Certainly the outlook for democracy seems pretty bleak—and how could it be otherwise? The surest way to make a problem worse is to pretend it isn’t there, which is exactly what our press and politicians have been doing; and the rest is, unfortunately, history.
But history can be changed, as We the People have continually learned, from our refusal of colonial subjection, to our (partial) establishment as a democratic republic, to the abolition of slavery, to the enfranchisement of women, to the end of formal segregation and the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
After that, our progress seemed to stop, and it must now resume: for history can be changed, and for the better, but only through our own unbreakable commitment to, and action for, enlightened policies for the renewal of our democracy. Based squarely on America’s first principles, such policies would not be wholly new, however revolutionary they must sound in these bad, backward times. As it was certain policies that got us into this horrific situation, certain other policies can get us out.
The fact is that We the People are in lousy shape, and must get straight as soon as possible. For we are all addicted to the horse race—and we can’t win, because it’s fixed. And so, before we end up losing everything, we need to pull ourselves together, face the music, and then take all necessary steps to change the tune.
A 12-Step Program to Save US Democracy
1. Repeal the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
This step will inevitably follow an in-depth investigation of how HAVA came to be.
2. Replace all electronic voting with hand-counted paper ballots (HCPB).
Although politicians and the press dismiss this idea as utopian, the people would support it just as overwhelmingly as national health care, strong environmental measures, US withdrawal from Iraq, and other sane ideas.
3. Get rid of computerized voter rolls.
It isn’t just the e-voting machines that are obstructing our self-government. According to USA Today, thousands of Americans have had their names mysteriously purged from the electronic databases now used nationwide as records of our registration.
4. Keep all private vendors out of our elections.
With their commercial interests, trade secrets and unaccountable proceedings, private companies should have no role in the essential process of republican self-government.
5. Make it illegal for the TV networks to declare who won before the vote-count is complete.
Certainly the corporate press will scream about its First Amendment Rights, but they don’t have the right to interfere with our elections. When they declare a winner when we don’t yet even know if the election was legitimate, they delegitimize all audits, recounts and even first counts of the vote as the mere desperate measures of “sore losers.”
6. Set up an exit polling system, publicly supported, to keep the vote-counts honest.
Mark's new book, Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008, a collection 14 essays on Bush/Cheney's election fraud since (and including) 2000, is just out, from Ig Publishing.
He is also the author of Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform,
which is now out in paperback from Basic Books, with over 100 pages of new material.
He may be reached through his blog at markcrispinmiller.com. A movie based on his
off-Broadway show, A Patriot Act, is available on DCD at www.patriotnation.com.
This is a great list. Needless to say, if even a fraction of these measures are implemented, it will turn America from a corporate plutocracy back into a people's democracy.
I'd like to take one exception: draconian prison penalties aren't the solution for anything. They don't work for drugs or any other crime, and they won't work for election fraud. The key is enforcement, not longer sentences. Perpetrators need to know that they are likely to get caught. This is far more effective than the notion that, in the unlikely event that they do get caught, they'll face life imprisonment on the third offence.
by
Josh Mitteldorf (17 articles, 54 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 37 comments)
on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 9:03:45 PM
I agree with most of Mark’s points, but I think that the most important issue is that our votes are now counted in secret except for a few counties in New Hampshire. If we focus on the dangers of secret vote counting, then I think that we have the best chance of reforming our election system.
Although Mark knows that counting votes in secret is dangerous and unconstitutional, some reading this may not. Some may not even realize that computers count in secret.
If you want more information on this issue and want to read the Constitutional provisions which are violated by secret vote counting, check it out www.ProjectVoteCount.com Don’t miss the FAQ page http://www.projectvotecount.com/faq.aspx and the South Carolina election news. It’s the biggest suppressed news that many, who are now out of the Presidential race, wish that they would have acted on. Plus, more big news is coming soon!
by
Mark Adams (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 181 comments)
on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 10:30:22 PM
If you get your 12 steps fully implemented, Mark, and hold an honest election where every eligible citizen can vote, then what?
Suppose we elect a first-rate candidate for president and the corporations and the military-industrial complex don't like that person. They have three Constitutional options for not installing the person we elect:
1. Get the electoral college to install the losing candidate. They have the final say as to who becomes president according to the Constitution, so unless you have a revolution, you're stuck with the loser again.
2. Get the Supreme Court to install the losing candidate. They also have the final say, as there is no appeal from the Supreme Court, so unless you have a revolution, you're stuck with the loser again.
3. Persuade the winner (the usual offer is plomo o plata, lead or silver, a bribe or a bullet) to concede to the loser. Unless you have a revolution, you're stuck with the loser again.
But that's just for President and Vice-President. When it comes to Congress, the Constitution is even worse. Article 1, Section 5, grants Congress itself the sole power to judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of members of Congress. So if you elect a really good Representative or Senator and the corporations and the military-industrial complex don't like that person, Congress simply "judges" that they weren't elected and you're stuck with the loser again. You can appeal the judgement of Congress only to Congress. And they're not likely to reverse themselves. So again you're stuck with the losers.
The fact is that our beloved Benjamin Franklin was a big fat liar. He admitted that the Constitution didn't give us a democracy, but he pretended that it had given us a republic. In a republic, the people have the power to elect their representatives. The people have the final say in who will represent them. Our Constitution does not grant us the final say in who will represent us. This is not a republic.
You want 12 steps?
1. Admit that we have a problem.
2. Acknowledge that we are powerless to solve it through elections.
3. Decide that since we have neither a democracy nor a republic, we might as well have a democracy.
4. Make a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves. Do we really want a democracy or would we rather remain slaves?
5. Admit to ourselves and to the world that we have not been a free people.
6. Decide that we're ready to have an actual government of, by, and for the people.
7. Humbly ask the socialist countries of the world for help.
8. Make a list of all the indigenous peoples we've exterminated or enslaved, the countries we've invaded for no reason, the democratically elected leaders we've overthrown or assassinated and replaced with tyrants, the innocent people we've tortured and killed, those whose resources we've stolen, etc., and apologize to them. But keep on with the other steps while doing this, as this step could take a LONG long time.
9. Resolve to insist upon an honest democratic form of government and refuse to indulge the present corrupt government in any way, shape, or form. Don't ask them for anything, and don't vote in their rigged elections. A legitimate government must have the consent of the people, so we must withdraw our consent.
10. Draw up a Constitution that does what the preamble to our old Constitution said that it intended to do, but never actually did. Ensure economic and human rights to all by ensuring the rights to the necessities of life, not just an empty promise of "life" without food, clothing, shelter, a job, health care, education (unless you're a member of the oligarchy or their bureaucracy), and establish equality so that there can be tranquillity and peace.
11. Refuse to go shopping, work, school, or anyplace else until we get a true democracy.
12. After democracy has been established, try to make amends to those who have been harmed by predatory capitalism, and attempt to restore the land, the forests, the oceans, the rivers, the fish, the animals, the air, etc., from the corporate pollution and destruction that has almost destroyed the earth.
What good are honest elections if only millionaires and billionaires have a chance of winning? What kind of election is it when the choice boils down to getting out a micrometer to attempt to measure which of the two major war criminal candidates is a fraction of a millimeter less evil?
Get real, Mark. You're a grown man, an intellectual, and you've got to know better. There are several HUNDRED things we'd need in order to have honest elections, including public funding, nonpartisan districting, proportional representation, equitable ballot access, a Fairness Doctrine to ensure unbiased media coverage, ranked choice or approval voting, the right of the people to directly impeach any elected official for malfeasance, etc., etc., and if any ONE of those hundreds of things is missing, you don't have a free, fair, honest election, which means that you don't have a republic, no less a democracy.
When something is only a little bit broken, you can repair it. When it is totally broken, you need a new one. The reason our government is totally broken and corrupt is because the founders wrote our Constitution to protect property rather than people, and gave the rich the final say in government because they didn't trust poor people not to agitate for food, clothing and shelter. Without the right to the basic necessities of life, there is no inalienable right to life. And without a true participatory democracy, something we call socialism, elections are just a dirty joke. And when our economy crashes, the world will still be laughing.
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 4:22:07 AM
For your wise and important comments on this article; I continue to be amazed and dejected by the small thinking of supposed dissidents that want true, major political reforms to our corrupt and dysfunctional SYSTEM. I urge you to pay more attention to using what the Founders gave us in Article V of the Constitution - a convention of state delegates to propose amendments. All the truly bold, major and necessary systemic reforms - like getting all private money out of campaigns - to our government and political system can only happen through constitutional amendments. Learn more at www.foavc.org.
by
Joel S. Hirschhorn (126 articles, 31 quicklinks, 58 diaries, 508 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 10:21:08 AM
I have to admit, I didn't read all of your response and I don't care to. Because the very premise of argument is wrong. The problem is not the Constitution, it's us, you and me. First and foremost, we don't participate. And by participate I don't mean run for office. The Constitution was concieved with the perception that "we" would get together and resolve our differences and together support our elected officials and hold them ACCOUNTABLE. Look around, I mean litteraly, how many people around you have you talked to today about what is going on? I'm just a guilty. I realize not everybody wants to talk about politics, in fact it has become a cliche not to. But surely there are those of us who do. And we don't even get together. Second, We can't agree and no one will concede. We are divided and seperated. What we need is a grassroots effort that brings us together locally, not based on pollitical stances, but on fundamental principles. For example, I'm a little right. I'd like to see a smaller government. But, I'll concede to any social reform you want as long as you can restore the constition and end the impedement of National Sovernty. I believe if we would all stand together, that the contitution would work for us.
by
Keith Fisher (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 22 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 11:25:59 AM
You are right in viewing the voting process as our only means of taking back our democracy. However, the only way it will change is through the same political system that stripped it from us and that is highly unlikely as they have developed a system that best assures they can attain their chief goal – getting re-elected.
While hand counting each ballot is a much better method than the use of the corporate counting software programs another method is available that does not hand count each ballot, but performs an internal audit of the count PLUS enables the voter the opportunity to confirm their vote was counted as they intended.
While the system is computer driven it is open source and can be inspected until the cows come home. It could be controlled by the government, where it should never have left, and does not need exit polls in order to give some idea of the outcome. As you are well aware those exit polls were meaningless in Ohio and several other states that indicated Kerry the winner, however the tainted vote count showed otherwise for the first time in history.
Give it a test drive and I am certain you will agree that it is the best, most secure, you have come across and even surpasses the hand count for reliability.
Thank You.
Dennis Kaiser
by
Dennis Kaiser (14 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 229 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 11:24:48 AM
Professor Miller, although I agree with this concise and might I add impressive list you've composed, I must also agree with author Margaret Kimberley's assessment, that Democracy in this country is in-fact dead and that our current system is indeed a recipe for continued warfare, loss of civil liberties and increased corporate power.
Perhaps at some point in time parts of your 12-step program could be implemented. However, do you believe this would occur before or after the Revolution ?
by
Munich (0 articles, 67 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 831 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 12:15:09 PM
The reason they don't give a damn is because the system is working just fine for them. We can say Corporations and the elite.
We vote once every four years - for the months leading up to that vote we are sold centrist meaningless sound bytes with incredible flexibility for interpretation. Just try and hold an elected official accountable, we the people have no tools available to do that.
Once elected - it's us that get the ride.
I agree with the previous comment that "Democracy in this country is in-fact dead".
Our current system is designed for perpetual warfare, and the destruction of human race. Either we will someday fix it - or we will all perish - so far it is looking like we are opting for the latter.
Having the ability to destroy the world 50 times over, and creating an environment where other countries fear our empire - just causes them to arm themselves to the teeth.
We have demonstrated, through the failed but continuing illegal and aggressive invasion of Iraq, just what we are capable of. Mass slaughter of people that were not involved in 9/11, had no WMD, had no Al Qaeda until we got there, and were a sovereign nation.
The ideal of democracy is still alive - but we have never had anything remotely resembling it.
Corporations have no accountability, there are no checks and balances on their power and they have infiltrated the government and are writing the laws. They have no social conscience - and neither do the men and women that benefit from their coffers. Those are our representatives, and there is no incentive for them to change.
People are so insecure about their jobs and the welfare of their families, that they shutter to think and fail to dig into the details of just how extensively this nation has been sold out.
Tough times are ahead.
by
August Adams (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 442 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 1:28:16 PM
The reason they don't give a damn is because the system is working just fine for them. We can say Corporations and the elite.
We vote once every four years - for the months leading up to that vote we are sold centrist meaningless sound bytes with incredible flexibility for interpretation. Just try and hold an elected official accountable, we the people have no tools available to do that.
Once elected - it's us that get the ride.
I agree with the previous comment that "Democracy in this country is in-fact dead".
Our current system is designed for perpetual warfare, and the destruction of human race. Either we will someday fix it - or we will all perish - so far it is looking like we are opting for the latter.
Having the ability to destroy the world 50 times over, and creating an environment where other countries fear our empire - just causes them to arm themselves to the teeth.
We have demonstrated, through the failed but continuing illegal and aggressive invasion of Iraq, just what we are capable of. Mass slaughter of people that were not involved in 9/11, had no WMD, had no Al Qaeda until we got there, and were a sovereign nation.
The ideal of democracy is still alive - but we have never had anything remotely resembling it.
by
August Adams (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 442 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 1:29:02 PM
If this slave may be so bold as to reply, the criticism offered here is just hot air. Certainly the system needs a revolution more extensive and profound than my 12 steps suggest. My program doesn't deal at all with how campaigns are financed, so it would not, in itself, prevent Big Money from controlling everything; nor does my program deal with media reform, without which any real change will be extremely difficult. I also didn't broach the subject of proportional representation, which seems to me will be essential if we're going to have a range of choices other than the usual
corporate duopoly. In short, my program deals exclusively with voting rights, and the mechanics of how fair and accurate elections might take place.
I call Mark Smith's counter-manifesto "hot air" because it offer lots of windy, heated proclamations without any hint as to exactly how his program might be realized. How do we (whoever "we" are) do all that deciding and resolving and list-making? How do we revise the Constitution? Do "we" all just show up at Mark's place, and have him instruct us? The only way to realize his program, or do anything collectively, is through the exercise of voting rights——unless there's a spontaneous continental demonstration of the General Will. That, of course, could always happen. But it isn't very likely; and the alternative 12 steps won't make it happen, either, even with the help of what Mark calls "the socialist countries."
The US system is indeed corrupt. On the other hand, a lot of people in this country——the majority——actually cast votes against Bush/Cheney. As dismal as the range of choices was, their vote against the worse one was a clear expression of their will, and therefore sancrosanct. The implication of the criticisms here is that those voters were a bunch of fools, both for believing that they ought to vote at all and for their preference of one choice over the other. I would suggest that they were not fools, and that their votes should have been honored——and that the system should be altered radically to ensure that their votes will be honored in the future.
If they're a bunch of fools, then so are all the ripped-off and indignant voters the world over, from Pakistian to Mexico to Kenya to Russia, as well as all those poor Americans, white, black, brown and red, who did turn out, and in unprecedented numbers, to vote
against Bush/Cheney (twice).
The only way for all such peoples to begin to realize democracy is to forge a voting system that can't be controlled by any interests other than themselves. My 12 steps address that possibility. I don't see what Mark's program would accomplish, other than to make a lot of armchair radicals feel righteous.
One last point. There's a lot more to democracy than voting——protest, litigation, lobbying, direct action (including general strikes, as Mark suggests)——and a real democracy entails all such activity. However, there can be no democracy without elections. Voting is like breathing. Respiration per se isn't living; but if you can't
breathe at all, you're dead.
by
Mark Crispin Miller (44 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 2:06:26 PM
I so agree with every step, Mark. I was literally gobsmacked when I realized that Harris and Blackwell held those election posts. And wasn't Blackwell or his wife the head of the Bush re-election committee in Ohio? We couldn't have a worse method of electing our officials if we had set out determined to do so!
by
via (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 3:33:54 PM
How about if we just catch them cheating or keep them from cheating?
If we catch them, then the people might demand that we rid our election system of secret vote counting. You know, it’s a lot easier to cheat when no one knows who the voters really voted for, and if public vote counting is good enough for elections for Prom Queen, then it should be good enough to bring back in the rest of our country at least for other really important elections, you know, like for President and Congress.
If we keep them from cheating, then we just have to hope enough people can realize who not to vote for. While that may be difficult, as Professor Miller points out, the voters were able to see through the fear-mongering and propaganda twice.
How can we keep them from cheating? We have to do something to let them know that we will catch them if they cheat. It’s really not that difficult. It only takes a few volunteers at a few precincts in a few counties in each state doing a citizens’ exit poll.
Wow, that sounds like work. Do you think that anyone would do something like that? Oh, I think someone just did. See, www.ProjectVoteCount.com Don’t miss the FAQ page http://www.projectvotecount.com/faq.aspx and the South Carolina election news. It’s the biggest suppressed news that many who are now out of the Presidential race wish that they would have acted on. Plus, more big news is coming soon!
by
Mark Adams (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 181 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 4:33:16 PM
....then why the embargo against Cuba, the ban on travel to cuba, the hundreds of assassination attempts by the U.S. against Fidel Castro, the smear campaigns against Hugo Chavez and the millions of dollars to fund the opposition in Venezuela? Surely if Cuba is just hot air, we could comfortably ignore it. Cuba is a tiny island, it doesn't have anything we need, we certainly don't have to compensate the Mafia and the big corporations for not being allowed to continue to extract billions of dollars from the Cuban economy as they did for so long. Why not just blow it off as a bunch of hot air? Maybe because they're not dependent on the dollar (which looks about to crash) or on foreign oil, the IMF, or the World Bank, their population is 100% literate and ours is not, they have a longer life span than we do, they have guaranteed jobs and housing, free higher education, and free health care, and they've done it all with no help and a lot of opposition from us.
How did Cuba revise their Constitution? How did Venezuela revise their Constitution? They didn't do it by begging their corrupt governments and corrupt political parties to do it for them.
If you don't know by now that our elections are rigged, you haven't been doing your homework, and if you think that people who vote in rigged elections aren't fools, I've got to wonder how you got to be a professor. We've been rigging elections in other countries for decades. That's one of the things our CIA has specialized in doing.
You can have a real participatory democracy without elections. You select people at random to fill public offices and you recall them immediately if they don't follow your orders. You rotate offices quickly so that nobody has a chance to become entrenched and corrupt. That's how the Zapatistas do it and their leaders have to "lead by obeying." That's how a government of the people operates, from the bottom up, not from the top down.
Voting isn't like breathing any more than driving a car is like breathing. If you run out of gas or don't bother to vote you don't die, which you will if you stop breathing.
This is from a speech given by Fidel Castro in 1967:
"To those who believe that a peaceful transition is possible in some countries of this continent, we say that we cannot understand what kind of peaceful transition they refer to, unless it is a peaceful transition in agreement with imperialism. The bourgeoisie, the oligarchies and imperialism control all the means for peaceful struggle. Sometimes you hear a revolutionary say: They crushed us, they organized 200 radio programs, so many newspapers, so many magazines, so many TV shows, so many of this and so many of the other. And one wants to ask: What did you expect? That they would put TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, printing shops, everything at your disposal? Are you unaware that those are precisely the instruments the ruling class uses to crush revolutions?
They complain that the bourgeoisie and the oligarchies crush them with their media campaigns, as if it is a surprise. The first thing that a revolutionary has to understand is that the ruling classes have organized the state in such a way as to maintain themselves in power by all possible means. And they use not only arms, but all possible instruments to influence, deceive and confuse.
Those who believe that they are going to win elections against the imperialists are just plain naive; and those who believe that the day will come when they will take power through elections, are super-naive. It is the repressive apparatus by which the ruling classes maintain the status quo, and just how much one has to struggle -- how difficult it is."
Mark, if everyone wants to come to my house, that's fine with me, but it would be a lot better if they just read the books and figure things out for themselves.
You wrote: "The only way for all such peoples to begin to realize democracy is to forge a voting system that can't be controlled by any interests other than themselves."
Actually, that's what our rich, white, slaveholding, genocidal founders did. They devised a system that couldn't be controlled by any interests other than their own.
The only way to begin to realize democracy, Mark, is to stop thinking in terms of control and to start thinking in terms of cooperation. Not dominance capitalism, but egalitarian socialism. You can't get there by voting for corporate candidates in rigged elections, but you also can't get there by perpetuating a system that has never been fair, is drenched in blood, and cares more about profits than about people.
So which war criminal do you intend to vote for, Mark, so as to further your goal of honest elections? Silly question -- I know you'll take the Democratic Party war criminal over the Republican Party war criminal any day of the week. After all, war criminals can't be all bad if they are gracious enough to let you vote for one of them. Maybe if you vote for them enough, campaign for them hard enough, and send them enough money, one day they might invite you to the Bohemian Grove, the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, or the Bilderbergers, where you can see for yourself how collegial the Democratic and Republican war criminals are when they're formulating global policies.
You can't pretend you don't know that we started a war of aggression in Iraq and killed over a million innocent people. Everyone knows. You either resist, or you are complicit. A vote for a war criminal is a vote for war crimes. And the blood on your hands when you leave the polling place will never wash off.
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 5:15:03 PM
If I could also note that I was somewhat offended by your insolent description of Ben Franklin. It was a bit insipid wouldn't you agree? Remember it was Mr. Franklin who warned that the republic would survive only if we knew how to defend it against ambitious politicians who would inevitably try to subvert it. Did he not ?
The next U.S. president will face three key foreign policy challenges: setting a course for victory in the terrorists' war on global order, strengthening the international system the terrorists seek to destroy, and extending the system's benefits. And we have set in motion changes to the international system that promise a safer and better world for generations to come. But this war will be long, and we are still in its early stages.
The article goes on to mention "Democracy is a noble ideal and promoting it abroad is the right long-term goal of U.S. policy."
So who is it exactly that will be prospering from these extended system's benefits? Surely it won't be the citizens of this country!
And it is these abhorrent policies which continue to tear at the fabric of our once great country. No longer is it about "We the People." That's neither a Democracy or a Republic.
by
Munich (0 articles, 67 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 831 comments)
on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 7:35:23 PM
Ben Franklin said that we had a republic and we did not. Our Constitution did not give us a republic, so it there was really no way for us to defend what we never had in the first place.
In a republic THE PEOPLE can elect their respresentative. The people have the final say in who their representatives are. Our Constitution did not allow us to directly vote for President and Vice-President, and gave the Electoral College the final say.
It also specified a Supreme Court consisting of unelected people with no particular qualifications as being the highest law of the land from which there is no appeal, so they also have the final say, above the vote of the people, in who will be President and Vice-President.
The Constitution did allow us to vote directly for Congressional representatives, but again it gave the final say, the sole ability to "judge the elections, returns, and qualifications" of its members, to Congress itself, not to the people. So when the people of Florida elected Clint Curtis, Congress swore in his opponent and there was nothing that the people could do about it. Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained that it was important for the people to have representation. So instead of investigating or calling for a new election, Pelosi decided to swear in somebody who was NOT elected, would not represent the people, and, in fact, would do the opposite of what their constituents want, just as Pelosi does.
I always liked Ben Franklin and he did a lot of good things, but when he told us that we had a republic, which we did not, somebody should have told him to go fly a kite.
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Friday, February 1, 2008 at 8:39:43 PM
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