We made it happen! A revised view of 1/6. Idea: A Peoples Investigation?

[Peace Patriot]

About today:

I was at first put off by the constant repetition by the Dems that "this is not about changing the outcome." It's hard when your side keeps saying something that is patently untrue over and over.

And I'm alarmed by federalization of voting under BushCons--proposed by the Dems. They might well take away our power to fix it locally.

And the irony kept hitting me. 2000, now this. And they're going to fix it NOW? It just burned me, because they kept saying the voting system "is broken," yet denying that the outcome should be different, and never acknowledging their own failure to warn voters.

But you can't really vote a thing like this up or down. We gained so much! It was so much less than we dreamed! Here's what I think we gained:

--We worked on this campaign for two months. Starting from nothing, we got significant numbers of Congress people to contest the election--and a Senator to sign it! That is remarkable.

--We even got some to mention the exit polls, nationwide discrepancies, and secret source code--in addition to a raft of people talking about paper trails. An great educative moment for the Congress people AND the public and press.

--We got some fine speeches about voting rights and what's important in our democracy and history spoken on the floor of Congress.

--We pissed the BushCons off royally--stained their coronation--and pushed several of them to make fools of themselves (Tom Delay in particular--but all them, repeating their talking points over and over), and NOT ONE Republican expressed a word of sympathy for poor or black voters. They really looked bad.

--We've gathered enough information to disgrace them from now until kingdom come. We need to do a Peoples' Investigation and Indictment, make a movie, do a book--use this stuff.

--We got the voting rights and transparency issues out there big time.

--We truly separated the wheat from the chaff. Now we truly know who believes in democracy and who does not--maybe not final judgments, but very telling all around.

--It became VERY CLEAR that we have to do election reform locally. The Dems proposal for federal standards is frought with peril, with BushCons in charge. Our next task is clear: transparency, auditablity, achieved locally on each jurisdiction. Could transform the '06 Congress if we get busy. An easy sell to most people.

--We connected with our friends among the Dems, AND with the BushCons. They know we're here.

--We learned something ourselves about the situation friendly Dems are in: their need to anticipate the BushCon attack ("frivolous"; X-file conspiracy, etc.), the idiocy and brutality of the opposition; the Dems need to strategize within that context.

--I was deeply moved at times: by Jones, by Boxer, by Conyers, by Waters, by Lewis, by Obama and others.

This was indeed our day--the arrival of the new democracy movement in DC. The election fraud nearly destroyed this beautiful but fragile young movement. We're still here. We should give into joy and self-congratulations for once--even if we know the next mountain is a steep one.

Whatever negative thing you see in front of you--2000 never redressed, 9/11 never redressed, 2004 not redressed, on-going death in Iraq, federal bankruptcy, the end of the New Deal, a fascist state--the answer to it is transparent elections. We know that we are the majority. All we have to do is get back the power of the vote. And we now have more people in the country talking about it, and our legislators not just talking about but acutely aware of our views and our potency as a movement.

We should value and nourish our collective leadership, which accomplished this great recovery of our movement today, and which beat these Cons on 11/2, if the truth were known--and we should never give up getting that truth to be fully known and understood by all.

The BushCons are nervous, angry, aware of their illegitimacy, and are reacting with fear to the truths we know, and to our numbers.

That we managed to get some of that truth out there today is a great accomplishment.

[sunnystarr]

1. That was so beautifully stated and so true. You brought tears to my eyes.

(nt)

[Rican1]

3. Agreed, but we have to make sure true reform comes out of this

Otherwise it is all for naught

[Peace Patriot]

11. Yes, and I think the big lesson is, it's up to us, the people...

...nobody is going to do this for us. The Dems don't have the power; they utterly failed last time around; and the BushCons (more of them now) will desperately hang onto their means of manufacturing consent (literally manufacturing votes) because that's all they have.

We cannot look to the federal gov't, as we could in the '60s, for a national solution, such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Congress is in too deteriorated a condition. And we can't trust them either. So we've got to do it locally.

I wouldn't say "all for naught," though. An educational moment is never for naught. Some folks learned some things to today. That's what it's all about--relearning ownership of our government.

[glitch]

2. Nominated for front page. nt

[Peace Patriot]

8. Hey, thanks, glitch! n/t

[nashville_brook]

4. so true -- we've got lots of work ahead of us, but we know what we are

capable of. and this is just the start.

we did absolutley the right thing not not expend any more political capital on this than was necessary to get the debate and personalize the issue. we have repugs on record saying if you question the election you are damaging our democracy. they can't take that back.

as randi rhodes said, there ws horse-trading. if this wasn't brought to the table, by all the people who worked so hard faxing and calling, they wouldn't have had any horses to trade. so here's to making horses.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Good point!

I will be glad if we gave them a horse. I got a hit on how powerless they feel, how remarkable it was that so many actually spoke up and took a risk. I think they were even surprised at themselves, and it's given them a new idea of how to deal with these bullies. It was just great to see real leadership--Conyers, Waters, Boxer.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Ideas for local election reform

----------------------------------------------------------------
Election reform can help save this country!
Same day primaries with ranked voting ballots for the Dems, and
THESE reforms for your town, county, and state.
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[livvy]

7. Well put. Thank you.

It's great to see a list of what was accomplished. I think a lot has been done in a very short amount of time. Considering what we're up against, we, the people, have done well!
:toast:

[Laurab]

9. Beautifully said

One of my favorite moments was when a senator (I believe he was from NJ), held up Kenny Boy's letter, with paragraphs highlighted, about how he helped deliver Ohio for *. I do wish Boxer didn't have to stand alone with her vote, but at least she had support, which is more than many expected. I was expecting nothing at all from Hillary (my senator), so I was pleasantly surprised there as well. We DID accomplish something, and it's only the beginning I think.

[frogbison]

10. Had to work

Anybody know if there will be a rebroadcast; some way to find out how my senators and representatives stood up? I already heard the DeWine quote on "beating a dead horse with no skin left on it," and was utterly disgusted.

[Peace Patriot]

12. It's all still on front page: http://www.c-span.org/ n/t

[Smoochie]

13. Tremendous post Peace Patriot! For once the agenda was driven by

Democrats, not by the Repugs ... and it was great to see the repugs struggle and fail to address the important issues. If 'we the people' continue to reward those who stand up for the really important issues such as election fraud and the need for open, honest election processes, it will help drive forward these incredibly important topics, and continue to make those who fight against them look like fools and charlatans.