What will we do when the Republicans magically retain control in 2006?

[SnoopDog]

How many more times do we allow the theft of our elections? The special elections in Ohio about election reform– just last November – is just the latest example. The polls said 65 to 35 (or so) but the official results just the opposite. It was voted down. Bull crap. The Hackett vote awhile back – leading the race until magically at the end he lost.

Our country is being destroyed. A few thousand people are literally taking our treasury. And they could care less about the rest of us. They blatantly, in your face, are telling the American people – go screw yourself. We will take your tax money and there is nothing legally you can do about it. Oh, and our Dem politicians, most of them are in on the scheme as well. Otherwise, they would raise bloody hell day in and day out.

So I ask, what will you do, what should I do, what will we do? Voting is our only legal check and balance to our government. And they have taken that from us.

2006 will be no exception.

What do we do?

[sojourner]

1. rise up or leave

I'm leavin.

[SnoopDog]

3. Where will you go?

I thought of Canada....

[sojourner]

5. canada's nice...the people there are as afraid of the *Bushler gang as we

are.... I have friends there who are thinking of leaving just to get a little more distance between themselves and US. They're from Romania.

[FormerRepublican]

2. Take them to court and sue for our rights.

[GrantDem]

4. Just as your signature line says...

11/07/2006 is the "Day of Resolution"

I truly believe that it will be just that.

:kick:

[SnoopDog]

6. I hate to say this - I am truly afraid...

I really think these people in our government are purposely destroying our country. They are taking every single dollar we have, trashing the environment, and destroying any means for us to recover.

We are on our own...

[Hotler]

14. Neo-cons don't want any government.

Just read some of the drool that Grover Norquist spews.

[bullimiami]

7. sadly im thinking....nothing.

again.



the recent referendum vote corruption in ohio was as obvious as crap on a white tile floor but nothing has happened.

[librechik]

22. any change in elections has to be done at the local or state level

I know it's hard, but we have to pester our local election officials to a) Question Electronic voting
and b) prohibit partisan ownership of machines and c) insist election officials cannot also be party campaign officials and d) switch to instant runoff and e) demand auditable elections.

If there are any public meetings in your area, show up and talk if you can. Bring video cameras. Confront the officials if the meeting turns out to be a sham.

Write letters to officals and congress, write letters to the editor, make phone calls.

I'm as pessimistic as you are about the situation. It really seems hopeless, and the shitpie in Ohio is really intolerable. But there is no need to give up in advance. We should go down fighting, not because we will win, but for our own peace of mind.

and remember, whenever anything as powerful as the Republinazi movement happens, there is always a backlash. When it comes, it will be huge.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Webster Green]

12. Beavis?

Is that you?

[feelthebreeze]

9. I am angry and despair, but it is too soon to quit the fight...

I urge you to follow the current acts of Fitrakis and Velvet revolution. A federal Judge is backing opposition in Ohio against Diebold. There are other actions as well that deserve attention and can give you courage and optimism. I do agree that this issue is all that matters to the 2006 elections. It is the priority that supersedes all others, clearly. I firmly believe that if we can secure the vote, then all the other problems will be addressed in due time by that very action. I still believe in the American people's will, and I don't mean the American people who are so dangerously misrepresented by our Media or the stolen vote.
You mention complicity on the part of the Dems to the voting theft. While I share your worry and concern and even outrage at this party's denial of the vast and important issue of election theft, I urge you to show facts and basis before jumping on to the cynicism of " they are all crooks and seek to destroy this Democracy for a price." Since we are not given explanation for their inaction, we of course must resort to coming to our own conclusions, and believe me, I am just as angry and scared as anybody about this, but we just don't have proof to say that they are helping this monstrosity happen.
Why squash people's resolve when we so need strength of conviction for this fight right now. Continue to follow the route of Democratic approach and gather grassroots and write, call and demand action from your representatives. Until we have exhausted this approach and see no other recourse then we can give up on the promise of this country. Don't stop fighting and believing that change will happen. I share your deep concerns, your deep distrust, but it is too early to give up just yet. Join me in this fight, brother. we have strong people on our side who share our convictions of right.

[feelthebreeze]

13. Here is the latest fight...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2300195

[SnoopDog]

16. Oh - I am not giving up... I will fight

I am a surviver. I will fight to the death if I have to. I do everything possible everyday to restore our government.

I am concerned for the ones who cannot fight.

Remember, we are here because others have fought for us to survive. It is our duty for the ones who follow us.

[feelthebreeze]

19. Good to share the battle with you Snoopdog.

Let's kick the shizzle outta them.

[Stevepol]

10. A button: The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.

I think it was Frederick Douglass who, when another black asked what he should do given the state of the country, said "Agitate, agitate, agitate."

That's about all we can do. "This too will pass." Nothing remains the same. The nature of the material world is change.

Other people don't want to live in a fascist state either. As the number of protestors grows, more people will be drawn, etc.

I have no idea how long it will take, probably quite a while. As somebody else has said, "Nobody ever went broke under-estimating the intelligance of the American people." To look at the OH results and not see obvious fraud, just seems to me pretty close to insanity. Probably the only thing that will awaken the sleeping political brains of the country is money, lawsuits, etc.

Grin and bear it. And agitate.

[skipos]

11. VA, CA and NJ 05. It may be an uphill battle, but we can win elections.nt

[elizm]

18. Sometimes you have to wonder....

...And maybe this is just totally paranoid....But maybe they let those wins happen in 2005 because in the larger picture, just how harmful was it? To control those wins would have been too obvious. I think they will wait for the big wins...like 2006 elections...to put in the big fixes when it really counts. Or maybe I have just lost my mind?? I DO believe they fixed the voting machines in 2004 and will do it again if we let them.

[skipos]

23. The VA pre-election polls I saw were

pretty close. They had Kaine winning by an amount that was within the margin of error. If Kilgore would have won, I don't think it would have raised many eyebrows (outside of DUers and the like). Do you really think they flew Bush's dumbass out there and spent millions of dollars if they had no intention of winning?

I think repubs tried really hard and lost.

[elizm]

26. I agree...

They tried really hard and lost...but it wasn't worth 'risking it'...It was a governors race. They will save the real cheating for the big ones that matter....in 2006.

[Coastie for Truth]

15. Many years ago I sat for the Chartered Professional Engineer Exam

in Saskatchewan (passed it) and have a "Brass Plate" office in Vancouver.

[Chemical Bill]

17. Build an ark.... n/t

[Lexingtonian]

20. Dude, put the bong down.

Tim McVeigh "thought" the same thing. See where that got him.

That Ohio polling was a mail-based polling. Not a phone poll.
And so on down the line with all these straws and assertions you cling to. The
accurate polls say the results, while imperfect, were right in all the cases you
claim they weren't.

I'm a partisan and a liberal and an activist about disenfranchised voters. But
those RON questions in Ohio- I would have voted 'No' on the redistricting commission
and the screwing up of the Secretary of State's office. I would have been ambivalent or
leaning slightly to 'Yes' on the other two, but certainly not convinced. The remedies RON
was selling were bad/stupid fixes, a slamming and nailing shut of a barn door after the horse
was gone. I consider it better for Democrats in the longer term that these things didn't pass
and intelligent of the Ohio Democratic Party not to endorse them.

It's easy to blame some small group of people for the national misere. But that is too easy,
exploiting as they do a society-wide gross indulgence in the stupid and obsolete ideas and
obsessions and bigotries of the Past that in aggregate means mass idiocy and insanity.

Let me suggest that all this OP revelling in fatalism and defeatism and conspiracymongering
is part of that diseasedness- it's choosing to indulge in hysteria and call that better and
more sane than the common psychotic indulgence of the Rightists. Refusing to be part
of either the hysteria or the psychotic stuff is a matter of dignity and integrity, really.
Creativity and simply working on what can be worked on is sanity under the circumstances,
whatever the reality of things.

[SnoopDog]

21. Dude, as soon as you realize that our elections are not legit...

the sooner you will join the fight.

[elizm]

24. It takes a long time..

..usually until it's too late...for people to wake up....Don't you think?

[SnoopDog]

28. Yes it does take along time...

Sometimes it is not the fault of the individual or family. Sometimes they are just surviving day to day. Or for some, they are too busy watching American Idle (of which I have never viewed).

Or some are just ignorant.

Or some just drank the the killer koolaid.

Or some are just plain evil - like the ones in office now.

[Lexingtonian]

25. We can make the elections as legit as we like

but deranged majorities, whatever way they vote, are the fundamental problem.

[SnoopDog]

27. Why is the default behavior of humans in power...

is to be corrupt?

Would it not be something if the default behavior of people in power is to do good things for everyone. Wouldn't it be great if the biggest argument in Congress is to decide how much more to give to society?

As this administration is doing - they are destroying America and our planet.

[Lexingtonian]

29. Why is the default behavior of people without majority power

to engage in all the behaviors of powerlessness and victimhood? "Oh, woe is me, we are so Accursed and Hopeless and deserve it."

Michael Lerner once described the phenomenon as 'surplus powerlessness', 'surplus' because people behave as if they had no power whatsoever contrary to the reality of things.

We can always do good. Any of us, at any time. That is the blessing that fills life. "We must use time creatively - and forever realize that the time is always hope to do great things."- http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King">MLK

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does."- Margaret Mead

[feelthebreeze]

30. Rhetoric is meaningless. Vote was stolen. PB/OS. Stop the denial. Fight

[SnoopDog]

31. I guess I don't understand...

Are you saying everything is ok in the USA? Are you satisfied with how our country is being run?

Do you do anything to change the situation? Or do you wait for people like me to try to urge people to change our situation?

Just to reiterate - I am fighting, everyday, as much as I can do, to regain our Democracy.

How about you?

Just asking...

[Lexingtonian]

40. Complaining isn't action.

Lessee...I did some stuff when they tried to bring back the death penalty in my state, and nearly succeeded, a few years ago. Most of my spare time last year went into helping out a gay marriage advocacy group and I put a little time and money into the Kerry campaign (they weren't interested in anyone new here, nor any of the other races in the state or regionally, it's all Democratic-held). This year I went and joined an effort to recover voting rights for parolees and probationers in the one neighboring state where there was a real chance for a change, but the leaders got a lot of enthusiasm from the state legislature right off the bat and passage of the state constitutional amendment bill just a few weeks later. The stakes are ~13,000 people becoming elegible to vote. I'll be working there next fall if they need the door-knockers to get voter passage, or work one of the few nearby U.S. House races where the incumbent is a Republican (though the 60-100 mile commutes will make it less than I'd like). I've done a few years of volunteering in an ER, working in a homeless shelter, surplus food distribution, and helping build some low income housing. I like working on a model of American political demographics and how they poll, and from polling and observation identification of what gets the individual groups along the political spectrum to change their minds.

What do you imagine my answers to your questions are?

[woldnewton]

32. Time to take to the streets...

it's amazing that millions will get out to protest wars, but won't bother to protest stolen elections that facilitated those wars to begin with.

[Fire Walk With Me]

33. Fear what they'll do in 2007+.

[SnoopDog]

35. Very true, but

Congress is more powerful that the Executive. Congress introduces bills, conducts hearings and over site, and can impeach.

Congress, 2006 elections, and transparent voting are our first priority, in my opinion.

[Hippo_Tron]

39. The Executive Branch is as powerful as the Executive

If the President is willing to use the full force of his office to enact his agenda and not worry about what the polls say, then he has a serious advantage over the legislative branch. If he is not, then congress has an advantage over the president.

[No Exit]

34. How about, we throw every voting machine into Boston Harbor?

And yes, we can dress up as Indians--it'll be a nice artsy touch which will remind everyone of the Abramoff Indian casinos scandal.

[radio4progressives]

36. Notice how none of the DLC appeasers on this board responds to this issue?

the dlc is just as much a part of the problem with elections fraud as the repukes are - by not even launching investigations or filing lawsuits.

it's freaking amazing. makes a person wonder, will they also be involved in the next fraud too?

[nickshepDEM]

37. What happend in VA 2005?

Did they forget to pull the switch? :shrug:

[OneBlueSky]

38. what we need is a national candidate who will run on a platform of . . .

real electoral reform . . . someone charismatic and articulate who can explain to average, uninformed Americans just what has happened to our electoral system -- and why it needs to be fixed . . .

because it's quite apparent that those in office (both parties) are bound and determined to make insecure and unauditable e-voting the norm . . . and unless respected individuals with impeccable reputations for integrity start speaking out, and loudly, it's also quite apparent that their plan will succeed . . .

[autorank]

41. We have a chance to stop it but if not, I'll give every f'ing naysayer on

DU some special attention.  You know those people who say that
Bush really won, and that i those of us who believe in
verifiable, legitimate government through open and transparent
elections are somehow 'conspiracy' nuts...those people.  

Here's how electronic voting works.

Action                    Access to actin    Thos with access
                          by you or govt.  

You vote                        YES

Vote goes into machine           NO          VENDORS ONLY

Vote gets tabulated              NO          VENDORS ONLY

Vote gets reported              YES (report only)

Once the vote is captured on electronic voting devices (DRE's)
they disappear from public view.  You see, the vendors own the
machines and they get the genius' at the Boards of Elections
to sign "confidentiality agreements" prohibiting the
state or county governments from looking inside the machines
or allowing anyone to look inside.  Why not, you ask?  Because
the machines have methods and software that are "TRADE
SECRETS."  The coding for this is so easy your dope
smoking nephew could do it on a hard partying night.  It's a
sham and a joke.

But we've got people out there who say we don't need
verifiable paper ballots, that we should trust the system and
some of them are Democrats, e.g. Gov Richardson, D, NM.

But, I'm very high on the prospect of the voting scandal
completely blowing up prior to 2006 or, in the alternative, I
believe that the vendors will be so under the gun that they
won't dare fuck up.

We'll see.