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May 2, 2008 at 20:53:05

Headlined on 5/2/08:
Perhaps the most important editorial in the US today

by Adam Cohen (Posted by Ed Tubbs)     Page 2 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

 
 
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     Federal law should hold organizations like the League of Women Voters harmless if they make good-faith mistakes while registering people. There should be a federal voter registration form, usable in any state, and uniform regulations so Ohio could not throw out forms based on paper thickness and Florida could not bar voters, as it now does, from fixing small errors on a form within a month of an election.

     Congress should also regulate voter challenges at the polls. Parties and candidates often use bad-faith challenges as a dirty trick — to intimidate voters or to slow down voting in certain neighborhoods. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, has a good bill that would require challengers who are not election officials to sign an affidavit stating why they believe a specific voter is not eligible.

     Ballot formats should be standardized nationally rather than left to the often bad judgment of local officials. Palm Beach County’s butterfly ballot, which apparently changed the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, got a lot of attention, but there are confusing ballots in use across the country. The patchwork of state ID laws should be replaced by a single standard that allows people to present any of an array of identification, including college IDs, and permits voters to sign an affidavit if they do not have ID.

     There are many other problems that need to be fixed. Some states’ rules for provisional ballots — used when election officials cannot find a voter’s name on the rolls — are clearly designed to disqualify a large number of ballots from eligible voters. Congress also needs to set a minimum standard for the number of voting machines per voter and ensure that states allocate them equitably. There were widespread reports in Ohio in 2004 of voters in poor, black neighborhoods waiting hours to vote while white neighborhoods had no lines. At Kenyon College, students waited up to 10 hours.

     Good reform bills have been introduced in Congress, including ones backed by Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. But they have faced strong partisan opposition, and lobbying from influential state and local election officials. Critics of reform make the specious argument that states have the right to set the rules for federal elections. The founders, when they wrote the Constitution, said otherwise.   

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8 comments

I love animals and live with many rescued cats and dogs. I also love politics and to engage in debates and finally I hope to write articles at opednews.

I consider myself to be a traditional democrat and I'm definitely not a liberal. I think the democratic party should be welcoming to everyone and not be taken over by a bunch of liberals out of the Northeast.

Barbara CornettI love animals and live with many rescued cats and dogs. I also love politics and to engage in debates and finally I hope to write articles at opednews.

I consider myself to be a traditional democrat and I'm definitely not a liberal. I think the democratic party should be welcoming to everyone and not be taken over by a bunch of liberals out of the Northeast.

what an outrage

Do you mean to tell me that there are people who ignore THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION!  Wow.

So lets say that we are successful in making it possible and easy for everyone including half of Mexico to get the chance to vote in the United States of America.

What do they get?

The chance to vote for one of three candidates that have already been vetted and approved by a bunch of unAmerican monied elites who control everything in America with their money and power.  Thats what they get.

Isn't Rahm Emanuel the one who chooses democratic party nominees?  He was born in Israel and served in its military and his father was an Israeli terrorist. Now Rahm is a king maker in the United States government.

Where are those who will warn Americans about this!

And how, Mr Cohen, does it benefit America to have minorities getting to vote?  Does that mean that they will get an opportunity to vote for the interests of their own ethnic group?

Does that not raise the question of why we are put into a position where any ethnic group that has political power will be able to marginalize others and the general welfare?

Isn't that an admission that diversity hasn't worked in America?  Isn't America being destroyed by diversity?

Doesn't this mean that Americans are pitted against one another and that it is our interests to get those of our own ethnic group voted into power?

Thats what all of this means isn't it?  Therefore shouldn't I, as a white protestant person be very resentful of you and people like you who work toward taking power away from the white majority and giving it to minorities?

With all due respect - and I do not in any way intend to be bigoted - I am only putting this comment out there so that we can be free to debate it and that people can be free to think about it and talk about it - after all it has everything to do with the condition our country is in.

We are desperate to get those of our own ethinc group into power.   Blacks are thrilled to have Obama.  Hispanics are demanding representation and as their numbers grow they are becoming a voting bloc to be reckoned with! 

Does anyone think that Hispanics will seek the general welfare?

What does this mean for America's future?

At the very moment our military is in the middle east securing a Jewish state for others we are seeing people in this country doing everything they can to strengthen minority power and divide America.  It doesn't seem fair to me.

I care about America.  As a white protestant I have everything vested in this country and I do not have dual loyality to any other nation.  we never got so involved in the problems between England and Ireland that we caused the Irish Republican Army to come to this country and committ a terrorist act on 9-11.  

I don't like the direction my country is going.  To see the breakup of the United States is no small thing.  It is the greatest country in the history of the world.  To see it break apart because of ethinic differences is no small thing.

Yet diversity has gone so far I don't see how we can turn back the clock.  The ethnic group that has the most power will use it on their own behalf and marginalize others.

This is what I have experienced as northeastern liberals took over the democratic party and marginalized traditional democratic interests in favor of liberal interests.

The democratic party now supports Isarel's interests over that of the people of the United States.  Yet we are not allowed to talk about this and to prevent debate we are accused of anti-semitism.

So tell me Mr Cohen, under these circumstances why should I care if your vaunted "minorities" get to vote or not.  They are probably recently arrived, don't speak English and don't know or care about American heritage, values or history.  They represent a threat to America and will only divide it more.

 

 

by Barbara Cornett (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 15 comments) on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:07:43 AM
 


For a living, I manage the design and construction of renewable energy projects. My hobby is sandwich repair; I also swap for parts.
JonmarkPFor a living, I manage the design and construction of renewable energy projects. My hobby is sandwich repair; I also swap for parts.

There is no "ethnicity"

What you grandly refer to as "ethnicity" simply does not exist.   There are regions of origin, religious beliefs, language families, styles of cuisine and manners of dress.  Which of these comprises the "ethnicity" to which you refer?  All?  None? 

What you mean to use as your basis for discrimination is simply skin color, nothing more.  Please don't fool yourself, or attempt to fool us, into thinking there is more to your bias than that. Thanks.

by JonmarkP (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 91 comments) on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 12:21:09 AM
 


I do have writing credits in a major newspaper--long ago.
Currently, I write for online political boards with a
definite liberal bias. Proud parent, grandparent and
aspiring poet and novelist. I never stopped aspiring.
Finally managed to earn a BA degree in communications/ American lit. Love romantic fiction that also stretches
the intellectual muscles. And am mad about romantic
Russian composers. I take life seriously but tend to
look at it with a healt...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Marilyn FrithI do have writing credits in a major newspaper--long ago.
Currently, I write for online political boards with a
definite liberal bias. Proud parent, grandparent and
aspiring poet and novelist. I never stopped aspiring.
Finally managed to earn a BA degree in communications/ American lit. Love romantic fiction that also stretches
the intellectual muscles. And am mad about romantic
Russian composers. I take life seriously but tend to
look at it with a healt...

to see more of bio, click on member name

On slippery ground here

First of all, public-funded elections are imperative to the survival of our democratic republic.  Then I feel there should be national rules and regulations in place in both primaries and the general election where  presidential selections occur.  One day for primary, no cross-over voting and winner take all;  Sunday should be set aside for the general election.

When election officials conspire to break the law and ignore the basic rights of voters, they should be indicted and jailed to send a message.  Voter fraud is very limited; however, as past elections prove, voter suppression and gaming of a state's voting apparatus seems common.  No one went to jail in Florida over 2000; a few have been indicted in Ohio over 2004.

As to the issue of the "Balkanization" of America, that has been going on for quite a while.  R. Nixon, if memory serves, spoke of breaking the country into four regions, centered around their own economic interests, which was meant to weaken the federal government.  The government on all levels is on life support.  The current Bush administration has succeeded in fulfilling the ends of previous NWO devotees--generally right-wing conservatives who view the country as nothing more than a watering trough for the care of their own bloated interests.  The GOP cites state's rights when it suits their purpose and morphs into federalists when that furthers a goal.

The minorities flooding our country are just doing what the poor and disadvantaged have done for centuries--move to better their plight.  However, it is the federal officials who are looking the other way knowing cheap labor has always been the goal of self-promoting capitalists.

Of course, these minorities will coalese to promote their own agenda.  That is human nature.  If we want to save the country we love and remember from just a few short decades ago, we have to demand the immigration problems be addressed post haste.  The world is changing, growing smaller, interacting and economic forces will prevail.  The borders will disappear and a one-world strategy arise from the ashes of nation-states that were constantly feuding and fighting over earth's resources.

I am not saying I like it or that this paradigm will advance the human condition.  But we must think in those terms in order to head it off.  I am personally torn between accepting the destitute of the world and drawing a line.  I have protested open U.S. borders for several years and found that I was considered a racist.  I refuse to accept that lable; it is too convenient a slur and covers up for our myriad dilemmas; name-calling deflects debate.  The  the real problems should be laid at the doors of the White House and the U.S. Congress.  As Americans of all colors and backgrounds, that should bind us in purpose.

That is why we hire a president and representatives.  They should be working on our behalf, not against us.  That goes for any and all, no exceptions.  In the real world, poor performance has consequences.

by Marilyn Frith (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 191 comments) on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 11:09:19 AM
 


Richard Mynick is a US citizen who, despite the best efforts of the corporate media, noticed something disturbing about how the 2000 election was decided, & felt it augured poorly for democracy.
Richard MynickRichard Mynick is a US citizen who, despite the best efforts of the corporate media, noticed something disturbing about how the 2000 election was decided, & felt it augured poorly for democracy.

Hmm. You say "America is being destroyed by diversity," &

believe that "as a white protestant person," you should be "very resentful of people like" (Mr Cohen) "who work toward taking power away from the white majority and giving it to minorities." You say that "it is (in) 'our' interests to get those of our own ethnic group voted into power."

When you say "our own ethnic group," you apparently mean white Protestants. You openly oppose voting rights of minorities, yet have deluded yourself into thinking that you speak for "American heritage, values (and) history."

I'm afraid you're at the wrong website. There are lots of nice sites on the web which are explicitly devoted to the doctrines of white supremacy, and where you can enjoy yourself all day long bashing liberals, the Jews, immigrants, blacks, & other minorities -- the very groups you believe are "destroying America"! You'd fit right in!

For example, you could go to a nice website sponsored by the Council of Conservative Citizens, or some such group, and start up a nice conversation with your claim that "northeastern liberals took over the democratic party and marginalized traditional democratic interests in favor of liberal interests." They just love stuff like that! You'd be the most popular gal at the party!

by Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1231 comments) on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 2:32:19 PM
 


Retired Army, Retired RN,Yellow Dog Democrat from a long Yankee line of Democratic Voters, parent of a wonderful Pomeranian!
shantiRetired Army, Retired RN,Yellow Dog Democrat from a long Yankee line of Democratic Voters, parent of a wonderful Pomeranian!

I am a bit confused-

I can't seem to find the part of the article that says we are going to give the vote to everyone who ends up living or visiting(I guess) the US. I don't see the part that says part of Mexico is going to elect the President. Maybe it's my reading glasses and I am missing something there. Minority voting rights are the same as everyone else's. The right to go to the polling place and vote for the candidate for whatever office it there. I don't have to pay a fee to get an ID so why should anyone else? I am 56 years old and have NEVER had to show ID to vote and I have lived and voted in 3 states so far. 

by shanti (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 43 comments) on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:41:39 AM
 


I love animals and live with many rescued cats and dogs. I also love politics and to engage in debates and finally I hope to write articles at opednews.

I consider myself to be a traditional democrat and I'm definitely not a liberal. I think the democratic party should be welcoming to everyone and not be taken over by a bunch of liberals out of the Northeast.

Barbara CornettI love animals and live with many rescued cats and dogs. I also love politics and to engage in debates and finally I hope to write articles at opednews.

I consider myself to be a traditional democrat and I'm definitely not a liberal. I think the democratic party should be welcoming to everyone and not be taken over by a bunch of liberals out of the Northeast.

In reply to shanti

Ignorance is no excuse.

Anyway the elites choose the nominees.  They won't give us a chance to vote for anyone who doesn't support their status quo.

Why don't the democrats allow Ralph Nader into the debates?  If allowed respect and a voice Americans might learn some facts and decide that he better represents the interests of America than either of the major party candidates.

THEN we could address the illegal things that happen in the voting booth including having electronic voting machines - which are easily "fixed" - forced  upon us.

During the last election Al Gore was removed even tho polls showed democrats wanted him - and then Kerry was forced upon us.  This is more important than whether half of Mexico gets to vote or not.

Americans never consented to having Kerry forced upon us.  We didn't have a real choice in the last election.  We never consented to having a bunch of Jewish neocons running everything.  We were told that the Bush White House was Christian.  Isn't that correct?

So don't people have a right to know who chooses nominees and candidates and who funds them?  THEN we can fix the voting problems so that we can choose people whom WE consent to. 

 

by Barbara Cornett (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 15 comments) on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 11:59:09 AM
 


A political junky from childhood cut my teeth on vietnam era protests.Have lived in Bucks county all my life.My favaorite saying" Good ani't cheap and cheap ain't good,never has been never will be"
tjbA political junky from childhood cut my teeth on vietnam era protests.Have lived in Bucks county all my life.My favaorite saying" Good ani't cheap and cheap ain't good,never has been never will be"

What's wrong with the Oregon method?

No stinking corrupt voting machines, time to analyze the candidates and a verifiable paper trail. So progressive it's unrepublican!

by tjb (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 234 comments) on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 4:59:00 PM
 

 

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