DOUBLE JEOPARDY = Florida News Investigation / Public & Government Accountability Reporting

"I admit that the cheating and the scandals happened possibly equally on both sides," notes a common, weary refrain among the American electorate.  "But what is even more unfortunate is the fact that the people of the United States, the ones who were supposed to be in control of the governance choices in the US... instead we are being further and further removed from the process, leaving just the political parties fighting over control."  This perspective captures a profound crisis of faith in the American democratic experiment: the growing conviction that the American people have lost control of their government, and that for decades, the true choice of the presidency may have been managed behind closed doors. To understand this disillusionment, one must look at how modern political campaigns operate.  What the public sees today—high-profile legal battles, sophisticated ballot maneuvers, and international intelligence anxieties—is viewed by many not as an anomaly, ...