The ‘Catastrophic’ Success of the Republican Party (Grim Reminder)

The ‘Catastrophic’ Success of the Republican Party

‘Third World’ Election

Manuel Valenzuela

10/19/04 "ICH" -- As much as America and the world wish to believe Florida will not be rigged with electoral fraud this November, the sad truth is that all the mechanisms needed to steal the state in favor of George Bush are already firmly entrenched. Thanks to Jeb Bush, Jim Crow manipulator of mandates, corrupt fraudster, decimator of democracy and brother of the president, and the Republican Party, which in essence controls the logistics of and the keys to running the election, Florida has already declared tens of thousands of voters, mostly black and Democratic, ineligible. Many more voters, of all creeds and colors, will be disenfranchised on election day, be it through intimidation, coercion, government intervention, criminal negligence, corruption and fraud, and, of course, through electronic voting machines, most of which are owned by staunch Republican supporters. 

Thus, it is fair to say that the election scheduled for November is already stolen, the purging of votes already assured, and the swindling of the 2004 Presidential election has become, for all intents and purposes, an absolute inevitability. In the most crooked state in the union can the lynching of American elections vividly be seen, becoming the poster child for the systemic evisceration of America’s cherished principle of democracy. Already, throughout the nation, instances of Republican Party meddling with electoral procedures and citizens’ right to vote have surfaced, from Florida to Nevada to Oregon to Ohio and everywhere in between, trying desperately to garner any advantage in any of a dozen states deemed as swing states, where the outcome will be so close that 10,000 votes could mean the difference between winning electoral votes and losing the presidency. With so much at stake, and with American democracy a mirage of its former self, Republican minions and vultures are hard at work, once more disenfranchising thousands from an election that will decide the future destiny of the entire planet. 

The so-called ‘third-world’ elections that we chastise, laugh at and condemn, thinking ourselves so enlightened to seriously contemplate ever having to experience them on our soil, those elections full of fraud, uncertainty, corruption and voter disenfranchisement, have landed on the shores of the cradle of liberty. After Florida 2000, teeming with fraud, corruption, court appointments and the usurpation of power by the losing – and much lesser – candidate in a most ignoble coup against the American people, November 2004 will see the erosion of yet more votes through the haze of clandestine mechanisms that have and continue to be methodically plotted out by a Republican machine that must win at all costs. After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely and addiction to the Almighty Dollar makes demons of already dishonorable miscreants. 

When so much is at stake for the ravenous vultures roaming the Earth in search of food, only the carcass of the American electorate will suffice. Victory by any means necessary is their call to arms; corruption, fraud and deceit are their weapons. Florida is but a small cell in an increasingly malignant tumor, and diseased are we all as the cancer slowly killing us awakens once more to destroy the very principles this great nation was founded on. In Florida, the clandestine war against the people has already begun, a microcosm of the wider battle being waged in lands plain and flat, forested and cloudy, and warm and humid. The virus of Florida has spread like plague to all corners of the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7100.htm

However, It's rather small minded to call Florida the most corrupt state in the union. It's no better and no worse than a dozen other red and/or key 'swing' states--it's notoriety is due to the fact it came down to be the one (of those states) that made the difference. Just as happened in Ohio four years later. Furthermore, the characterization of Florida as being either the originator or source of the "infection" (of electoral fraud) is likewise unfair and inaccurate. It's a national problem, occurring simultaneously across the country and is most surely directed, if anywhere, from Washington, D.C. As for contagion, it doesn't come from an infected state to an uninfected state, it goes wherever there is a perceived need. For example, if North Dakota (pick any state at random) was perceived to be likely to be a "swing state" in the 2006 elections--I'd bet they'd be the recipient of enormous investment in their electoral system--brand new electronic voting machines to replace their antiquated mechanisms, etc... The corruption goes where it's needed (as well as wherever it's convenient).

If you're seeking the "source" of this problem, you should merely look to the Republican Party (obviously), it's Leadership (especially those in Congress and State Elected Officials) and all of it's institutions, think-tanks, organizations as well and those who enable them, including corporations and various extremely wealthy but unethical conservative partisans. This problem is, and was, already existant in several states in 2000, and is a national problem in that they are attempting to subvert the electoral process in every single state. Plainly, the use of electronic voting machines has given them truly powerful tools to implement their perversion of the polling process (and it's no coincidence that the two main "corporations" responsible for manufacturing nearly every voting machine in use in the United States happen to be owned by partisan Republicans (who, interestingly, also happen to be brothers)). It's a very powerful tool indeed to be able to override people's votes in such a way that it can hardly be detected and cannot be proven even when all but proven to have occurred. We desperately need accountability.

Alas, we Democrats have thus far failed in our efforts to deal with this problem. We've not made our demands loud enough nor long enough--the evidence for which is that we still have flawed voting equipment with no paper trail. Even having a paper trail is hardly a sufficient remedy since you first have to effectively prove fraud has occurred before a recount will be allowed--and with more Republican judges (and Republican State Electoral Directors), one cannot be assured of getting a recount. All processes suffer from some flaws or are susceptible to motivated people who've achieved the "right" access--for instance, even votes recorded on cards are "counted" by machines that can be tampered with. We really need a firm comittment to a form of Exit Poll that every voter is asked to participate in and is present at every polling place--even that involves problems of logistics, cost, staffing etc... but having a thorough 'second vote' (exit polls that would be considered as being even stonger evidence than the current process relying on small sample sizes) done by an independent organization/s to compare with the official results might be a means to demand a recount.

In any case, until we have a guaranteed "right to vote", it's hard to even get the respect we need from the courts in terms of ensuring those rights and putting an end to voter disenfranchisement. That would involve an amendment to the Constitution and therefore would require a massive popular movement making the demand--to create the "political will" our "representatives" seem to require.

It's not an easy problem, but one we have to fix--or be prepared to continue "mysteriously" or "suspiciously" losing elections. Demonizing a particular state, however, accomplishes nothing.

the hastening of their own destruction. The more "successful" they are in stealing elections, silencing the opposition, the more quickly they will bring on their own demise. And the country's demise.

I've written a few posts about tapeworms in the Parasite's Handbook.

Parasite's Handbook

Rule #1: Do not kill your host. As you live in the intestines of your host and feed off of the nourishment that was meant for the host, you must remember not to become too large or hatch too many eggs which will weaken your host.

Because if you kill your host, you will die as well.