Please step forward if you would prefer ease and convenience over accuracy, security and legitimate voter confidence. Who needs instant gratification when the price is the accuracy of the official report? Who would not wait hours, days, or even a month to actually get the vote counting right? Who said that it would take that long? Look to New Hampshire where their precincts are larger than elsewhere and their ballots are among the most complicated in the country, yet they finish with their hand counting within a few hours.
The school year has just begun and Labor Day, symbolizing summer’s end, is almost upon us. September and October are filled with Jewish holidays which I will be preparing for and celebrating. Being so busy elsewhere means that, for an extended period, I will not be able to dedicate the time and effort that I might like to this ‘project’. My daughter gently reminds me that it is not in my job description to single-handedly wrest back our nation and restore fair elections. I need that nudge occasionally; it’s easy to forget that for this mission to succeed, we really need a national mobilization. No matter how many sleepless nights or hours at the computer I spend, I simply cannot do this by myself. Even if this were all I did and all I thought about.
All of us old enough to remember the ‘60s and ‘70s – so filled with activism, rallies, demonstrations and protests – view the current national docility with uneasiness and desperation. You don’t have to be a wild-eyed hippie to see that there are many serious issues that confront us. We can sit back and wait for someone else to jump in there to do the heavy lifting or we can do it ourselves, together. No one ever said that defending democracy was an easy task. It demands eternal vigilance. Become part of a groundswell of public opinion that loudly and firmly demands the restoration of our traditional national values that include social, political, and economic justice. Come ride that wave.
HELP WANTED – to take back our democracy. Inquire within!
Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which exists for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. We aim to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Electronic (computerized) voting systems are simply antithetical to democratic principles.
CER set up a lending library to achieve the widespread distribution of the DVD Invisible Ballots: A temptation for electronic vote fraud. Within eighteen months, the project had distributed over 3200 copies across the country and beyond. CER now concentrates on group showings, OpEd pieces, articles, reviews, interviews, discussion sessions, networking, conferences, anything that promotes awareness of this critical problem. Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005.
I've been so immersed I forget to breathe and enjoy...
Thanks, Joni. I've been so immersed in the issues of war in Iraq and now likely to be in Iran that I forget to breathe and enjoy those around us who inspire.
GJ, CA
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 1:39:53 PM
Smiley really ought to do a show on election fraud
Nice piece Joan. Publish it as a book review – you have a forum – and send him a copy. I would think he would respond favorably. (Who is his publisher?) Smiley really ought to do a show on election fraud.
This may be a connection: I’ve spoken a few times with Paul Robeson, Jr., who has also written on election fraud. If Smiley is not just a media creation, he would be interested in having Robeson (and maybe me also) as a guest.
SF, PA
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 4:52:04 PM
I'm a big Tavis fan too and was also very disappointed when his program disappeared from NPR. Although I haven't read his book, I've heard snippets about his young life to make your hair curl and its hard to believe that anyone would have the kind of internal strength he did to come out of it so successfully. But he is truly one of the exceptional people. If you ever hear that he is making a presentation in town, let me know.
CB
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Monday, September 3, 2007 at 8:20:35 PM
7 comments
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