The Sickness of Democracy in Dubya's Red Texas

[shanen]

Sad story below... Capsule introduction is that I'm an American citizen living outside America, and I thought I was supposed to continue voting. Maybe you can point me at a lawyer who can do something about it?

I guess I need to start with why. It's because I believe freedom and democracy are good. As a free American, I believe that I have both a right and a duty to participate in American elections, to consider the candidates carefully, and to vote--but each election it becomes more difficult.

Elizabeth Hanshaw Winn, speaking officially on behalf of the office of the Secretary of State of Texas, apparently disagrees with me about voting. She would apparently find it much more convenient if I stopped bothering her with my annoying interest in voting. That's funny. I could have sworn her job was supposed to be encouraging people to vote, not figuring out new wrinkles to discourage voters and to limit their voting in any way she can devise. Her admittedly subjective judgment is that I am no longer a resident of Texas. Actually, she's making a self-fulfilling prophesy there. I do not want to live around people who don't love freedom and democracy, and she just made it much less likely I will ever live there again. It almost makes me laugh to see the local "foreigners" as more free and democratic than supposedly pro-democracy Americans like her.

Do I need to justify my beliefs? Or is it sufficient that I was born free? Perhaps I was just indoctrinated to believe that democracy is a good thing and that the citizens should control the government? Maybe I'm just rationalizing? Can I prove freedom and democracy are good? I'm willing to try. I've always favored proof by contradiction, so I'll consider the negations, and show they are bad:

The negation of freedom is slavery. Slaves are motivated only by fear of punishment, and they get no benefits from the grand profits of their masters. It's only natural that slaves respond by doing as little as possible just to get by, but that is not enough for a competitive services-based economy in the modern world. Defining slavery is difficult because there are many kinds of slaves. There are 'classic' slaves with chains, indentured servents, women sold into marriage (or worse), and serfs bound to the land. None of those models is currently relevant in America, but are you a wage slave? I think more and more Americans are now trapped in a rat race, struggling harder and harder to keep up with their debt-loaded bills, with no refuge or escape and the increasing fear of being thrown on the streets and dying in utter poverty. Slaves have no choices at all--and many Americans are running out of real choices, even meaningful political choices. For example, you can't risk changing your job if you don't dare to risk missing a monthly payment. Your spouse can't help by earning more money if your spouse is already working, too. Many Americans in the supposedly richest country on earth can only pray that no one in their family becomes sick...

What about the opposite of democracy? The extreme negation of democracy is a dictatorship. Dictatorships are fundamentally bad because dictators are human beings, too, and human beings make mistakes. The more power a dictator has, the greater the harms of the dictator's mistakes. Maybe America isn't a dictatorship--but has the Dick Cheney asked you for your opinion? Are any of you going to argue the presidency has become weaker since Dubya seized the White House?

Freedom is about meaningful choice. The truth alone is not enough to make you free, but it is a prerequisite. You can't make meaningful choices unless you know the truth about your options, whether you're buying laundry soap or buying into a war. In particular, to have meaningful elections, we need to know the truth about the candidates, whereas all we are offered is mass media media pablum about the horse races, increasingly focused on the biggest horse race.

Elizabeth Hanshaw Winn is interested in the electoral horse race, too. On the one hand, I'd like to sue her for trying to prevent from voting. I'd be eager to vote for any candidate who promised to fire her--unless the other candidate was promising to fire her and her boss, too. But why bother? After all, the game's rigged.

The largest voting bloc in modern America is not red or blue. It's the bloc of non-voters, the people who have the right and duty to vote, but who've figured out that it's a total waste of their time. Their votes were counted in advance, and the districts were gerrymandered to make sure the incumbents would be reelected. (Yeah, that happened to my own district in Texas.) Sadly, the "right" to be reelected is the only thing the politicians of every stripe are able to agree on, and they're increasingly willing to let the rest of their jobs be handled by the White House.

I'd like to be an optimist and believe that the problems can be fixed. Voting is supposed to be the proper mechanism to make change in a democracy of free citizens. However, right now I feel like I might as well join the 'enlightened' non-voters. It's obvious that Elizabeth Hanshaw Winn has more influence on Texas than I do. In the best case, I theoretically have one vote. How many votes has she quashed?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elizabeth Hanshaw Winn <[e-mail]>
Date: Jan 17, 2008 7:37 AM
Subject: FW: Requesting ballots - Jacobs (EHW)
To: [e-mail]
Cc: Cristina Blanton <[e-mail]>

Dear Ms. Jacobs:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the upcoming elections in Texas.
Under the requirements of Texas law, an individual may not vote in the
elections of this state unless they are permanent residents of Texas.
Residency in Texas is subjective and largely depends on the
individual's intent. You have permanent residence in Texas if you
have a location where you intend to return to after any temporary
absence to another state or country. It is our understanding from
your email correspondence that you are no longer a resident of Texas,
but are now a permanent resident of <privacy snip>. If this is correct, and
you do not have any intent to return to the United States to reside,
then you no longer qualify to vote in the upcoming Texas elections.

Since it is unclear from your email whether you intend to return to
the United States or not, we will provide you with the following
information on how to apply for a ballot for the upcoming Texas
elections. The process for overseas Texas residents to vote in Texas
elections is through the Federal Postcard Application (FPCA) process.
You can obtain an FPCA by clicking on the following link:
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/federalapp.shtml. We
have attached the application as well in the event that you are unable
to access the website. By filing out the application completely, and
including your permanent Texas address and the address to which you
would like your ballot sent to you in Japan, the early voting clerk
from the county in Texas where you permanently reside will process
your information and send you a ballot for all elections you wish to
receive a ballot for. You can locate the early voting clerk of your
Texas County by clicking on the following link:
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/county.shtml. We note
that if your intent to return to the United States is unclear, you
must check the box labeled "U.S. citizen residing outside the U.S.
indefinitely". By checking this box you will fall under a particular
section of the Election Code which allows you to receive a ballot
containing only federal offices.

An application for a ballot for the upcoming March primary must be
returned to the early voting clerk no later than February 13, 2008 to
receive a ballot that includes local races as well as federal races if
you are not an active registered voter in Texas or by February 26,
2008 to receive either a full ballot containing all races (local and
federal) or a federal ballot only.

We hope this information is helpful in address your issue.

Elections Division
Office of the Texas Secretary of State

-----Original Message-----

From: Shannon Jacobs
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 3:30 PM
To: Elections Internet
Cc: Webmaster
Subject: Requesting ballots - Jacobs (EHW)

Trying to request ballots and any required voter registration
material, but your webform returned an error message, and I have no
idea if you got anything there.

I last voted in 2006 and would like to vote in any elections to which
I am entitled to vote this year, including primaries. This year I wish
to vote in the Democratic primary. (If you actually wanted to
encourage voting (though I believe you do not), then I think you
should set up the system on the basis that I want to continue voting,
not that I should have to jump though a bunch of awkward hoops if I
dare to want to vote.)

My name is Shannon Jacobs, and my last residence in America was at <privacy snip>