Without all of this, we do not have anything resembling a democracy. And of course we also advocate getting money out of politics and abolishing the electoral college and ending gerrymandering and much more. But unless we can have a reliable method of registering voters and guaranteeing the vote count, then this method of stripping and flipping our elections is nothing more than a guarantee of a corporate controlled state. We have seen it in 2000 and 2004 with the presidency and numerous other actions with the Congress, the state houses and the legislatures. If we don't stop strip and flip this time, it will stand as the definition of the death of what's left of our democracy.
JB: Pretty grim words, Harvey. Thanks for talking with me again. I can't say this was a whole lot of fun but it was important.
An afterthought: this piece is indeed grim reading. I highly recommend that we take the longer view; as it's been said: this is a marathon and not a sprint. Yes, it is understandable that we become cynical and then apathetic and just withdraw from the fray. That's what "they" want. It will make their job of stealing our votes, our voices and our democracy that much easier.
Or, we can simply refuse to give up, decide to fight for every inch. We may ultimately lose anyway, but at least we'll have given it our best. And who's to say that we will lose? Plenty of events have occurred through history that would have seemed quite unlikely just a short time before: think women's suffrage, the Civil Rights movement, protesting the Vietnam War, Occupy or, farther afield, the falling of the Berlin Wall or the Arab Spring.
Here's an antidote to surrender: Read Paul Rogat Loeb's updated version of The Impossible Will Take a Little While. It will help you get your mojo back. I promise!
***
*YouTube by Mark Crispin Miller on the mysterious death of Michael Connell
some of my past interviews with Harvey:
Harvey Wasserman: How the GOP Bought, Rigged, Stole and Lynched the 2014 Election 11.14.2014
Harvey Wasserman Warns Against Complacency About Election "Results" 11.12.2012
Harvey Wasserman on New Book: "Will the GOP Steal America's 2012 Election" 9..2.2012
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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