This is the United States of America! Why have we set the bar so low

[saracat]

that one Senator and thirty one congresspersons stood to protect the legitimacy of the vote? Why should we be grateful that that so few stood to protect the vote? For those of you who say we have to take baby steps, I say those baby steps were taken in 1776!
I applaud Senator Boxer and Rep. Tubbs and all the reps.who voted yea. I am saddened by the empty rhetoric of those that stood but wouldn't vote.It is sad that even a symbolic vote was beyond their efforts. It is even sadder that people on this forum count it a victory that they even spoke up at all.
I am not, as some have accused posters of, whining. I did not expect the results of the election to be overturned. I did not expect to be effected so personally by how pathetic we have become. I am NOT alone. Randi Rhodes has declared an intent to become an Independent as has Maxine Waters. Imagine Maxine waters, who could be considered the godmother of this effort as she was one of the only ones who stood in 2000, and who stood again today,is also disappointed in her party.
I looked at the voting list of those congresspersons who voted for the certification of the vote in shock.Cummings, Kennedy , Mcdermott,Nadler, Pastor, Meeks, Sanchez,and many others voted along with the likes of Hayworth and Peter King.Barney Frank didn't even vote. Check that list too.Many didn't think it worth voting.I believe eighty, though I might be wrong. In the Senate twenty-nine Senators couldn't be bothered to vote either symbolically or for real. I guess it wasn't important enough.It was a done deal. They couldn't bestir themselves, yet we are to believe these people will effect election reform.
I congratulate Sen. Boxer and Rep.Tubbs and their allies. I thank them for their noble effort. I also thank everyone who supported them and worked to make their vote possible. I wish I could celebrate but I cannot yet. I guess I didn't realize how much we had lost until today. I didn't realize that we would have to battle ourselves, as well as the Republicans ,in order to return to a representative government.

[many a good man]

1. We are a nation of sheep

and we have begotten a government of wolves.

We are pathetic. As a nation and as a party. Where are our leaders? In a democracy we the people should be the ones directing the politicians. When WE fail to act AND our LEADERS fail to lead, democracy is imperiled much more than it ever could be from a foreign invader.

I also thank every one for their noble efforts. A flicker of light remains. Let's hope it doesn't go out.

[Stop Shrub]

2. thats what im saying!

we just are a lot worse then i thought possible...

[many a good man]

5. Historical perspective

Hard to believe, but things HAVE BEEN WORSE. The only way it can get better is if we ACT.

[MoonRiver]

9. Yes, and today we had a perfect opportunity.

:argh:

[FreepFryer]

3. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. It got this way over..

...years and years of ignoring the rise of the dangerous Right.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. So get to work revamping the system from the bottom. People power

is what will save us in the long run.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Election reform can help save this country!
Same day primaries with ranked voting ballots for the Dems, and
THESE reforms for your town, county, and state.
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[cali]

6. I know you're upset but

it really was a very good day. Barbara Boxer clearly stood with the support of the dem Senate leadership. Quite simply, if she hadn't had that support, she wouldn't have signed on. I'm amazed at how well this went. Democrats were eloquent about the need for election reform This will grow, but it takes time.

A lot of dems believe that bush won despite the problems that plagued voting in Iowa and other states. I know that's difficult for people who believe the evidence of fraud and conspiracy is blatant, but a lot of people, myself included, don't feel there's enough evidence to reach the conclusion that bush stole the election through a massive and well organized conspiracy, and that's what you're alleging when you claim the election was stolen.

What happened today was not a baby step. It was a significant stride forward. BTW, many of those who didn't vote in the Senate, are like Kerry, out of the country. Some are in the middle east, others are in S.E. Asia.

Lastly, I wish people would learn the value of paragraph breaks. It's awfully hard to read something when they aren't used.

[roseBudd]

7. get satisfaction like this...

With a can of 3M Super 77 spray adhesive and a trip to kinkos, you can be the media...

go to http://somnamblst.tripod.com to download high res files to print

[hansolsen]

8. True. All true. N/T

[brindis_desala]

10. This is just the beginning. How many pundits thought

an East Coast liberal Democrat could beat a sitting wartime president? We have committed democrats right here at DU and the people came out to vote in droves. They're still there. But they're just getting by and can't invest the time to learn how to navigate the system...yet. It's your country, fight for it. Show your stuff and you'll find the foot soldiers; they're marginalized, young and disillusioned but democracy is dead if we let them down. Vote Green if you must but we all have to regroup and draft real candidates.
Valiant Barbara Boxer has set the stage now we have to make sure 57 million people cannot be ignored. Yes, democracy is hard work...

[mountainvue]

11. I am with you all the way saracat. n/t

[FreepFryer]

12. 'set the bar so low?' look at what we've done (from the NashuaAdvocate)

http://www.nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/

<...> Your efforts led to a recount and a contest of election in Ohio.

Your efforts have led to an ongoing investigation into the November election by the non-partisan Congressional General Accountability Office.

Your efforts led to an ongoing invesigation by the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute.

Your efforts led to an ongoing investigation (with a one hundred-page report) by Members of the House Judiciary Committee -- and will lead to future bi-partisan hearings before that same Committee.

Your efforts led Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) to publicly voice support today for a constitutional amendment making voting -- and having one's vote counted -- an enumerated U.S. Constitutional right (which it is not currently, as few are aware).

Your efforts led Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) to promise on the floor of the U.S. Senate that the broken/yet-to-implemented Help America Vote Act will be fixed.

Your efforts led Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to forge an agreement today with Senator Boxer (D-CA) to re-introduce legislation in the Senate requiring a paper-audit for all electronic voting machines currently in service in the United States.

Your efforts have led Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) to sponsor a bill proposing the abolition of the Electoral College -- a bill now supported by at least one Republican Senator, Lincoln Chafee (R-RI).

Your efforts will force Senator Kerry (D-MA) to spend much of the next four years delivering the "election reform" he recently promised his 59 million supporters.

Your efforts, finally, have made history, with the Tubbs-Jones/Boxer election challenge marking only the second time in one-hundred twenty-seven years -- since the inception of the concept in 1877 -- that both houses of Congress have been forced to debate an entire slate of electors. As such, your efforts have convinced the world, and, just as importantly, your fellow U.S. progressives, that grassroots activism is alive and kicking in the nation which currently leads the free world.

And what is most amazing to The Advocate -- it took you only nine weeks to do everything you did.

Imagine what you'll do in the next four years.

[many a good man]

13. Wow. That's a lot.

We need an Elections Modernization Act.

:kick: