"The issue of what happened in 2004 is not an academic one. For the second election in a row, the president of the United States was selected not by the uncontested will of the people but under a cloud of dirty tricks. Given the scope of the GOP machinations, we simply cannot be certain that the right man now occupies the Oval Office -- which means, in effect, that we have been deprived of our faith in democracy itself.
American history is littered with vote fraud -- but rather than learning from our shameful past and cleaning up the system, we have allowed the problem to grow even worse. If the last two elections have taught us anything, it is this: The single greatest threat to our democracy is the insecurity of our voting system. If people lose faith that their votes are accurately and faithfully recorded, they will abandon the ballot box. Nothing less is at stake here than the entire idea of a government by the people.
Voting, as Thomas Paine said, ''is the right upon which all other rights depend.'' Unless we ensure that right, everything else we hold dear is in jeopardy.
Read the full (lengthy!) article at: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen/1
I really don't care whether Bush or Kerry is running the country... (neither would be my choice!). But I DO CARE if election results are being tampered with -- and this is something that must be fixed. It seems to me that there is overwhelming evidence that something was not right leading up to the 2004 election... and you're telling me that in the most technologically advanced country in the world with the most mighty military we can't even run an honest election?? HOLY SHIT, we're in trouble! And this is TWO ELECTIONS IN A ROW!
How does that saying go -- "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
Will the American people ever stand up and refuse to continue being fooled? Go to www.house.gov or www.senate.gov, find contact info for your senators and representative, and demand that they take action NOW to ensure that the 2008 elections will accurately represent the will of the American people!
Yes, yes... class is going well... we're starting to get into the good stuff. Today was a reasonably in-depth look at what we'll study the next two months, and the good lectures kick off tomorrow with Karl-Henrik Robert coming to speak -- he's the founder of The Natural Step. I suppose that I'll probably start getting more into the topics that we are discussing in class... even though it's more blood-curdling to read about US elections...
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