We must detach corporate influence from our political system. Members of Congress have been bought out
When Gore emphasized the urgency of global warming in 2000, the media scoffed at him. We must get rid of coal-burning energy, working in concert with China and India.
We must remove our health-care industry from its symbiosis with business and refunnel it to the American people.
Ultimately, however, we can blame our disempowerment on the government and media only so long; we must blame ourselves for not doing everything we can as citizens. We need to organize.
Our elected officials are no longer our leaders. Each one of us must become a leader. We need organizing mechanisms, strategies. We must draw a line in the sand. We won’t support anyone who defends the Iraq war; we must exercise every measure possible to impost our will. We must get out on the streets, express ourselves in every way possible, reach out to the younger generation, learn from the example of the sixties activists.
The challenge of 2008, in short, is to exercise our moral responsibilities.
+++++Lori Rosolowski next took the mike to interview Tim Kettler of the Ohio Election Justice Campaign, which focuses on election 2004. He is a personal witness to the crimes committed in his state, giving evidence to his elected officials who refuse to respond.
“I want to protect the process,” he said. “The key to transparency is accountability.”
A Green Party candidate for secretary of state in 2004, Kettler will seek to become a state senator in 2008.
“We must be principled, creative, and tenacious to elect candidates of this description,” he continued.
And regarding the present secretary of state’s plan to have all counties install optical scanners, he pointed out that these machines lost 6 percent of votes on one election night.
We need hand-counted paper ballots. “Looking forward so we may look back,” he expressed hope that at the end of next year more people will become involved in the election process.
Patty Shaffer, a familiar guest on Voice of the Voters, also an Ohioan election integrity activist, noted that this January 6 marks an important third anniversary. On that day in 2005 the illegal 2004 election was certified.
A busload of activists traveled to Washington, DC, where Congresswoman Barbara Boxer signed on to the opposition along with thirty House representatives. Shaffer suggested that this Sunday we all observe a moment of silence in remembrance of that “enormous footprint.”
There is evidence of huge crimes, she continued, despite missing election records. The SoS and AG refused to become involved. We will be remembered as the characters we have played. At least there is the Internet and programs like VoV to tell our story.
Shaffer asked that the audience contact her state’s attorney general, Marc Dan, and the secretary of state, Jennifer Brunner, and let them know that the word is out and that intervention is necessary. “Our electoral system is broken.”
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