The congressional election contests unfairly dismissed, the California election contest prematurely terminated by swearing in, and the problem of secret vote counting on electronics share a common theme: It is not possible to run democratic elections without a major role by We the People, and the government has too many conflicts and partisanships to do the job of auditing itself, investigating itself, or potentially undermining a fellow Member in Congress.
The necessity of a role for We the People in controlling elections should not surprise us, we are after all the master, the government the servant. In the Judiciary branch, for example, We the People still walk in to the jury box and judge innocence and guilt, life and death, liability and non-liability.
But our elimination from our proper role controlling elections? This is a crime against democracy. We need to remember who we are as Americans, and act soon to tell the House and the Senate in DC and in our state houses, that we will not stand for secret vote counting, that they most definitely will not pass laws purporting to authorize or legalize that even indirectly, that it is a shame of immense proportions for them to vote for secret counting of votes in their own re-election races, by simply amending the Help America Vote Act with HR 811 without abolishing secret vote counting. That this huge conflict of interest, voting on their own re-elections, ought to sensitize Congress to a great need to act against its own perceived interests, and that politicians who love representative democracy and their own constituents surely ought to be competing with each other to see who can restore more power to the people in elections than the other guy.
Because if they don't, if they keep the secret counting easily manipulated by insiders and their cavalier attitudes toward election contests, our #1 inalienable right to kick crooked bums out will remain violated and denied by our own government. Denying We the People the steering wheel of elections keeps our government "stuck on stupid" and out of touch with the public, unable to obey the public will. Without elections, featuring voting as the right that controls all other rights, it is we who are the slaves, and not the government.
This, if it remains, is a revolution against democracy. It is un-American. It must change by all means necessary.
FIRST, SECURE OUR RIGHTS. ARGUE ABOUT POLITICS LATER.
The Star Spangled Banner always ends with a question:
"O Say Does that Star Spangled Banner Yet Wave,
"O'er the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave?"
A land of free and brave people will not fight amongst themselves on partisan elections results, they will first secure their most important inalienable rights. A land of free and brave patriots will never again let their elections get out of their sight, or out of control.
So if you feel as I feel, if you wish as I wish, that America will never become a banana republic with an out of control government, then talk to your fellow rulers, your fellow citizens, spread the word far and wide, and make the US House, the US Senate, and your state legislatures hear Freedom's bell, so they know what it sounds like. We are not the Slaves, we are in charge. We are watching. We demand control of our elections. We will not give up. Democracy and Freedom both depend on that.
* * * * *
http://www.psephos-us.org
Paul Lehto practiced law as an Everett, Washington business law and consumer fraud attorney. He served on the Washington State Board of Governors and by appointment eight lawyers with regulatory authority over what WA continuing legal education. He was voted a Rising Star in both 2003 and 2004 and nominated as a Washington SuperLawyer by Washington Law and Politics magazine. Prior to graduating with honors from Seattle University School of Law, Paul worked for a state senator in Michigan and managed several counties as a field organizer for the senator's Congressional campaign. Paul served as one of the so-called army of 17,000 lawyers on election day 2004, which eventually led to the publication of a well received paper on evidence of election irregularities in Snohomish County Washington. Paul was lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Snohomish County and Sequoia to eject electronic voting machines with their secret vote counting from the elections in Snohomish County, represented by another member of the Board of governors, Randy Gordon. He is helping to lead a national wave of lawsuits using legal theories similar to the Snohomish lawsuit. Paul is co-counsel on the CA50 lawsuit which has just been appealed to the California Supreme Court. Lehto co-founded Psephos, focusing on restoring democracy to this country.
The necessity of a role for We the People in controlling elections should not surprise us, we are after all the master, the government the servant. In the Judiciary branch, for example, We the People still walk in to the jury box and judge innocence and guilt, life and death, liability and non-liability.
But our elimination from our proper role controlling elections? This is a crime against democracy. We need to remember who we are as Americans, and act soon to tell the House and the Senate in DC and in our state houses, that we will not stand for secret vote counting, that they most definitely will not pass laws purporting to authorize or legalize that even indirectly, that it is a shame of immense proportions for them to vote for secret counting of votes in their own re-election races, by simply amending the Help America Vote Act with HR 811 without abolishing secret vote counting. That this huge conflict of interest, voting on their own re-elections, ought to sensitize Congress to a great need to act against its own perceived interests, and that politicians who love representative democracy and their own constituents surely ought to be competing with each other to see who can restore more power to the people in elections than the other guy.
Because if they don't, if they keep the secret counting easily manipulated by insiders and their cavalier attitudes toward election contests, our #1 inalienable right to kick crooked bums out will remain violated and denied by our own government. Denying We the People the steering wheel of elections keeps our government "stuck on stupid" and out of touch with the public, unable to obey the public will. Without elections, featuring voting as the right that controls all other rights, it is we who are the slaves, and not the government.
This, if it remains, is a revolution against democracy. It is un-American. It must change by all means necessary.
FIRST, SECURE OUR RIGHTS. ARGUE ABOUT POLITICS LATER.
The Star Spangled Banner always ends with a question:
"O Say Does that Star Spangled Banner Yet Wave,
"O'er the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave?"
A land of free and brave people will not fight amongst themselves on partisan elections results, they will first secure their most important inalienable rights. A land of free and brave patriots will never again let their elections get out of their sight, or out of control.
So if you feel as I feel, if you wish as I wish, that America will never become a banana republic with an out of control government, then talk to your fellow rulers, your fellow citizens, spread the word far and wide, and make the US House, the US Senate, and your state legislatures hear Freedom's bell, so they know what it sounds like. We are not the Slaves, we are in charge. We are watching. We demand control of our elections. We will not give up. Democracy and Freedom both depend on that.
* * * * *
http://www.psephos-us.org
Paul Lehto practiced law as an Everett, Washington business law and consumer fraud attorney. He served on the Washington State Board of Governors and by appointment eight lawyers with regulatory authority over what WA continuing legal education. He was voted a Rising Star in both 2003 and 2004 and nominated as a Washington SuperLawyer by Washington Law and Politics magazine. Prior to graduating with honors from Seattle University School of Law, Paul worked for a state senator in Michigan and managed several counties as a field organizer for the senator's Congressional campaign. Paul served as one of the so-called army of 17,000 lawyers on election day 2004, which eventually led to the publication of a well received paper on evidence of election irregularities in Snohomish County Washington. Paul was lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Snohomish County and Sequoia to eject electronic voting machines with their secret vote counting from the elections in Snohomish County, represented by another member of the Board of governors, Randy Gordon. He is helping to lead a national wave of lawsuits using legal theories similar to the Snohomish lawsuit. Paul is co-counsel on the CA50 lawsuit which has just been appealed to the California Supreme Court. Lehto co-founded Psephos, focusing on restoring democracy to this country.
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