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ELECTOPRESTIDIGITATION—
NOT AS LONG OR CATCHY AS SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS, BUT PERHAPS MORE APT
Congratulations to John Conyers and Barbara Boxer! They and colleagues like Jesse Jackson are true patriots, but they appear to be voices crying in the wilderness. With the possible exception of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, the mainstream media and the rest of the country have been ignoring them. I wish them all the luck in the world, but I fear their valiant fight will soon be over.
When the Senate concludes its debate, somnolent Democrats will slumber peacefully until the media rouses them for the next sleepwalk to the polls. It is as though we are a party of “sleepers,” like Franco in the Manchurian Candidate, who are activated just in time to participate in a coup d'état that takes place at the conclusion of every presidential and mid-term election.
I understand the sentiment that is drilled into most U.S. politicians (and especially Democratic politicos) that the process is more important than the outcome and that the democratic electoral system must be preserved at all costs. That makes sense when minor irregularities that do not amount to fraud are involved.
However, in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, irregularities were not all that happened. Fraud occurred, and it was not the isolated work of single individuals. A concerted effort was made to overturn the will of the electorate in key voting precincts and counties in swing states through the manipulation of voting machines and central tabulator programs, like Diebold’s GEMS database.
The Democratic leadership appears, for the most part, to be incapable of comprehending what has happened. For some inexplicable reason, they seem unable or unwilling to understand how easily fraud can be perpetrated with the insecure voting machinery and software put in place by election officials and voting-machine vendors that are blatant supporters of the GOP.
Since the Democratic Party and national media are once again failing to confront the problem, it will inevitably be worse when the next electoral cycle rolls around. Republicans are getting close to the 60 percent majority in the Senate that will permit them to shove repressive legislation down the country’s throat without any possibility of a minority filibuster.
I was willing to suspend judgment in 2000. I looked away again during the 2002 mid-term elections in the hope that the so-called “Help America Vote Act” would correct most of the problems. However, despite those changes (and some would say largely because of them), another election has now been stolen before our very eyes. It is a feat of legerdemain more amazing than anything Houdini or Copperfield ever dreamed of accomplishing.
In fact, the GOP’s achievement is so astounding that Democrats are obviously at a loss for words. We need a new phrase to describe it. I propose “electoprestidigitation,” a term that I just this minute coined from the words “electoral” and “prestidigitation.” The latter word, which comes from the French “prestidigitateur,” meaning one who conjures illusions with his fingers (digits), takes on a whole new meaning in this age of deception by digital computer.
To put it mildly, I am profoundly disappointed with the DNC and Kerry/Edwards campaign. Frankly, I have no more trust in them than I do in CNN (“The Most Trusted Name in News,” ha!) and the other mainstream media.
The name I have chosen to use on this discussion board reflects the sense of abandonment by the Democratic Party that I feel. I am 52 and have voted for Democratic candidates in every presidential election since I was old enough to vote, but lately it has become an exercise in futility that I can see little point in repeating. They say it is a mark of insanity when one continues to engage in an activity that has failed repeatedly. As the saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Fool me three times and counting…. Well, you get the picture.
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