Harry, if even a third of this story is true, then why should they pay for people to vote when someone can make the switch, invalidate the date and or time, and walk off with a memory card with hundreds if not thousands of votes on it, never to be counted? Or just program the machines to fail so that there is confusion and incorrect voter registration data? Aren't you just a teeny bit curious?
By declaring all elections and politicians as crooked and/or self-serving, you encourage apathy and cynicism. This produces sheepish behavior in people (sheeple) who are then too timid or afraid to question, speak up and challenge - three things a healthy democracy cannot afford. Just because it exists does not mean we should accept poverty. Just because racism still exists does not mean we should be complacent about it. Just because votes can be bought the old-fashioned way does not mean that we should turn a blind eye and ear to newfound ways of rigging elections. As an old rabble-rouser, Harry, I'm surprised you aren't out there agitating, asking barbed questions in someone's face and generally asking people to at least think for themselves. - KWC Karen, The fact that we have a larger population does not prevent us having smaller polling stations - something very much to be desired. The major problem with American elections is that most of the House contests don't matter. Both parties have so gerrymandered the districts that one has to be a paedophiles or something to lose as an incumbent. So the House election boils down to a couple of handfuls of seats. Also, elections are overwhelmingly won by the candidate with the most money. So to be an incumbent House member, with its corollary of lots of money means a job for life - which is why term limits frightens them so much. If you keep your nose clean and toe the line - be a team player - you'll get help with your re-election and be provided with many other perks from a first-class health service - probably the best in the US - to lucrative pensions that can be added to your lobbying job commissions when you leave. Your vote is valuable and can be sold (surprisingly cheaply). There's the problem. Voting machines and suchlike are unimportant when compared with a system that from Cook County to Florida is manifestly flawed. Harry ---------------------------------------------------------------- Karen wrote: >The point should be to distribute this kind of provocative information as >widely as possible, look for any publication elsewhere, generate letters to >the editor and Congress. If the people who do these things believe that no >one is paying attention, as all the voters should be in a democracy, then >they can continue to operate with confidence; if the system is rigged, why >bother concealing your contempt for the little guy, the minority voter, the >independents? > >If the system is rigged, why hide the arrogance of your policy's intent to >permanently institute a class society based on wealth, making education more >difficult for all but a few of the lower classes? Note that there will be >ballot challenges to affirmative action by diehard activists who are angry >with the Supreme Court and also Pres. Bush for signing it (especially since >he seemed to endorse the opposite opinion previously). > >If the system is rigged, do you really have to be concerned about >consequences of policy on political campaigns? Not really. You simply >remove those individuals who will receive too much negative attention during >the political season, or who have "baggage" that might not survive a >congressional hearing, or whose loyalty is not established. Hence, Whitman >is gone, so is Ari Fleischer. > >There has always been some form of election fraud. Personally, I like the >way the Canadians do it, with small polling stations so that paper ballots >can be tabulated and checked quickly. But we have a much larger population. >But until people are aware of the potential for abuse, and motivated to >safeguard their right to a free and untainted election, we should not be >silent or complacent, even when sometimes the evidence is alarming, >provocative or hard to procure. - KWC **************************************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 Tel: (818) 352-4141 -- Fax: (818) 353-2242 http://home.comcast.net/~haledward **************************************************** _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
