it down your throat as to how things really happened, of course with you as the villain and them as the victim. Not even the victim, but as the feeble, handicapped, helpless, observer on some bench nearby. It as if they had no control, and still don't; so calculated with no awareness at all of what they are doing. The more you ask them not to, they will lol —they are the epitome of throwing rocks and hiding their hands. They enjoy their devious games very much, and yet even the toughest of the tough have trouble admitting it. Instead, suddenly, things you did months to years ago come to the forefront as problems, regardless of whether or not they were previously discussed, denied to be issues, or seemingly resolved. At the end, you are presented with a case file, an invoice really, filled with everything you have ever done, most of which you did not, to justify the “discard" they have been seamlessly arranging all along. My case file included randomly being reminded of sexual abuse as a child (7), with a smirk, that I never thought about until now and forgot I even told him at 15 (15 years ago). It was never brought up until the end, I guess to justify me being such a raging whore! Oh, but poor them: they don't know, they can't help it, and they are also victims! Don't forget!*Conversely, their actual sneaky, slithering, snake like ways are made more obvious, accidentally on purpose, because to be unaware of how much they despise you would be NO FUN. Everything you were paranoid to suspect is now glaringly obvious, of course only in “retaliation" after the fake, previously mentioned recruitment of everyone to aid in stomping you while you're on the ground, combined with the necessary justifications for hurting you. Women, money, whatever you ‘supplied' them with is openly being ‘supplied' by someone else or, they have no explanation as to where your ‘investment' has went. As I was told, “it didn't count for shit.” My “investment” was in his safety, freedom, well being, and encouraging him to be a better person which he expressed wanting FROM ME, and me being “the only person including his family who wanted that for him.” I never benefited from him being a bad person like everyone else, and yet, his own rehabilitation, change, and innocence… was exploited for manipulation purposes.*It will be established that you knew, allowed it, and stayed, thus relinquishing your right to feel anything in reaction to the excruciating pain that they will continue to inflict — no matter if they manipulated, deceived, accused, and denied it all along: it is now both true and never happened, and it will be painted as your fault while being admitted and denied, still. Apologies are only tokens at Chuckie Cheese, and when they get to the counter and can't get their toy, they are taken back and ripped up. Later, you are made another promise and offered another apology, for which you will also pay for immensely, should they get to the counter where the clerk denies them access to their toy again; you. You are both incredibly stupid and naive, as well as to blame and at fault, neither right to leave or to stay; endlessly. Even going back to “how you were,” pretending as if all is forgiven, is deserving of punishment. Who do you think you're fooling?*In addition to everything else they robbed you of, like your time, energy, relationships, possibly job, money, future plans with them, health.. they will also rob you of your right to be hurt by acting as if they should be the ones hurt instead. I am serious when I say forgiveness, chances, sharing success, understanding, and compassion are all somehow spun and verbalized as horrible things that YOU have done to them. “You treated me like an experiment. You think you're a psychologist. You think you can save everyone. What’s yours isn't mine. Nobody forced you to stay. I told you to leave. I knew you never loved me.” Etc. When there is no ability to attack you, they will instead attack your intentions and they will be explained to you as if they know them more than you do. “You think you’re better than me.” It makes no difference if they asked for these things or begged you to stay, tattooed your name on their ring finger like mine to show their commitment, bought you things to bribe you into not leaving…. None of it was for the purpose you thought. After not fulfilling your purpose, you now owe them and they truly believe that you are indebted to them forever — even if what you did outweighs what they did. They do not see it that way, whatsoever.*They will act incredibly irritated by you wanting even an explanation, forget acknowledgement or reciprocity. Don't bother explaining that it is, in fact their fault and listing all of your reasons, again. You will only exhaust yourself as they pretend to not remember and subsequently alter, deny, or erase actual occurrences, even if they have been previously admitted. You will be tempted to lay out all of the things you did for them, only to be accused of throwing it in their face. They do not care about your pain, suffering, sacrifices, or losses and if they are like mine, they are rubbing one out as they read the trillionth explanation as to how they ruined your life. You are explaining how they achieved their goal and expecting them to be sorry, when to them, it is a victory! :) :)*They will drag it out, as they continue to poke the bear, enraging you. None of their words match their actions, as usual, however in the end, the words do not even match the context of the situation to a horrific, alarming contrast that is only obvious once terror and life threats have been made. Make up to break up, to the extreme and then, explain to pray they remain aware that you loved them and were not trying to hurt them? You pray they remember because your life is banking on it. You will never be at peace, but will at least think you have reached a conclusion, only for them to reach back out to you the next day, pretending as if nothing discussed the day before was said. It gets to a point where it is incredibly shocking how cold, cruel, callous, and empty these individuals are, especially after being fooled into believing that you were ‘close.’ They do not just start treating you differently; they act as if they were never there while also remembering having been there long enough to fire another insult at you. They will attack you at your core, and you will find yourself almost embarrassed as they re-mock the things that you thought were the basis of your ‘bond;’ now the very reasons you wanted to be with them are all a big joke, yet they weren't a joke when they were….. needed? Demanded? Given? Minutes after mocking you, shaming you, they will ask why you are done, as if you didn't just spend hours explaining it, snickering to themselves when you flip out. They will suddenly repeat, like some malfunctioning robot, a small aspect of one of your demands, possibly from months before, that you thought did not even register. Now suddenly, it has. Now suddenly, they heard you. They will re-traumatize you and pretend to be looking for a resolution to not “lose you", only to use the entry point to shove their way back inside; an opportunity to start the same argument all over again. From the top! To show frustration shows that they are in control, which is all it was ever about. Whether it was the prince charming days, explosive sex, knock down drag out arguments, rage, or sheer panic — in the end you realize it is as if they have a quota for you to meet, each day, to reach on their ‘control’ meter. Like that game at Six Flags when you swing the hammer, but it never reaches the top, sadly.*You will feel dehumanized and completely raped. In addition to overdosed, robbed, and cannibalized. Every heinous crime, rolled into one, invisible feeling. Murder is on the table, and if not, a death of who you once were. Wanting desperately to crawl out of your body, silence your mind, erase time, and not exist. None of which are possible and all of which produce feelings of failure, sadness, and guilt. You will struggle to keep a grip on what is left of you, and like the feeding machines they are, like fly's attracted to shit, they will come back to pick, piece by piece, at what remains. “Driving the knife in deeper,” twisting it, licking off the blood, waving it in your face, rubbing it across your nipples, only to stab you in your gut. Again and again.*They will find any and everything to make leaving seem more impossible than staying. They will taunt you with secrets, fear, kids, safety, whatever. Most of this is done subtly through statements that look like declarations of love —quite the contrary. You will consider staying to prevent putting your life and the people you love in immanent danger. Your mind will flip through all of the outcomes and you will attempt to “work it out,” completely entrapped in prison. You may feel deserving, by design, or as if you are to blame, by design, or as if there is no where else to run, by design. You may be in such a denial that you decide yourself it is not that bad, after all everyone calls you dramatic anyway. Maybe you are? Except you're not, and they only illustrate that for you, paint brushes to include color blends you have never even seen, to show you that you were right, after-all, all along.*You will be forced to dig inside yourself and find the truth when everywhere you look negates it. You will find that it is impossible to trust anyone and will begin to prefer the isolation that has been forced upon you. So fucking sick of explaining yourself, to no avail, anyway. You will question everything you ever thought you knew, while being accused of being crazy by everyone from them to therapists. You will create things to do, just like in physical prison, to stay busy in your isolation. The physical torment; finally exercising just to relieve the never ending tension and chronic pain in my shoulders. Nightmares every night, impossible to decide if being asleep or awake is worse. Likely abandoned, given the silent treatment (“discarded"), and alone, with lots of hurtful new information to process, you will look back on the entire “relationship” and things will slowly begin to fall into place.*There will be the overwhelming desire to call them out, turn the tables, and get revenge. Where is the justice? They should be explaining themselves. They should be the ones who pay. They do not care though, only you do. Only you truly have no desire to hurt them, and in my case I still never could - he is clearly hurting enough. So you have no choice but to accept defeat, which is truly a win, because once you hit the ground, there is no where to go but up, and it is only then that you can begin to crawl away to find freedom, finally…*Oh yes. It will be incredibly hurtful to see that they have moved on. They will make sure you are aware in some way; anything to increase your pain. Mine went from telling me he left everyone for me, to I am jealous of them because I am unwilling to do the things they are. In a year! There is nothing sexy or romantic about exploitation. I am sorry, but the truth is, stating that there is a relationship with an abusive predator would be comparative to stating that there is a relationship with a human trafficker or a pimp. Go google their methods and see if you find any similarities. Most victims do not say “here, take my freedom!” Lol, “it is yours!” That is why anyone saying you “allowed it" can shove it. Let it go, because you know that for anyone else involved, it is only a matter of time. If it is the end, that only means it is the end of so many things, regardless of where you go from here — as long as it isn't back to them. It had nothing to do with your worth as a person, or you not meeting the standard of their level of perfection. Our song was Ed Sheeran, ‘Perfect.’ Have you ever noticed how close the words ‘perfect’ and ‘purpose’ sound?