|
it's the War Democrats who are going to do it. They will be Diebolded into the WH with a majority in Congress in '08, for that and other purposes. Think strategically for a moment--not about what you want or what you think would help stop the war. Your views don't matter, when our elections are controlled by Bushite electronic voting corporations, using TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls. This is a new fascist capability--which can put a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites, warmongers and corporatists, without detection (one insider hacker, a couple of minutes, leaving no trace). Now, you think they've created this capability by accident, with no intention to USE it? If that is so, why didn't they create TRANSPARENT elections? It's not difficult. Nope, they deliberately created this NON-TRANSPARENT vote counting system for one purpose: to override majority opinion on the war and other corporate matters.
The Bush junta has created such havoc--a $10 TRILLION debt, for instance--that it will be difficult even to save Social Security. The country is going to come to pieces. That's another reason they want a Democrat in the WH--to take the heat. It will be the Democrats bashing heads in the food riots and other civil disorder. And the only paying jobs left will be in the army. The people may even be grateful for them (as some are now--joining the army to get a job and/or an education). And I hope it hasn't escaped everyone's attention here at DU that the Democratic leaders are enthusiastic Mideast warmongers. There are number of reasons for this--not the least of which is that the whole goddamned bunch of them (or nearly all) were THEMSELVES (s)elected by Diebold/E&S (which "tabulated" 80% of the nations votes in 2004, and a large percentage in 2002 as well). You wonder why the Democratic leaders have been SILENT--mind-bogglingly silent!--about Bushite corporations taking over the election system? Well, friends, I think we had better face it: it is collusion.
And I'm beginning to see the outline of the Republicrat plan: It's kind of like how the Bushites have gotten Israel to expand the Mideast war, by proxy. (Plan B of the Bushite/NeoCon "Project for a New American Century"--if the American people balk at a widened Mideast war (84% opposed!!), and all our allies and the whole world is against it, get Israel to do it, and then create some "Gulf of Tonkin"-type incident to get us into it. Thus, the blame falls on Israel.) The Bushites are the avant garde of Fascist Corporate Rule. They are setting the pace--wholesale destruction of the New Deal and American progress values. Make it bad. Make it real bad. Pile on multiple tax cuts for the super-rich. Stir up bigotry against gays, brown immigrants, and poor Louisiana blacks. And women. Foster outrage at Bushite torture and spying and tyranny. Create a clever snapback for the War Democrats to ride into office upon--complete with Rovian-type pre-written election narratives about why the Democrats "won" in '08. But it won't be OUR Democratic Party. It will be THEIRS. Bought and paid for. Chosen for us by Diebold and ES&S in the primaries. And bent on policies that the majority of Americans overwhelmingly oppose, including a Draft of cannon fodder to finish the Mideast war. Oh, they will throw sops at us--maybe rescind a few fat-cat tax cuts, and "save" Social Security (by reducing benefits). We might even get universal health care--and no doubt A BIT MORE accountability. But we are never going to see the Halliburton billions, or the $10 trillion they've stolen from the future, again. It's gone. And the bite will be on the poor. And we are never going to see lawful, Constitutional government again. It, too, is gone. The Democrats will roll the secret government back A LITTLE BIT--for show--but they will NOT disavow most of the unlawful, unconstitutional power that the Bushites have grabbed. (Remember Kerry on torture during the campaign. You don't? Maybe that's because he said NOTHING about it. Nothing!)
The Corporate Cabal that is running things may have a long term plan to install Hitler II, when all of this falls apart--when the economy collapses, and they've fractured the center/left (a la Germany 1933). Riots in the streets. Big antiwar protests, and veterans' benefits protests. Hyper-inflation. No jobs. People losing their homes. Widespread hunger. Not to mention global warming hurricanes, floods and drought (and a potential collapse of earth's ecosystem). The civil disorder will all be aimed at the War/Corporate Democrats. And into that cauldron comes a "savior"--Jeb maybe?
I've described this scenario before. It first occurred to me in regard to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign (and how cozy she and Bill are with the Bush junta--it has all the appearances of a compact with the Dark Lords). But the recent Democratic leadership reaction to Israel bombing Bierut and invading Lebanon reinforces it. Where have progressive values gone? Where has the rule of law gone? Where have world peace and disarmament gone? Where has sanity gone? I now understand how most of them could have voted for Bush's war on Iraq (besides the obvious financial "military-industrial" complex motives.) THEY--the Democratic leaders--and collusive warmongers, and they are a lot more devious about than Bush.
I think we have ONE CHANCE to stop all this (or some similar scenario that does not include majority rule)--and that chance lay in the window of opportunity we have for election reform. But the tide is rolling against American democracy, and we must act fast. We do have a burgeoning election reform movement. However, there is nothing on the horizon that is going to stop election fraud this November. The corrupt entrenchment of NON-TRANSPARENT vote counting happened too fast. What do we do?
My proposal is massive Absentee Ballot voting. DON'T COOPERATE with these new election theft machines. REFUSE to vote on them. Send our state/local election officials MOUNTAINS of AB votes to deal with. AB voting is not safe, but it IS a PROTEST--and one with the potential to bring this rigged election system down. If enough people do it (and many are--it's up to 50% in Los Angeles), the rigged machines will be rendered obsolete--all these expensive, new, crapass, hackable voting machines gathering dust--and we will have created a crisis in the election theft industry, and the opportunity for reform in the only place in can happen: state/local jurisdictions.
70% of the American people despise the Bush junta. If this huge dissenting majority--or some significant portion of it--votes by Absentee Ballot wherever possible (most places)--it will create the conditions for local election reform in favor of TRANSPARENT vote counting. The beauty of this protest is everybody can do it. It's easy. It will HELP turnout. It provides a motive to vote in a rigged system. And it will fight demoralization by turning voting into an active, positive protest instead of a passive act of hoping against hope for a better outcome (and always getting a worse one).
TRANSPARENT vote counting is the vital first step in restoring democracy. It's working in South America. It can work here. But we must do something NOW. If we wait and let them steal another election without significant protest, and just wring our hands and work for FUTURE transparency, I think the game is lost.
An Absentee Ballot voting protest is the answer! Many people are doing it already--in a desperate effort to get their vote COUNTED. We need to support that indigenous effort. All it needs is a bit of leadership and focus, and it could be huge. It can hook in all the people who are very unhappy with this regime, but would never go to a street protest, or are unable to. People with 3 lowpaying jobs and kids and the elderly to take care of, and can't go to meetings and hearings. People who don't vote because they are so disgusted. (This gives them a reason to vote--to un-rig the system). And all people who support honest elections, or who hate being told they are too stupid to understand the obscure electronics by which their votes are being "tabulated." Pissed off people. And I think there are a whole lot of them in this country right now. Ripe for an effective, doable protest--that has just enough mischievousness to it, to appeal to American voters on a widespread basis.
Make an Absentee Ballot vote into a VOTE FOR CHANGE! A few forests may suffer in the short term, but in the long term, we may save our democracy this way--and it is only by democracy that we can get our environmental laws enforced, and save this dying planet.
-------------------
Why vote for Democrats (generally our only choice)? A fair question--considering what I've just said about them. We cannot overturn the war establishment overnight. We have first to restore some sort of accountability, and then work on increasing that accountability. Right now, NO ONE in Washington DC is accountable the people. No one! A few are good souls, who are trying their best to represent the real interests of the majority. And here and there, we have genuine (elected) officeholders. But virtually none of them really has to listen to us anymore. They are NOT (on the whole) elected by US. They are (s)elected by electronic voting corporations with very close ties to the Bush junta--and they (most of them) vote with the junta on the really important issues (war funding!). It is THAT relationship that we must disrupt--the relationship between DEMOCRATS and electronic voting. Not Republicans (they're a lost cause). Democrats! The Democratic Party is very corrupt, but it remains our only vehicle for change. And we must break its support of rigged electronic voting at the STATE/LOCAL level. So I would say the first goal of voting this November must be to disrupt and reform the rigged electronic system. Not disrupt the election. Disrupt the RIGGED SYSTEM, by Absentee Ballot voting. And the second goal is to elect the most responsive and accountable Democrats (or others) on the ballot.
We need to do a lot of hard work on accountability, WHILE we un-rig the voting system. We cannot do the latter by persuasion (of corrupt officials). We must force the issue. But accountability is a different matter. It requires persuasion--working with half-corrupt, or half-progressive Democrats. We have to deal with reality--and think strategically, which means a realistic assessment of our resources. For instance, a Dem candidate who is moved by good government issues, like transparent elections, or is for financial accountability in military contracts, but may be for a widened Mideast war and/or a Draft. The first issue (transparent elections) is so important, and so critical to our ability to stop this war, that it by far takes precedence over any other--even a pro-war stance by the candidate. (We're not going to find many pro-war candidates who want transparent elections--I'm just using it as an example of the realism we need to apply, to get the system un-rigged.)
Bust the machines! Vote Absentee! Spread the word!
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
