Obviously, trying to stop the bots and cyber hacking is a very difficult job, if not impossible to do. Also, it would curtail a free and open marketplace of ideas, which is one thing that a free and open democratic society is based on. Getting Facebook and Twitter to identify which posts and tweets are of Russian origin might be a way that would not upset this basic principle of our democracy - and this could be seen as being analogous to truth in advertising laws.
If we are really interested in promoting free and fair elections, and in safeguarding our electoral system, we should throw out all this voter suppression and vote purging that the Republicans are so fond of in tilting at the non-existent threat of "voter fraud" - which just provides a pretext for more vote stealing and voter suppression. We need a total rebirth of our democracy that respects the right to vote as being sacrosanct, the very bedrock of a free and independent nation.
We should also do away with voting machines and return to paper ballots - they cannot be hacked. That absolutely goes without saying.
But the ultimate "secret weapon" in the people's fight against Russian interference in our elections is EDUCATION!!! We need to get away from all this obsessing on standardized tests and their multiple choice BS and start educating our young people in how to THINK logically, critically and independently. Russian propaganda intent on confusing and polarizing us only works on those whose critical thinking skills and ability to find out the facts are challenged or wanting in some way - only such people fall for the specious or misleading arguments that were put forth in favor of Donald Trump in 2016. Those who had their critical thinking skills intact did not fall for the Trump / Russian propaganda BS.
In an age in which the world is an ever shrinking global village, and the internet has us all closely interwoven, there is no real way to shield or isolate oneself totally from devious or deceptive cyber messages that come our way. But with the secret weapon of education, these false or misleading messages become like water droplets that easily roll off a duck's back.
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