Will we get our country back electorally, or some other way?

[Doctor_J]

Poll question: Will we get our country back electorally, or some other way?

Given Diebold and the ultra-right wing stranglehold on the media, can we turn this around through "normal means"

[hippiechick]

1. We'll get it back when there's nothing left for the GOP to loot ...

... just like we got it back after Reagan/Bush I had driven us all to our knees.

Clinton/Gore re-stabilized, re-prioritized, and eventually created a surplus that the GOP robber barons were salivating to get their grubby paws on.

When they're certain that all their war profiteering pals have wrung as much as possible from this stone, they'll leave us to pick up the pieces of America.

[Doctor_J]

2. I don't remember it being this bad though

even when Reagan bankrupted the country financially and morally, I don't think things were this tense. It's worse now, and with Diebold and hate radio in command, it may take more than two more election cycles to rescue us.

[hippiechick]

4. Oh, I agree ...

... the fundie nutjobs weren't an organized force 25 years ago so there really wasn't an 'ideological war'; and there was still a little possibility for manufacturing jobs, etc to help folks get back on their feet after the economic rape.

Now ? Not so.

:(

[MADem]

7. I can, I reallly can

The horror is a bit more in our faces, because cable repeats it, ad infinitum, and the stakes SEEM higher. But ya gotta remember, we spent way too many years watching the six o'clock news every night, before cable (and we paid attention between eating our dinners and hoping for a good dessert) and we saw Dan Rather getting shot at, talking all the while into his portable mic, ducking behind walls, kids getting dragged away on stretchers--way more gore than we see nowadays, really. And the numbers--58K dead in Vietnam. And the interviews with the draftees, saying the war sucked, with FTW and peace signs on their helmets...ya don't see any of that dissent nowadays.

All the cars were RUSTY. The days were gray. Every time you went to the store, the cost of stuff went UP. You were lucky to get a 13% interest rate on a home purchase. Houses cost less, way less, but people made shit. A LOT of folks in the unemployment line. Mental Hospitals closing, crazy folk on the street without medications.

Everyone had a sick, uncertain feeling in the pits of their stomachs. And WATERGATE, the Plumbers, nefarious doings in the White House, crazy ass Ed Meese and Martha friken Mitchell making drunken phone calls and ratting people out, the sacking of Cox (giving rise to the IMPEACH THE COX SACKER bumper stickers, the HEARINGS--would they get to the truth, or would that tricky bastard get AWAY with it...and Nixon actually RESIGNING...that was a trip and a half.

Everyone had a strained look on their faces. Some thought democracy would not survive.

[Sky Lobo]

3. Voting Machines and the lies about them

Just why is it that we as a nation have been made to believe that our voting machines are unable to provide paper receipts for our votes?

If you order a cheeseburger and fries at a fast food restaurant you'll get a receipt telling you what you ordered, how much you paid, which register was used, which counterperson waited on you,the date, time and day as well as the address and phone number of the restaurant.

If you take $20. out of your acct by using an ATM, you'll get a very informative receipt as well.

How stupid, or gullible can this nation be to believe that a paper trail for our votes is not possible or necessary?

[MissWaverly]

5. Watch the next time there is a big lotto jackpot

say 100 million people line up all over the country to buy a ticket, they mark their
choices with pencil usually a series of circles and these "ballots" are fed into a scanner,
now when the lotto balls spit out a combination, they are able to sift thru all those
entries and prove that Mr. and Mrs. America in Sioux Falls bought the winning lotto
ticket at the local shop n save. Now there is a lot of shared techolology here.
Marked selections whether ballots or lotto cards which resemble the old ballots a great
deal in shape. These are fed in many places to a scanner, the only difference is
the lotto ticket buyer gets a receipt which he can then eye ball to see if it is correct.

[Doctor_J]

6. That's where the media control comes in

LImpballs and his clones have convinced "America" - meaning the ignorant losers who inhabit the red states - that we can't get a receipt when we vote, that it's OK for Cheney to spy on our phone calls, that corporations should decide who gets health care, and that a stupid, ignorant, lying, drunken coward would make a better president than a brilliant, erudite war hero. If you want proof that US education is among the worst in the world, just talk to a Bush voter some time.

[snowbear]

9. Hi Sky Lobo and Welcome Aboard !!

You're right about receipts.. but from what I've read on the elect reform section here, even that's not enough.

If the Diebolds are rigged, they can still easily get away with stealing the election.

Take where I live for example - Anchorage, Alaska.

We used Diebold Accuvote, so there was a paper ballot to count. Our election was still completely screwed up, and we are not allowed access to those original ballots now for some lame reason that the R-thug Lt. Governor came up with.

Bush was given over 101,000 additional votes here.. One district in Anchorage showed a 239% voter turnout, and Lisa Murkowski (who won the R-THUG U.S. Senate nomination was given over 83,000 votes she didn't receive - and she wound up beating Alaska favorite, D-Tony Knowles by 6 thousand votes) -- Figure that one out!!!!

We will have another huge test of the Diebold system in a week, actually a week and one day. Anchorage voters will vote for either the incumbant Democratic mayor, Mark Begich, who has the highest approval rating anyone in the media can recall. Or, a rightwinger dude (Jack Frost) who sells shrimp and prawns on the radio.

Begich is raising 4 times as much money, is young, popular, and was born in Anchorage. He is an INCREDIBLE mayor and is doing an incredible job! The other dude is known for his shrimp commercials and has no political background.

Trust me- if Jack Frost pulls out a win, DIEBOLD was set up to steal the election. Our mayor should easily win on April 2nd if the election is fair.

Rock on Mayor Begich!! Don't let Diebold steal this election!!

[newyawker99]

11. Hi Sky Lobo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Telly Savalas]

8. Civil war? Gimme a break.

[AtomicKitten]

10. If another election is stolen ...

it's on. I have no doubt in my mind a civil war is brewing.