How do you get s/elected officials in state legislatures and Congress to vote for this anti-corporate, pro-human amendment when, a) their pockets are stuffed with corporate money; b) their 'political debate' is dictated by corporate 'news' monopolies, and--most important of all, in my opinion, c) our (the Peoples') voting system is now run on 'TRADE SECRET' code largely owned and controlled by one, private, far rightwing-connected corporation (ES&S, which bought out Diebold), throughout the U.S., with virtually no audit controls.
Thus, corporate moguls not only control who gets to run for public office, what they are allowed to say as candidates and what they are allowed to do if s/elected, but also, these hidden, unaccountable powers can, quite literally, pick and choose who, among the pre-screened candidates, will 'win' the vote.
The 'TRADE SECRET' voting systems that were spread like a plague throughout the U.S. during the 2002 to 2004 period, are easily--EASILY!--riggable, by those who own and control the 'TRADE SECRET' code--code that the public is FORBIDDEN BY LAW to review.
This is so undemocratic as to be ridiculous. There is no transparency any more in the counting of our votes. Half the states in the U.S. do NO AUDIT AT ALL (comparison of ballots to machine totals) and the other half do a miserably inadequate 1% audit (inadequate for detecting fraud; minimum 10% is needed).
This latest barricade against reform--'TRADE SECRET' voting systems--has to go, before any reform is possible--let alone the transformative reform that "Move to Amend" is proposing. We can't get it done--get this amendment through corporate s/elected legislatures--until we get rid of corporate-controlled vote counting.
I think that this is where we need to--where we must--start, in throwing off corporate rule: the corporate-controlled voting machines.
A movement against 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting is still possible and viable, since the power of choosing voting systems still resides with local county registrars (close to home) and state legislatures (also relatively close to home). It may not even require civil disobedience--or an old-fashioned, REAL 'Boston Tea Party' (throwing these diabolical machines into local bodies of water). It may be feasible simply by sufficient public pressure on local officials.
Let's get practical. It's fine to propose an amendment to the Constitution--and this is a good one, a vital one--but HOW do you get it done, in such a corrupt system, if the very counting of our votes--the bottom line of democracy--is HIDDEN FROM OUR VIEW?
We MUST restore transparent vote counting. It is the only way to begin electing public officials who truly represent us. Public officials--elected or s/elected--hold the power of enacting political reform laws, including this proposed amendment. They can bust or enable media monopolies. They can bust or enable corporate lobbying. They can regulate campaign contributions, and, at the national level, they have the final say on who sits on the Supreme Court (and, in fact, have the power to expand Supreme Court membership, to liberalize the Court, as FDR tried to do--it's perfectly Constitutional*).
Right now, we have a situation in which a largely UN-elected (s/elected) Congress (with a less than 10% approval rating!) is basically trying to destroy the federal government, in favor of the "barons"--the corporate moguls and billionaires.
The federal government is our sovereign selves (in theory). "We the People" are king (in theory). WE are the sovereigns--the protectors of our country, our land, our resources, our lives. We (in theory) grant power to public officials to do OUR public business; not the other way around. They don't give us anything--neither rights nor public projects nor "common good" laws. We cede a portion of our sovereign power to them, via elections, to do our will. In theory.
That is why the corporate moguls and billionaires want to destroy the federal government, even while they are milking it dry with unprecedented corruption and have hijacked the U.S. military for corporate resource wars. They oppose our sovereignty. They fear our sovereignty. They want to end our sovereignty--and have very nearly succeeded in doing so. They have concentrated on Congress, in particular, but we see their election rigging elsewhere as well. We also see that, in places where the empowerment of outright fascists would be too obvious (for instance, California and New York)--or, as to the White House, where an internal war was resolved (re: Rumsfeld/Cheney's plan to nuke Iran, and their attack on the CIA)--only Corporate Democrats are permitted to be elected--those who bow to the corporate powers. That is our only "choice."
Today, an FDR could not be elected. It would be blocked at ES&S corporate offices, in Omaha. They have that power. If a real leader arises--a truly representative leader--in spite of all the OTHER blockades to that happening--he or she would simply be axed by the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines.
We cannot tolerate this any longer. We MUST get rid of these machines. We have the right to do so. We have the potential power to do so. And as for the lead issue in the anti-corporate, pro-human movement, there is no better example of wrongful corporate rule than 'TRADE SCRET' voting machines.
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*(FDR was within his rights to ask Congress to add judges to the Supreme Court, to favor his "New Deal" reforms and balance out the rightwing obstructionists. The Constitution does not specify the number of Supreme Court Justices. (Nine is not a sacred number.) Congress sets the number. FDR was dealing with a Supreme Court appointed by the assholes who caused the Great Depression. They kept declaring his "New Deal" programs--programs desperately needed by starving millions of people--"unconstitutional." The rightwing called it "packing the Supreme Court"--but why SHOULDN'T the Supreme Court reflect the will of the people on desperately needed economic reforms? FDR lost that fight, but his pressure on the Court caused one justice to change his mind about the "New Deal." Thus, Social Security was saved!)
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