posted by jambojonusa in LBN
What are We Going to DO if the Bushies Try to Steal the Election (Again) ?
What I can figure from the best data that is available is that, John Kerry will win the Presidency. Unless......the election gets stolen....again.
From what I'm seeing being reported (the news reporting of GOP dirty tricks and shenanigans is getting pretty thick), this is a very distinct probability.
A clear Bush win would be one thing. Unlike the Republicans, if it was a fair fight and we lost, I'd accept the dismal fact of another four years of unending Republican rule and work on hunkering down and surviving it...and working doubly hard to beat them in the next election. (But there never is and never has been anything fair about a strongarmedthugmantakingover.)
Fair? It doesn't appear to be shaping up that way. Does it?
What this posting is all about is the big What If?
In this worst case scenario, which appears to be a distinct possibility, the question would then be-
What Are We Going To Do About It? So who has the contingency plan?
And how can I help?
In 2000, the Dem leadership wasn't ready for this and essentially wimped out.
It doesn't look like that is the case this time around. Good.
However, Kerry will need our help if that's the case, as much as he needs it now. Sitting at home glued to the TV and screaming about it is not a good answer. So what is?
There are some who are calling out already, to take to the streets if need be.
What other choice would there be but a popular massive uprising?
Without the backing of We the People redressing a grievance out on OUR streets, the courts would almost certainly end up giving it to the victory to Bush again.
If it came to that,our man Kerry will need popular back-up.
These next two links are posted elsewhere on DU.
My thanks to those who posted them. For if it came to another stolen election they will become incredibly relevant.
The people behind them are prepared for such a moment.
http://nov3.us /
So sign the pledge aye? Along with some of America's staunchest luminaries for our freedom. That we will, in the eventuality of another stolen election, take to the streets. There is strength and power in numbers. It would have to be massive in order to have any effect on an uncaring powerful elite. This site also has an Directory of Local Actions page, where you can see what's happening in your area.
also there's:
http://www.floridapatriots.com /
near site. Makes me proud to be an American.
Here's another link. Its to an article, an appeal about "Getting Physical" by Tom Hayden that is if nothing else, eloquent.
http://www.regimechangeguide.com/articles/act_gettingph ...
For anyone concerned about this election turning sour, please go read it all. Excepts follow.
For those of you who don't remember or were too young to remember, Tom Hayden is a former Yippie (Y.outh I.nternational P.arty) "agitator and a ringleader" in the Chicago Democratic Convention antiwar demonstrations in 1968. He was one of the infamous Chicago 7 to be tried for conspiracy against the US Government along with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Then he went on to become a Democrat California assemblyman. Former husband of Jane Fonda... He has something forceful to say and something important to ask about this election:
excerpts from-Getting Physical:
"Not since the 1930s have the labor, civil rights and peace movements been this unified in a presidential campaign, and almost never before have the raw realities of power been so flagrantly exposed behind the showcasing of democracy American-style.
<snip>
It will get worse in the days ahead. Many Americans will have to push their way through the resistance of Republican operatives seeking to obstruct the right to vote. I predict it will get physical.
Remember the white riot staged by Republican congressional staffers, many of them flown in on Enron jets, to shut down the Florida vote count in 2000? Remember the Democratic leadership cautioning Rev. Jesse Jackson not to lead militant demonstrations that month? Remember the pressure coming from the highest levels to achieve "closure" and "stability" rather than prolong the battle over who won Florida?
The Republicans learned all over that November that force and intimidation work. It's happening all over again.
<snip>
This time elements of the Democratic coalition are prepared to fight back, unlike 2000.
<snip>
Republicans know that victory depends on impeding turnout, that the important thing is to interrogate people of color, the elderly and students, drive them away from the polls by any means necessary, drown the complaints with a drumbeat about whiners, and leave it to the courts.
This is a moment of truth. It has been an ideological maxim for many on the Left that the vote is meaningless, a diversionary reform at most. But if the Republicans are willing to use any means to suppress the vote, especially among people of color, how can any progressive person be indifferent any longer? The fact is that systematic efforts are underway to repeal the right to vote for thousands, even millions, of Americans whose ancestors fought and secured it, or so we are taught to believe.
Let us concede the point that the vote has been hollowed out by the power of money, the seduction of personality, the oligarchical arrangement of the parties, the growth of clandestine decision-making. But the very effort to render the franchise meaningless reveals its potential for changing the social order. The promise that every person is equal in the ballot box is feared as a precedent that could get out of hand in a society founded on so much inequality.
<snip>
In the unfolding confrontation, millions of Americans are learning the profound lesson that the right to vote is not secure, that plans to steal elections are made at the highest levels of authority.
<snip>
On Tuesday at least, the traditions of civil disobedience and electoral politics may converge. What are Democrats going to do if long lines of voters are blocked? E-mail John Ashcroft? Are newly-politicized protestors going to forget about their confrontational tactics for the day, or use them against the Republican bullies? What are trade unionists supposed to do when a Republican pushes or punches someone trying to vote? What are defenders of democracy to do when the whole world is watching Republicans approach the election like a seizure of power? What will happen when it's too late for the lawyers and the foul deed is done again?
If Republicans stand in the way of democracy Tuesday like reincarnations of old George Wallace or Ross Barnett, it should be time for the movement to say once again: move on over or we'll move on over you."
end quote
Really, I doubt very much whether Tom Hayden would give a damn if the entirety of this short powerful appeal were posted here.But I'm following the DU rules. Please, its worth the read. Then give the implications serious thought.
Here's a disclaimer:
I realize and understand that DU cannot be used for organizing events. I am not trying to do that.
With that said...there's a lot that anyone that feels this burden can do.
Such as:
Contact your local Democratic Party headquarters and other sources of organised activism and inquire if they have contigency plans.
They need our letters. They need to know they have our backing.
And that if need be we will be out there with or without them.
Discuss the emerging crisis with you local network. etc...
Start making plans...just in case.
From the posts that I have been reading, this bunch shows a lot of creative genius. I'm betting that there are veterans of past political battles willing to clock in on what they have experienced with the "street side" of the democratic process.
We'll figure it out.
If necessary, to protect the sancity of the vote, the same enthusiasm that we are bringing to the polls may need to be brought to the street. Are we ready for this? This kind of shit can get grim. However as Hyden pointed out, we may have few other choices.
If it comes to this, the best of luck in everyone's ongoing attempts at saving American Democracy.
White House argues to deny voting-rights lawsuits to public
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... Posted on Fri, Oct. 29, 2004
By David G. Savage and Richard B. Schmitt
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - Bush administration lawyers argued in three closely contested states last week that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights set out in the Help America Vote Act, which was passed in the aftermath of the disputed 2000 election.
Veteran voting-rights lawyers expressed surprise at the government's action, saying that closing the courthouse door to aspiring voters would reverse decades of precedent.
Since the civil rights era of the 1960s, individuals have gone to federal court to enforce their right to vote, often with the support of groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the AFL-CIO, the League of Women Voters and the state parties. And until now, the Justice Department and the Supreme Court had taken the view that individual voters could sue to enforce federal election law.
But in legal briefs filed in connection with cases in Ohio, Michigan and Florida, the administration's lawyers said the new law gives Attorney General John Ashcroft the exclusive power to bring lawsuits to enforce its provisions. These include a requirement that states provide ``uniform and non-discriminatory'' voting systems. They also must give provisional ballots to those who say they have registered but whose names do not appear on the rolls.
``Congress clearly did not intend to create a right enforceable'' in court by individual voters, the Justice Department briefs said.
more
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10045248.htm
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
