That's why so many people were so bitter about Kerry's concession. They were expecting him to save the Republic, as their champion, and were not seeing the complex political reality in which he and most politicians are embedded. I'm seeing more and more of that reality--for instance, the Dem leadership's failure to cry foul on a fraudulent election SYSTEM long before the election (two Bushite companies tabulating 80% of the vote, with "trade secret," proprietary software--I mean, come on...).
Did Kerry know what his vulnerability to election fraud was? Dunno. But some of them must have--it's their JOB to know how votes are counted, and by whom.
Now we start stumbling across what looks like large-scale, bipartisan corruption--not only in DC--but at the local level, among election officials, where these very lucrative electronic voting business deals are made, and where Dems have winked at the "trade secret" contracts, in exchange of a week at the Beverly Hilton, with sponsors Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia...
See Amaryllis' post --it will burn your eyeballs!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340Our right to vote has been sold out by both parties (for different reasons, it appears--venal reasons for the Dems, and the felicity of having Bush buddies count the votes in secret, for the Repubs).
There is little Kerry could have done--if he'd wanted to--when the only big player support he would have had, Dem leaders and the Party, were either seriously corrupt or ignorant of the blatant non-transparency of the election system. Very hostile news monopolies, very hostile Congress full of Bush "pod people," very hostile corporate rulers and war profiteers, bought and paid for Supreme Court...to whom could he appeal?
Enter the "knight on a white horse" syndrome. Those who succumbed to that dream don't understand why he didn't appeal to "the people." They don't seem to realize that the hostile news monopolies themselves had colluded on the stolen election--by FALSIFYING the exit polls on everybody's TV screens on election night, ALTERING the exit polls (Kerry won) to fit the "official result" from Diebold and ES&S (Bush won), thus depriving the American people of major evidence of election fraud.
The dreamers think that if Kerry had stood up (the champion, the knight on the white horse), it would have changed that news monopoly attitude (and guilt!). They don't understand how hostile and contemptuous an act it was on their part to FALSIFY the exit polls on election night--and what it meant that they did so acting in concert, as a conspiracy.
There is nothing Kerry could have done to change that. They would have dismembered him, like a pack of sharks. And if Kerry's word had aroused public rage--which it well might have--the blame for public disorder and repression would have been put on him.
The answer to all of this would have been an alert, vigilant citizenry, which had gotten onto the electronic voting scam before the election. Some people did most certainly try to cry the alarm--but there just weren't enough of them to counter the black-holing of this vitally important news story.
And that is the answer now--not dreams of what a "knight on a white horse" might do--but an alert, vigilant citizenry. There are many groups and people now fighting for election reform at the state/local level, where control over election systems still resides, and where ordinary people still have some influence, if only they would exert it. It's the last stand for democracy in the U.S. of A., as far as I can see. It's the thing that we citizens can do--and must do. The majority will in this country--the "consent of the governed" on which our democracy is based--is being overpowered and thwarted at every turn BECAUSE our right to vote--and its essential underpinning, our right to honest, transparent elections--has been taken away.
The other thing we can do is news--real news--and we are trying to do that here at DU and with other alternative media. A third thing is involvement in political campaigns and voting. We must not give up on our democracy! We MUST NOT GIVE UP ON IT! This priceless heritage of American democracy that has been passed to us must be passed on to the future--hopefully in a considerably improved form, after all this is over. It is a mighty challenge, to be sure. But just think of all those who have died for your right to vote, if you are thinking of cynically walking away from it because 'it's all rigged." Yeah, it's rigged. And those who have rigged it are counting on you to walk away! Believe me. That's one of their main goals. Also, there is reason to believe that, if Kerry had won by a 20% margin, instead of his (all things considered) 10% margin, the vote would have overwhelmed the fraud plan.
Election reform. Real news. And political action. Those should be our priorities. That's what we the people can do.
I'm not AGAINST "knights on white horses." On the contrary, I love them. And I don't even mind that they might be Republicans, or CIA agents. We've seen some extraordinary courage in this dark hour for our country. Among Democrats, John Conyers comes to mind, and Barbara Boxer, and, recently, Paul Hackett. I guess I'm saying that we need MANY "knights" if it's democracy that we want; we must all become "knights."
And that's what it's all about, isn't it?--the potential of each and every human being, and the sovereignty, nobility and courage that we collectively create.
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