Even tho bureaucrats are unable to secure computerized databases [that's 4 separate links], Secretaries of State across the nation seek to centralize voter registration in statewide databases. This is as absurd as using scientifically discredited computerized voting systems, but just as profitable, no doubt, for the few corporations that win the contract.
Corporate invasion of elections is relevant in any effort to assert democracy. The use of machines to tally votes violates the tenets of a fair vote count: secret ballots and open vote counts (Goodwin-Gill, p.62). Without an open vote count, we lack even the semblance of a free people.Â
When government loses trillions of dollars in these Middle East oil wars, and then again votes to re-fund the war effort, I have to wonder that anyone pays taxes. When I learn that Congress funds mercenaries at $600 a day in a parallel war, with public funds, I have no doubt that Congress serves corporate interests, rather than the public. (Also see Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, 2007.)
The Hope of the Hopi
Working from within the system clearly isn't getting the job done. Corporations have more power and are less accountable today than ever before, in their 800-year history, but especially in the past 120 years. We need to apply creative genius in waking up the sleeping giant, those Good Americans who can't seem to face who we are, as a nation, or who feel helpless to change things. But let us not lie to them. Let us not continue to promote those myths the dominant culture feeds us.
If "we are the leaders we've been waiting for" as the Hopi assert, let's rely on moderns who exemplify the ideals we seek to invoke. In Chapter 17 of Gangs of America, "Fighting Back" details several modern actions to reassert citizen sovereignty. Nace notes that "what most distinguishes the tactics of the new populists is an aversion to conventional solutions ..."
One writer Nace quotes, who captures my sentiments, is Richard Grossman:
"Too many organizing campaigns accept the corporation's rules, and wrangle on corporate turf. We lobby Congress for limited laws. We have no faith in regulatory agencies, but turn to them for relief. We plead with corporations to be socially responsible, then show them how to increase profits by being a bit less harmful. How much more strength, time, and hope will we invest in such dead ends?"
Isn't it better � and more honest � to quote those who grasp and have incorporated the concepts of democracy? Isn't it better to quote those who "walk the talk" and who still walk today? Instead of looking backward, shouldn't we be looking at the world today for our greatest thinkers? I hope I've named enough of them to convince you that the world is full of people who support democracy, who have never owned slaves and who fully embrace that regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or national origin, we are all born with certain inalienable rights. Many of us even extend these inalienable rights to the entire biosphere.
Let's build our movement on ruthless honesty. Among ourselves, let's practice what we preach. Let's go all the way with democracy and rectify the sins of our fathers. Â
Sources:
Rady Ananda, Electronic Voting & Fair Vote Counts: 15 Expert Reports Jan 18, 2007-
Boo Who Vu? Â Apr 13 2007-
- A People's Forum: Debating Among Ourselves, First June 29, 2007Dave Berman,
Reflections on Independence, July 4, 2007Stephen Breyer,
Dissenting Opinion in Bush v. Gore, 2000, discussed here and reproduced here.Andreas Bummel, Developing International Democracy for a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations: A Strategic Paper of the Committee for a Democratic U.N. Â May 2005.
CBS, The War on Waste, Jan 29, 2002
Victoria Collier,
A Brief History of Computerized Election Fraud in America Oct 25, 2003Data Security Breaches: Several websites track this, including this one and this one. In this paragraph I also cite a couple articles: Jonathan Krim and Allan Holmes (see below)Â
Steve Fainaru, Iraq Contractors Face Growing Parallel War: As Security Work Increases, So Do Casualties, June 16, 2007 Guy S Goodwin-Gill,
Zoltan Grossman, Let the Bloody Truth Be Told: A Chronology of U.S. Imperialism from Wounded Knee to Iraq, 2004.
Joshua Holland, Federal Contractors Owe Billions in Unpaid Taxes, April 30, 2007. Allan Holmes,
Derrick Jensen, Endgame, New York: Seven Stories Press. 2006
Jonathan Krim, Net Aids Theft of Sensitive ID Data: Critical Social Security numbers widely available. April 4, 2005.
George Monbiot, World Parliament, which is a brief introduction to the concept he fully developed in Age of Consent: Manifesto for a New World Order, London: New Press, 2003.
MSNBC/Forbes, U.S. Corporations Paying Less in Taxes. September 23, 2004
Ted Nace, Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Pubs. 2003.Â
Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, New York: Nation Books, 2007. John Paul Stevens,
Jim Stratten, Sarasota's 'Undervotes' Were Examined in 5 State Races, Nov 26, 2006.
U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Constitution Amendments.
U.S. Supreme Court, Bush v. Gore, 2000
U.S. Supreme Court , Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 1886
Alan Wall, et al. Electoral Management Design Handbook, Stockholm, Sweden: International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2006. Chapter 2 discusses women in politics. My review here.
Westminster UNA, Charter 99: A Charter for Global Democracy, Our call for international accountability, justice, sustainable development and democracy. 1999
Graphic by an unknown Columbus, Ohio artist, 2005.
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