Ohio is the most politically corrupt state in the union--literally, a Republican tyranny--and it didn't get that way without the help of the Democratic Party leadership.
Recently, in Ohio, four election reform initiatives, which were predicted to win by 60/40 majorities, got flipped over, on election day, to 60/40 LOSSES! Read about it in this Bob Koehler article.* The Bushite-controlled electronic voting machines and their masters are now dictating election policy. That didn't happen without the help of the Democratic Party leadership.
* www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk
The truth is that our Democratic Party leaders and big money donors will not permit a charismatic, populist anti-war candidate to get off the ground. That's what happened here, and we need to face it, and understand it. Someone upthread said that Hackett was a "one issue" candidate--the Iraq war. But the Iraq war is the very heart of both Republican and Democratic Party corruption--it is why we have a trillion dollar deficit; it is the worst thing they have done, slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent people with no justification except greed for their oil and for our tax dollars into the pockets of Repub/Dem campaign donors and "military/industrial complex" buds. Half of the Democrats in Congress voted for this goddamned war, and most have voted for every war boondoggle. THAT. IS. THE. PROBLEM.
The unbelievable string of lies, the unprecedented secrecy, the rule of, by and for transnational corporations, the torture of prisoners, the use of our young people as cannon fodder, the truly extraordinary abuse of our troops with extended tours, inadequate equipment, an ill defined mission, and slashed veteran's programs, the failure to report or give a damn about slaughtered, injured or sick civilians, the no bid contracts, the development of horrible new weapons and spying technology/methods, the loss of much of our National Guard to Iraq, the de-funding and destruction of every common good program, like FEMA, the demoralization of the intelligence agencies and the military, with the purging of the competent and the installation of toadies and yes-men--the list goes on and on and on, of what the Iraq war--instigated by Bush and supported by half the Democrats--has done to our country. It is the heart of the matter. And any candidate for federal office who DOESN'T focus on this illegal, pre-emptive, unnecessary, unconstitutional, horrible, murderous war and its impacts on the Iraqis and on us, is a goddamned corrupt liar and corporate shill.
While nearly 60% of the American people opposed this war BEFORE the invasion (Feb. '03), and even more oppose it today, this overwhelming majority--which also opposes every other major Bush policy, foreign and domestic (way up in the 60% to 70% range)--lacks representation in Congress, and in Washington DC, in anything like its proper proportional numbers. The will of the majority is being THWARTED--by both Republicans AND Democrats. And the Democrats who are part of this junta WILL NOT PERMIT any independent-minded candidate to rise into any position that threatens the "military/industrial complex" money train, or that threatens the power relationships among the Bushites, the War Democrats and the corporations--including Diebold and ES&S electronic voting corporations (one of them funded by the mad, rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, of the lunatic Chalcedon Foundation, for godssakes!--and the other not much better, with a CEO who was a Bush/Cheney campaign.)
When this war and looting establishment takes down someone like Paul Hackett--as, for instance, they took down Kevin Shelley (the Calif Secretary of State who had sued Diebold and decertified the worst of their election theft machines prior to the 2004 election)--we who believe in good government and democracy, AND the people they take down, are left sputtering for explanations, unsure where the assault came from, at a loss, bewildered, in disarray, and easily prey to the circular firing squad syndrome. The candidate or targeted public figure is also, often, emotionally and financially drained. They have spent every resource on trying to do a good job, and they are flabbergasted at what has happened, and cannot fathom how/why their well-intended efforts have been derailed. Indeed, the Hacket/Shelley stories have many similarities. And there are dozens of parallels in the political scene (Max Cleland comes to mind, as well as Howard Dean), and there are parallels within the federal government, as to good people purged for doing their jobs (Valerie Plame, for instance--and many more).
In the case of candidates, we, the people--the grass roots--are then asked to support the candidate that has been chosen for us by this war and looting establishment. For the sake of "unity."
I am not saying that we SHOULDN'T "pull together." It might be strategically wise to do so. (I think this about Hillary Clinton, whom I believe has already been chosen, and has made her deal, to sub in for the fascists for four years, get them a Draft, scuttle any serious investigations of the Bushites, retain extralegal presidential powers--although she may not use them--and put down the veterans' protests and the food riots when the shit finally hits the fan; my reason--I think we can get an election reform bill passed under Hillary, and restore transparent elections quickly on a national basis--which I consider Priority #1 for restoring our democracy.)
I'm just saying that we must do so--"pull together"--with OPEN EYES. And, in that process--in the process of proceeding on the basis of reality and truth--we MUST allow for people like Paul Hacket to speak their minds.
Sherrod Brown is not going to win or lose because of Paul Hacket or anything Hackett says. He's going to win or lose according to dictates from the war and looting establishment to Diebold and ES&S. If he is sufficiently pliable on the war, and most especially on war profiteering (the next war--Iran)--and if this W&L establishment goes against his opponent for some reason (not sufficiently bribable for a Republican? a threat to Bushite thieves?)--Brown will win.
That is the reality. Brown is the choice of the War Democrats, who are the Bush junta's enablers. Do we support him? Maybe. We need to develop our own strategic reasons for who we support. Putting another war/corporate vote in Congress, to go along with the other War Dems, may not be in our interest. On the other hand, Brown sponsoring an election reform bill that would rid us of non-transparent elections might be worth it, in the long run.
(Note: Diebold/ES&S cannot just manufacture an election--not yet anyway. There has to be SOME support, and some money being generated. That's where we come in, on the Dem end of it. We're the "cannon fodder" of the election theft wars--used and abused, just like the soldiers in Iraq. That's also why they had to knock out Hackett early, before the primary. The primary is the only time that we, the majority, can truly influence things. There is possibly enough anger in Ohio to generate the kind of landslide needed to overcome the fraud. If that had happened, then the War Dems would have a rising antiwar star on their hands--which they absolutely do not want, and acted, deliberately, to prevent. They called all of his donors, and told them to stop donating. They apparently helped spread Rove-type, Swift-boating rumors. They got Brown back in the race, and invented a line about it being Brown's "turn." Etc.)
We have to allow for some venting by people who have been harmed by this W&L establishment (i.e., Hackett). If that "helps the Republicans," well, so did the votes of half the Democrats giving away their war powers to Bush. Why aren't we railing against THEM for that unconstitutional vote? Much, much more harm was done by that--AND by the Democratic Party leadership's TOTAL SILENCE about Bushite corporations gaining control of our election system with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code. Geez, the harm done by our non-transparent, Bushite controlled election system has been incalculable. Paul Hackett's justified complaints are NOTHING compared to harm that establishment Dem leaders have done. Their failure to take a stance against the war cost us the White House in 2004 (58% of the American people opposed to it!!!) (I think Kerry could have won by the 6% to 10% margin needed to overcome the fraud in that election--as opposed to the 4% to 5% margin by which he did win--IF he had been anti-war, anti-torture and populist on a couple of issues like universal health care.)
What the Dem leadership did to Hackett is typical, and anger at it is justified--by Hackett as well as by the rest of us. But I've learned, since November 2, 2004, that anger is not enough. It must be tempered by objectivity, cunning and strategy. We have to get over the anger, retain our highest ideals of democracy and government, and at the same time become very realistic and smart. This is what we have to work with--a highly corrupt Party (at the top). And we have somehow, in this mess and disaster, to find the way to RESTORE our right to vote.
Hackett may be just realizing how bad the situation is. He may be like a lot of us back on Nov. 3, 2004--absolutely blown away by the depth and completeness of the corruption of everything. The Republican Party. The Democratic Party. American journalism. The courts. The Congress. It was bloody awful. Then you MUST look for "first causes"--for the primary mechanisms of the sovereignty of the people, and strategize to repair them. First among them is transparent elections. Campaign contributions is big, but if you don't' have the right to vote--if the votes are counted in secret and are being fiddled--then you can't address the issue of campaign money. You first have to get the peoples' votes counted properly--so that you can put people in office who give a damn. You want to stop an illegal war/occupation? Work to get ALL the votes counted, and then that 58% of the American people who are with you--and were with you, way back before the invasion--and the even greater antiwar number today--will vote the warmongers right out of office.
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Some resources:
www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.verfiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.UScountvotes.org (monitoring of '06 and '08 elections)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)
www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)
Sign the petition (Russ Holt, HR 550, great bill-has 169 sponsors).
http://www.rushholt.com/petition.htmlwww.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340
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