False Populism: Racism, Religion, & Republican Values

[ignatzmouse]

FALSE POPULISM: RACISM, RELIGION, & REPUBLICAN VALUES

It is as if the party of Lincoln took stock of itself and decided that the best way to hold majority power was to demarcate the battle lines along the racial divide. Turn civil rights leaders into mocking caricatures. Utter the names Jackson and Sharpton always with smirking derision on Fox News and rambling talk radio. White America catches on without any prompting or elaboration. You don't actually have to use racist terminology anymore. It's tacitly understood. It's us against them. It's not just the Blacks. It's the Hispanics. Or the Native Americans. Or anyone with color to their skin -- anyone who the powerful perceive as suckers on their wealth. White resentment doesn't just reside in the clichéd South beneath white robes and burning crosses; it lurks everywhere and has become the real spur of the conservative movement. Most importantly, it ties together the wealthy elite who abhor the welfare system for cutting into their gluttony and the white working classes with their innate tendency to blame minorities for their own frustrating futility rather than the rich man (for they believe they possess the entry credentials...if only they could catch a break). The Republican Party understands this, and at some point in their reinvention they began not only to court white resentment but to create it, reinforce it, and manipulate it for political gain. Whether it was George H. W. Bush airing a Willie Horton commercial or George W. Bush refusing invitations to the NAACP, the strange populism of the new Republican party is not based on economics or even on "moral issues." It is based on race. That isn't to say that Republicans are outright racists. It is to say that wealth and power are insular and seeks to protect its position via any exploitation necessary. If that means courting silent racism, homophobia, and religious bigotry to create a false populism under the guise of "conservative values," then so be it.

The Transformation of Racial Warfare into "Values"

Quite aside from the evangelical "moral issues" platform, there is a more hidden structure in the church that is obviously understood and solicited by the Republican strategists. No institution is more segregated than the church, and the evangelical church in particular. It isn't an institutionalized policy set down in any church constitution to be sure -- it is inherently a social divide. Whites go to White churches. Blacks generally go to Black churches. Outside of progressive churches, there is very little mixing, and when that occurs, it is an awkward situation for both sides. It isn't that one isn't welcome -- it's just culturally out-of-place. The Republican strategy, however, has been to take what was a socio-cultural inclination and turn it into a rift. They have reached into the White evangelical churches (renaming it "the mainstream"), lifted their mailing lists, and created a White Bob-Jones-Jerry-Falwell-Pat-Robertson support group to stir a cohesive fundamentalist populism based solely in the Caucasian congregations. Simply ramp up rhetoric to make certain the evangelicals feel like "their" way-of-life is under attack, and voila, the ruling elite have an army of blind and willing soldiers ready to run the country, the environment, civil liberties, health care, and their children's economic future into the ground for the benefit of the ultra-rich without a second thought. It's like trying to remove the Confederate Stars & Bars from a Southern state's flag -- nobody is going to tell us what to do, and we'll bring the state to economic and social ruin before we let anyone try. It's the same mindset that guides small towns into foolish economic ruin because some local evangelical zealot has decided to taunt the legal system by replacing a school's science text with religious indoctrination or by erecting Christian monuments in court houses that are supposed to present an impartial view of justice or by insisting their public school teachers conduct prayer services in the classroom. They only succeed in bankrupting and harming their communities through endless lawsuits, but as soon as they have it in their head that someone (Washington, the Liberals, the Supreme Court, the ACLU) is telling them what they can and cannot do, there is no turning back. It is a witness to displaced White anger over loss of power, and the Republican fat cats have tapped into it.

Subtle as the sound of falling snow, the White reassertion has taken place without the mere mention of race. "Our moral values" should be translated to read "White evangelical demands" as opposed to "Black religious values" which have more to do with the *valuing* of the individual through community support, civil rights, and opportunity, of helping the oppressed gain dignity and liberty rather than an obsession to control and restrict liberty for all. America's growing pluralism is a threat to the White psyche, and under the guise of "moral values," the evangelicals are simply showing White America is still in control. That's the force and content of their populism. We can tell you what to do. It is simply the resentment of lost power that propels the white wedding of working classes to the wealthy classes in the Republican super-structure and has convinced the working classes to vote against their economic, health, and educational self-interests. It's a con game, a Neo-Con game, playing religion on a stick of constitutional trade-offs to move the masses along a carefully choreographed pathway. If the Democratic Party believes they have missed the boat on the "moral issues" game and needs to do some self-examination, they simply don't understand the roots of the White flight. It's not morality; it's about power and the Democrats will only succeed in destroying their own base if they accede to it. Call it out. Expose it. But do not retreat. Not only is it weak, but it is a sham.

The White Wedding Meets Gay Vows

To maintain racial domination, one must find targets to single out, upon whom to impose one's will, to put beneath us and keep beneath us, to make less human than us and therefore not subject to the same rights and privileges. Overseas, the list will include any Third World peoples at the low end, especially Arabs, and progresses to include anyone who doesn't bow to our will, period. Thus, the United Nations in which the U.S. plays the theoretical role as an equal with other nations becomes a point of Right Wing fury if heaven forbid we must negotiate anything rather than being given unquestioned obeisance. Domestically, the game is a little trickier. Racism must be allowed to swell silently through mockery and tacit signals. Carefully allude to the intent but self-censor the old racist terminology in order to avoid being pinned down. Homophobia is another matter. It's a right of passage for pubescent middle school boys to tease and be teased about who is gay and who is not gay. It's built into the straight population's mindset that any homosexual allusion is to be avoided. Gays are ready-made to be singled out, and the Republican Party has jumped to exploit it. Suddenly, heterosexual marriage became "threatened" by the mere act of homosexuals committing to one another just as a middle-schooler would fight if engaged in a "you're gay -- no, I'm not, you're gay" name-calling contest. The one who won't fight or who is gay is effectively made the subjugated scapegoat to the game of domination.

What isn't said in the rush toward the defense of heterosexual marriage is that if the same people who oppose gay marriage were polled on the subject of interracial marriage, an approximating number would also be against it -- many on Biblical or "moral" grounds. "Do you approve of marriage between a black man and a white woman?" "Hell, no." Doubt that that's the case? Then ask John McCain about the 2000 primaries and the fake poll via the Rove-Bush team asking Southern voters about his so-called "interracial" daughter that likely led to Bush's nomination. Or ask Ann Richards about the Texas Governor's race where the Rove-Bush team left defaming fliers claiming that she was homosexual on the windshields of cars in the parking lots of White evangelical churches that led to Bush's Gubernatorial victory. Why were White evangelical churches used to pull the coup? Why did Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, utilize the same type of dirty push polls used on McCain to reverberate the idea that Democrats were trying to "take away our Southern heritage" by removing the Confederate Battle emblem from the Georgia state flag in order to defeat Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes in that state's Governor's race? Whose heritage was this Confederate symbol? You be the judge. These are intensely unscrupulous, immoral people who are propping up bigotry and racism as "moral" issues within the church, in the White suburbs, and within the hearts of Americans.

Unfortunately, it's the front half of an ugly winning strategy. The question is whether or not the GOP's race to the White House went beyond subtle queues and marching signals and moved into actively suppressing the right of American citizens to vote based on the color of their skin and the ethnicity of their neighborhood. Is the GOP actively engaged in defrauding minorities of their right to vote? After looking into the election data and incident reports of several states, I can only conclude that the Republican Party has brashly and arrogantly set voter suppression at the top of its immoral agenda. The evidence points that this was not just a colorless Democratic targeting but a concerted effort focused on poor, non-White precincts and counties. The report by Rep. John Conyers on the voting irregularities in Ohio "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio?" pinned down the methods used both in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004: voter intimidation, misinformation tactics, purging, shortage of voting machines and longer lines, provisional ballot problems, computer malfunctions. The report states, "In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio." The evidence, however, moves far beyond these two pivotal swing states. It is not a local problem isolated to a couple of corrupt Secretaries of States. The same patterns emerge anywhere that it matters. With the in-depth work done on New Mexico by myself and others involved in the recount battle, it may prove invaluable to review the data and incidents in a state almost evenly divided between Anglos and minorities (predominately Hispanic and Native American voters) that Bush won by an extremely slim margin.

How the GOP Targets Minorities: A New Mexico Case Study

The Five Pillars of Minority Disenfranchisement:
1. Keep Them From Registering to Vote
2. Purge Them From the Rolls
3. Keep Them From Reaching the Polls
4. Keep Their Votes From Counting
5. Vote For Them Ahead of Time

Registration Fraud: The well-reported account of Voters Outreach, a Republican National Committee sponsored organization, canvassing states to register voters as Republicans or to illegally destroy registrations of Democratic registrants is well-known. The strong possibility exists that this was not an isolated incident. Incident reports in New Mexico suggest there may have been a campaign to collect registrations from Hispanic voters with no intention of turning them in. Can't register enough of your own voters? Why not pre-empt Democratic registrations by sweeps through county fairs and Wal-Marts and then trash them? If the purportedly registered Hispanic voters show up on election day and try to vote, then they are the ones who look suspicious -- besides who's going to believe a poor Hispanic voter?

EIRS incident report #50325, La Mesa Elementary School, time: all day 11-2-04 "This is a general complaint about something that happened all day at this polling place. A number of Hispanic voters said they registered in voter drive efforts and never got a registration card (some didn't know to expect one). They expected to vote in precincts 318 and 322. They were not on list. The precinct judge said their addresses on photo IDs were in the precinct, let them vote provisionally but the concern is that there were double-digit number of these people. Did someone(s) register folks and deliberately not turn in the forms?"

Purging: The purging of "convicted felons" from voter registration rolls prior to an election is seen as a win-win situation for Republicans. The fact that the purged voters are often innocent and have been confused (purposely or not) with someone of a similar name and that many of the felons have been discharged and legally have the right to vote is beside the point. The Republicans discovered that they can cross minority names off voting rolls at will if there is a question of past felony. What party wants to be associated with named felons? If the Democrats stand up against the practice, the Republicans smugly reinforce their Right White morality stance in the minds of their voters. It is a stark illustration of dirty GOP tactics, playing the morality card in pretense while exploiting a divisive vulnerability in actuality.

EIRS case #15564, Santa Fe County 10-26-04 "Caller registered to vote about six months ago but never received a voter registration card. She tried to find out what happened by calling the County Clerk. The CC looked up her social security number which he said was the SSN of a felon with a different name."

Misdirection/misinformation: There are various techniques by which Republicans can helpfully get out the minority vote at the wrong place or day.
1) They can call up minority voters and carefully explain to them where to vote. EIRS case #46846 Bernalillo County 11-2-04 "Voter received automated message from a group identifying itself as "877-Fair-Vote", part of the Republican National Committee, encouraging him to vote for Bush but giving him the incorrect voting precinct information. Voter called the number back and was told they were a Republican organization taking complaints about the election. He complained about the wrong polling place information and was given no answer."
2) They can hand out fliers with the wrong location or misinformation about ID requirements, etc. EIRS case #34574, Bernalillo County 11-2-04 "Someone was handing out fliers giving the wrong precinct information."
3) Better yet, why not just change all the minority precincts around at the last minute and force everyone who shows up at the wrong location to vote provisionally so they probably won't be counted. EIRS case #59652 West Mesa High School 11-2-04 "Voters lined up at West Mesa High at 6:30am, many indicating that their voting precinct was #40. Precinct judges made it clear that this site was only for precinct 38 voters. Judges did not know where #40 was (first thought to be in W. Mesa High gym, later determined by EP to be at nearby John Adams Middle School). EP directed precinct 40 voters to John Adams until election officials instructed EP to stop redirecting voters (at 4 pm), claiming this advice was in violation of federal law and that these voters should by voting by provisional ballot at precinct 38 (W. Mesa High). Election officials threatened to call the sheriff to evict EP from the polling site if EP did not desist."

Fun With Electronic Voting Machines: If you work your tail off trying to keep those pesky minorities from registering to vote and getting to the polls, and they still show up, what are we going to do? I know! How about either giving them shoddy or rigged voting equipment that somehow either loses their votes or switches their vote to the candidate of your choice? Then, if anyone points out the absurd number of missing votes, we can just blame it on people of different color having lower IQs and all have a big laugh. Sounds like morality is winning again! For their part, state Democrats stupidly ignore such problems rather than supporting in kind the voters who support them the most. "We don't spend a lot of time on undervote issues," New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron said when the issue was brought up. "I'm just speculating that some voters are just not concerned with the presidential race." Or perhaps she is just more concerned with maintaining the crispness of her official bio: "Elected on a platform of election reform, she was successful in breaking down restrictive voter registration requirements and established one of the most advanced voter registration and elections management systems in the nation." Huh?

Well, let's breakdown the vote for some of these ignorant minority voters. In Guadalupe County, one of the poorest counties in the state with a per capita income of under $15,000 and an 81% Hispanic majority, voters undervoted at rates of 0.51% in early voting and 0.33% in absentee voting, both optical scan with a paper trail and yet the same citizens had an inexplicable increase to a 6.09% undervote on election day via DRE. Rio Arriba with a 73% Hispanic and 12% Native American population posted undervotes of 0.79% in absentee voting and 1.91% in early voting on Sequoia’s AVC Edge but somehow managed an undervote of 5.40% (590 missing votes) on Sequoia’s AVC Advantage on election day. Mora County, 82% Hispanic, undervoted at rates of 0.79% in Early Voting and 1.56% in absentee and yet leapfrogged to 8.75% (163 missing votes) on Danaher's Shouptronic on Election Day. San Miguel with a 78% Hispanic population logged undervote rates of 0.39% in early voting and 0.78% in absentee but skyrocketed to an obscene 10.06% (686 missing votes) in Election Day. For some reason McKinley's 73% Native American population were treated to a double dose of Sequoia's undervote happy Advantage technology in both the early and election day votes. The Native Americans in McKinley managed an optical scan absentee undervote rate of 0.86% (13 undervotes), better than some Anglo counties, and yet soared to an early undervote of 5.88% (197 missing votes) and an election day undervote of 8.37% (1454 missing votes). Cibola County, 39% Native American & 33% Hispanic recorded an undervote in absentee voting of 0.35% (3 undervotes) and 1.38% (26 votes) in early voting but somehow became unconcerned at a rate of 9.49% (499 missing votes) on election day. It goes on and on at county and precinct level in minority areas and is distinct to DRE's operated by Danaher Controls and Sequoia. New Mexico recorded 21,084 ballots cast in the General Election that recorded no vote for President. Across the board as Bush's percentage of votes goes up, the undervote rate goes down. Across the board as Democratic minority voters increase, the percentage of missing votes increases dramatically and is devotedly peculiar to Danaher Controls and Sequoia DRE systems on election day.

Backing up the statistical data are the interesting official incident reports. Here are but a few representative cases of the MANY reported machine incidents in New Mexico:

EIRS case #047570 Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico "This caller used an electronic voting machine, and after selecting a Democratic candidate, noticed that the republican light actually lit up. He had to select the Democratic candidate again to cancel it out, and then select it again to make the correct selection. He had to do this for almost all of the people he voted for. Worried that others won't realize the problem."

EIRS case #059157 ABQ, Bernalillo County, New Mexico "When voter hit one button another light came on. Was able to correct. Hit for Kerry and other candidate lit up."

EIRS case #014203 Otero County, New Mexico "Voter stated that friend attempted to vote today at county clerk's office in Otero County and that "extraordinary efforts" were required to get voting machine properly to reflect his intended vote; apparently would default to Republican slate."

EIRS case #059450 Dixon Elem. School, Dixon, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico "She voted and before pressing the last button, checked back to see if the votes were recorded accurately and found that in some places "No Vote" appeared. She voted again and then pressed the final button."

Add to this the reports of intimidation of Native American and Hispanic voters, and it becomes clear that a Republican Governor is not required to institute fraud and steal an election in a state. All that is needed is to carefully place Republican operatives at the polls and at the county clerk level.

EIRS case #016872 10/28/04 Thoreau Fire Station, Crown Pointe, McKinley County "Provisional Ballots were not available at the polling site. The poll workers who were identified as White, were often rude to the Navajo Native American people who went to vote. The voter was not alone, she was with a group of students from Crown Pointe NM and the students who are voters as well were not treated with respect by the poll workers. The poll workers took the voters ballot and placed it behind a computer and not in a box. The polling place workers say that the reason why they had no provisional ballots was because no one was at the voting site to pick up the ballots when they were delivered. The polling site has no Navajo interpreters to help the Native non-English speakers vote and the poll workers were also being rude to the Native Navajo.”

Absentee Fraud: Finally, here's a novel way to take away minorities right to vote. Mark them down as having requested absentee ballots. Then, when they get to the polls, they get red-flagged and forced to vote by likely-to-be-uncounted provisional ballots (if lucky). If they're not lucky, maybe someone has already helped them out by voting for them ahead of time. Should they protest, who's going to believe them? Those nicely placed Republican Challengers with their helpful "caging lists" will simply say the minority voter is the one who is attempting fraud by voting twice. Cool system, eh?

EIRS case #59533, Bernalillo County precinct 67 <87% Hispanic> "Over a dozen of voters (probably more) were listed as absentee voters but never requested absentee ballots. Some but not all of them received absentee ballots. All were asked to do in lieu of absentee ballots."

EIRS case #59331 Bernalillo, Van Buren MS <61% Hispanic> "Voter listed as Absentee request. She did not request absentee. Told she could only vote with provisional ballot."

EIRS case #47734 Santa Fe, Sweeney Elementary <75% Hispanic> "When voter came to table she was told an absentee ballot had already been submitted in her name. She never requested an absentee ballot. She completed and submitted a provisional ballot."

Again, these are but a few representative examples of an avalanche of absentee-related incidents throughout the state.

With racism mobilizing the White vote, it's not much of a leap to believe it might be motivating RNC efforts on the opposite end as well. One could easily speculate that the targeted misdirecting phone calls and fliers and "caging lists" were produced out of the same Big Brother Voter Vault database that the GOP uses to zero in on its own kind. One might speculate that it also produced the list of abortion-sensitive voters illegally telephoned on election day out of Ken Blackwell's office under the false pretense of being Planned Parenthood wanting to be sure they voted for Kerry. It's also a small leap to apply the demographics down to the precinct level in concert with "Republican Voting Specialists" positioned as poll workers to obstruct minorities and prevent a good portion of their vote from counting.

EIRS case #39539 Anthony Community Center, Dona Ana 10.30.04
"(1) Bernanillo County had no record of absentee ballot application that was sent about a month prior and before the deadline; since voter was working temporary in TX and unable to return to Bernanillo County to vote, the Bernanillo county clerk advised voter to get a provisional ballot at Dona Ana county; (2) voter went to the Anthony Community Center in Southern Dona Ana County on Saturday at approximately 2pm. Voter advises that there was a person taking pictures of each person entering the polling place. Voter also advises he/she was refused a provisional ballot by a person wearing a button that stated "republican voting specialist." Voter advises that the second person at the polling place was also wearing the same button."

Another small leap might even have hard demographic info being used to place defective or rigged voting equipment in precise precincts. One might speculate that such an invasive database as the GOP's Voter Vault that lists nearly every U.S. voter with their voting history, race, interests, sexual preference, organization memberships, buying habits, religious affiliation and attendance records (about 400 demographic factors in all) could even be cross-referenced with a current election to see who has voted and who has not voted. Of course, that would require the approval and assistance of friendly poll workers as well. Who would think such an unethical thing possible?

EIRS case #59493 Bernalillo County "EP monitor reported clean-cut young man from RNC going into polling place with palm pilot, taking names of those who had already voted from polling site roster and crossing them off last-minute call list."

The PDA's, by the way, are termed "Voter Vault Mobilizers" and are widely issued to field operatives. This is no speculation. The whole intent of the database is invasive targeting -- just perchance it runs both ways. One might also wonder if such precision precinct level voter data could be used by a chosen hacker to sync with a centralized tabulating election computer to create a seamless alteration of results. No proof, but the possibilities for exploitation are immense and troublesome in the light of this election's exit poll disparity and the statistical evidence of compromised DRE results.

Ending the Neo-Coup

The only solution is to demand accountability at all levels. It is a conflict of interest for Secretaries of State to chair one candidate's reelection campaign and also to run the election. There must be non-partisan elections oversight of all partisan elections officials from Secretaries of State to Boards of Election to County Clerks. The placement of poll workers and poll judges demands scrutiny and needs precinct-area community participation to ensure that discrimination is not the tool of outside political interests. Voter-verifiable paper trails of all computerized voting is mind-numbingly simple and needs immediate implementation. Accountability of voter registration organizations must be ensured perhaps by registrar-signed receipts given to the voter at registration. Above all, the integrity of an election is a moral issue. The right of every citizen, no matter their race or ethnicity or sexual preference or religious affiliation or position in the hierarchy of poverty to wealth, to cast their vote and have it counted is the great guarantee of liberty. If we've lost that, we've lost more than election. We've lost America.



By the way, I'm a straight White Southern male from an evangelical upbringing. Go figure...