...the box, and that's what we need to do. Of course it goes so outside the box (the part about Dems threatening to do their own self-interested hacking) that it flips over on itself. (We're going to restore democracy by means of election fraud?). Also, though I've been a loyal Democrat for 40 years, I don't trust and don't like much of the Dem leadership, and I think they could just as easily become tyrants as the Bushites have done. (Power tends to corrupt...etc.) In fact, they ARE tyrants, to some extent. The vast majority of their constituency absolutely opposed the Iraq war, way back before the invasion, yet many of them voted for it. Same with global "free trade." Where as democracy? Where was majority rule on these matters?
I believe in Jefferson's and Madison's "balance of power." And I wish we DIDN'T HAVE the Dem/Repub lock on almost all political power. It is inherently corruptive.
On the other hand, I am most certainly worried about undermining Howard Dean, by people not donating. (I'm still withholding my little pittance.) And I'm worried about good Dems going down, because people are so fed up--and are so distrustful of our election system, which they are absolutely right to be distrustful of. It is awash in corruption and is giving us wrong results.
I have also personally not yet defected from the Dem Party because I so fear a fracturing of the Left as occurred in Germany 1933-34.
I want to back up a bit. You say that the Dem Party is helpless to do anything about election fraud. But I think you are forgetting the history of how this election system was put into place. The two key elements of it were, a) $4+ billion in HAVA money flooding into the states, and turning elections into big money deals--highly corruptive of state and local election officials, along with lavish lobbying by Diebold & co. (and the beginning of "revolving door" employment); and b) little or no control--permitting "trade secret" programming code, permitting partisan ownership and control of election systems, permitting lavish lobbying, almost no mandated verification, etc.
At the point at which this all happened, the Dem Party should have been burning the capitol down to get this changed. They should've been screaming bloody murder--and that roaring cry should have continued all through the election. They were silent. Dead silent.
This makes me very, very suspicious. And, if they were of a mind to, they could change all this overnight. Actually, I think Dean is trying to--without stepping on too many toes. He is in a minefield of corruption.
But think of this: What if we had ALL state/local Dem party people and elected officials adamant about verifiable elections? What if they were HELPING us? What if it was their top priority? What if the word had come down, and filtered through the ranks, that this MUST GET DONE.
It would change overnight. I truly believe that. It DOESN'T NEED a majority in Congress. Control over election systems still resides with the states! But that is not what is happening. We are seeing Dem obstruction and Dem corruption everywhere we look--in these state/local fights over election reform.
I mean, just take a look at Amaryllis's post on this thing at Beverly Hilton, sponsored by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia! One of the featured speakers is a DEMOCRAT, Connie McCormack, head of Los Angeles County elections, shill for Diebold, and the leader of the witch-hunt against Kevin Shelley, precisely because Shelley was trying to crack down on "revolving door" employment as well as on Diebold election theft machines.
A Democrat. And she had BACKING from the top Dem state leaders!
I think this is all too typical, nationwide. And what I think is needed is a BIG BROOM within the Dem Party to get rid of these corrupt election officials--and those who support them.
Yes, the Dems would have a struggle in Florida and Texas and Georgia, and other places where Bushites have gained illegitimate power. But if this wave of reform started in the "blue" states, it would soon sweep the nation. It would become nearly impossible to maintain a stance in favor of unverifiable elections.
I do believe that's why they got rid of Shelley--he was starting just such a movement. He was THE national leader on the issue. I think the Bush Cartel was behind the phony charges against Shelley--and I don't know if McCormack is in league with them; it may just have been opportunistic on her part. But the other thing that is notable about it is the FAILURE of the other Dem leaders to support one of their own, who was unfairly charged and driven from office; with some of them piling on; and their quick and cowardly retreat in the face of a black ops/secret dossier type of campaign. Probably a lot of it was fear. I know that strongarm tactics were used in the state legislature to shut people up. And there is also probably some direct and indirect corruption (state Dems beholden to corrupt county election officials?).
Anyway, what a sorry-ass performance! And California is a Democratic stronghold!
I sure haven't solved the dilemma you have posed. If anything, I've made it more of a dilemma.
Sorry about that. But I just had to say all this. It's not a simple situation of the Dems having had the election stolen right out from under them (and a big win at that, in my opinion--Kerry by at least 10%), and now being helpless to reform the election system that was used for that theft. It's deeper and darker. And yet, in a way, it's more wide open, to be able to see WHERE the problem is, exactly. And this is exactly it, I think: that the Democrats PERMITTED the Bush Cartel to take over our election system, with a variety of motives, some of them just venal corruption.
I think the only solution is for Democrats to come out ripping and roaring about this fraudulent election SYSTEM. If people feel they're TRYING, then they WILL vote. Look at '04--the biggest turnout in history, with the Dems blowing the Bushites away in new voter registration, nearly 60/40, and people standing in ten hour lines to vote. People are hungry for change. They've had it up to here with the Bush Cartel--and if the truth were known, they've had it for quite some time now. Give them REAL hope that their vote will count--not candyass crap like the DNC report--or at the least, let them know that you are fighting like mad on behalf of democracy and majority rule, and they WILL vote.
I DO think that this is still possible. I think this is what Dean would be doing, if he had his druthers--but he doesn't yet fully have his druthers at the DNC. But he IS using the report to say in effect that there was widespread fraud. That's what the Arizona Republic newspaper just accused him of--and they're quite right, although they revile him for it. But it doesn't matter. People reading that editorial will read between the lines--that is, the people who need to know (the disenfranchised Kerry voters).
How we back him up, I think, is to go after people like Connie McCormack--and also by just keeping on with what we're doing, presenting the evidence in whatever forums we can get into or create, and relentlessly agitating for election reform.
I also think that the strategy of picking and choosing among Dem candidates is a good one. There are lots of really good people in the Dem Party. That's ANOTHER reason I haven't abandoned it. I heard N. Dakota's Dogan on the radio yesterday on CAFTA--a brilliant presentation!
Our message to the DNC should be: Clean house! Get out that BROOM!
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Amaryllis' post on the Beverly Hilton event is at
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340And here's a DU post on the Arizona Republic editorial
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=381796&mesg_id=381796