Feeling Helpless, Hopeless, Despondent, Ineffective & Down. Give Up Yet?

[Land Shark]

In the face of Wednesday’s New York Times editorial blasting electronic voting, more elections lawsuits in California and interventions in New York, more whistleblowers appearing, the Washington Post coverage of the Hursti hack, and even more recent Washington Post coverage of Steve Freeman’s comparison of slot machines and DREs in an easy to understand graphic, on the subject of elections I nevertheless see lots of despair being posted.

A few are talking about giving up. For example, just today some were reading information linked to by Amaryllis suggesting the criminal nature of elections. A common response was to pronounce despair at any solution, and even a desire to quit or leave the country. The structure of these responses goes somewhat like this:

“OH BOY, now I know for sure we’ve got a serious problem and I can’t take this any more, I have to drop out now for a while at least. Oh God, we’re screwed.”

You mean, as soon as somebody KNOWS FOR SURE in their own heart that the problem is a serious and deep one, that’s the time to quit? When, maybe that’s the time when you have the insight to avoid band-aid solutions and address real causes with long term chances of success? Maybe that’s the time that no real American can deny the existence of the problem if effectively presented with that particular information?

There are not a lot of rules in America that are enforced with the equivalent of an iron fist, but there are a few and they are very important ones:

1. Never take anything truly seriously. The proof that this is an iron law is that there is no effective comeback to somebody who says, “oh come on, lighten up!!”

2. Another fundamental dynamic in American culture applicable here includes the “positive thinking” rule.

3. Intense resistance to critical thought combined with an uncritical belief in the inherent goodness of American intent and action, and

4. An assumption that the media brings us the important issues so if it’s not in the media today, it doesn’t really exist.

5. No matter how important or meaningful Post A or Email A or conversation A may seem, ironfisted rules of communication dictate that this thought MUST be replaced by the next one, preferably in 30 seconds or less, but certainly no more than ten minutes. (This is the “media firehose” effect, displacing any potential critical thought with others and preventing effective focus). Example: Even the best speaker on a real roll will have the timekeeping iron-fister give them the cutoff signal at 5 or 15 minutes. Yet, the days are quite distant when preachers and political speakers droned on for truly unbearable lengths of time.....

But perhaps the most powerful iron fist propaganda rule is so universally accepted even supposedly liberal Hollywood accepts it stock and barrel. This idea, never expressly stated but nevertheless regularly communicated, is that a person need not really DO anything, that apathy or at least inaction is morally acceptable because things work out in the end.

How is this message enforced? This message is heard daily and thousands of times in each person’s life as they watch American movies, tv shows or even news, all of which end happily, or at least have a full resolution or closure. The media studiously avoids leaving the citizen with troubling questions, avoids leaving the citizen with haunting motivation, and does all of this by having either a happy ending or an ending that “resolves” or has resolution. The upshot of resolution, however, is that one need not do anything themselves, as viewer. In the Hollywood movie Armageddon, one learns that if one simply waits 1-2 hours even the problem of a meteor heading on a direct course toward earth can be successfully resolved. Phew!

Back to our election despair. Confronted with irrefutable evidence that elections are deeply compromised and problematic, many want to give up. Resolution is NOT JUST AROUND THE CORNER, necessarily. Even activists want to know "what can I do to help solve this problem, but there's a bias toward 30 second solutions.

But wait, our ancestors all participated in decades-long struggles, many died without seeing the achievement of their dream, like Susan B. Anthony. Are we so special that we can not have a long term struggle in our day?

I wonder what you all think on this subject. There’s reluctance in America to communicate issues, and then reluctance to deal with those issues, but when it finally breaks through the public is very powerful. Are we unwilling to navigate that maze?

And what can we do about and learn about this resistance to hearing things that create unresolved issues? What then about the fatigue (even among activists) that can quickly set in upon awareness of a deep problem? It may well be that many people have not developed much fitness or endurance in “being” with a problem, seeing it clearly and honestly, working on the problem and accepting its existence, yet while not accepting its permanence.

Finally, when that endurance and provisional acceptance of the full depth of the problem finally arrives, how do we keep our fires burning in such a way as to keep our wits about us, so that when the time comes to really go for the win, we have the sense and the energy to give the big push at the right time, as well? And not just maintaining ourselves in long term endurance mode that might be incapable of the occasional sprint that might really be helpful and bring change?

Can I even ask questions without ready answers, and still be OK?

Can we break the iron fist rules, and decide without equivocation that there’s something besides career and family that is worth pledging our lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor? Or have we, individually or collectively, “moved beyond that”?

Cicero said that freedom in its truest sense is participation in power. If you find any or all of these iron fist dynamics to interfere with your own meaningful participation in power, then you are faced with the opportunity to become a freedom fighter. Possibly, this is not the time to give up.

[John Q. Citizen]

1. Get up stand up, stand up for your rights!

[Land Shark]

2. That is part of the soundtrack, for sure, thank you.

May I also recommend the Michael Franti album Everyone Deserves Music. Great progressive stuff and eminently, irresistably listenable. Billboard says: A landmark listening experience. I agree. Having a great beat over the long haul.

[John Q. Citizen]

10. Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. n/t

[Land Shark]

12. Can't go wrong: EVERYONE DESERVES MUSIC by Michael Franti

and Spearhead.

[GuvWurld]

22. I'm a big Spearhead fan too

I acknowledge Michael Franti for inspiration at the very end of my new e-book We Do Not Consent, coming out on Monday (with a killer Foreword by Land Shark). I'll post a link for a free download. There is a thread about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x739801

Michael Franti's message is pretty clear and it says to me: never give up. We can stay optimistic without believing the lies, and without lying to ourselves. This challenges us to be ruthlessly honest and to recognize false alternatives.

Another great point you make here, Land Shark, is that we have to learn how to operate in the present in ways that will be both immediately impactful and the cause of ripples into the long term big picture. This is a concept that our progressive and radical leaders really need to grok on if we are to overcome our current condition and see a future that includes our free participation in power.

Power to the peaceful!

www.spearheadvibrations.com

[Land Shark]

27. One critic says: "Picks Up Where Bob Marley Left Off"

Full disclosure: Michael Franti is Land Shark's cousin in the real world.

[Land Shark]

29. Check out a live version of "Yes I Will" at www.spearheadvibrations.com

Key Lyrical Points in this live version (studio version in EVERYONE DESERVES MUSIC is even bettter):

(go to www.spearheadvibrations.com and choose the MUSIC link near the top, then the top MP3 of the 4, entitled "Yes I Will"

in this song he's singing about feeling "all broke down"

1. FINDING PROGRESS IN POLITICS AND LIFE
"You'll find a light, you'll find a friend, you'll find a way!"
(coming first is finding your light)

2. KEEP ON WALKING NOW, YES I WILL, KEEP ON TALKING LOUD, YES I WILL, KEEP ON SINGIN' OUT, YES I WILL

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE ROAD SEEMS AT AN END:
"...Let the morning take you right on through the day
and when you find you're at the end of the road,
you just lift your head up, spread your wings, and fly away....."

I think no matter what your taste in music is, you'll love this album. At the music store, sometimes you'll find it in "Rap", sometimes in "Pop, Rock and Soul" sometimes in World Music, sometimes in Hiphop --- nobody really knows where to file it because it is it's own category of music. Of course you can also order direct at spearheadvibrations.com or tape it at a concert, which is encouraged. Michael does a funny bit at concerts sometimes where he says "any recording devices, video devices, sound devices, electromechanical recordation devices or other methods of capturing sound or images at tonight's concert are strictly ENCOURAGED."

[BrklynLiberal]

3. WOW!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Amaryllis]

4. You have a link for the NYT article?

[Land Shark]

6. Here's a link to the New York times article ; nytimes acct needed

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/opinion/23thu3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>

The article ends:

What is happening in Maryland is important, because not a single member of the House stood behind the once popular Diebold machines. It is just the latest indication that common sense is starting to prevail in the battle over electronic voting.

[Amaryllis]

9. Got to it, but then I am already registered with them and have one of t

those auto log in things, so it opened right up for me.
Here you go. We can post up to four paragraphs:

Diebold, the electronic voting machine maker, suffered another sharp setback recently, when Maryland's House of Delegates voted 137-to-0 to drop its machines and switch to paper ballots. The vote came in the same week that Texas held elections marred by electronic voting troubles. Maryland's State Senate should join the House in voting to discontinue the use of the Diebold machines, and other states should follow Maryland's lead.

Maryland was one of the first states to embrace Diebold. But Maryland voters and elected officials have grown increasingly disenchanted as evidence has mounted that the machines cannot be trusted. In 2004, security experts from RABA Technologies told the state legislature that they had been able to hack into the machines in a way that would make it possible to steal an election. Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat, informed the State Board of Elections in 2004 that voters had complained to her that machines had mysteriously omitted the Senate race.

The Maryland House's bill calls for replacing the Diebold machines with optical scanning machines for this fall's elections. Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr., once a Diebold supporter, has said he'll sign the bill if the State Senate agrees. Optical scanning machines would be a vast improvement. Voters using them fill out paper ballots, which are scanned electronically. Those ballots are a permanent record that can (and should) be used to double-check the machine results. Although time is short, Maryland should be able to get optical scanning machines operating by the fall. Even though the Board of Elections has been resisting the proposal, that should not stop the General Assembly and the governor from fighting for machines that voters will trust.

The Maryland House voted days after Texas held an election with the sort of disturbing electronic voting glitches that have by now become common. In Tarrant County, as many as 100,000 extra votes appeared on the machines — election officials insisted that they knew which ones to eliminate to make the results correct. In a hotly contested Congressional race in another part of the state, results were delayed by programming errors in the machines used in two crucial counties.

[Amaryllis]

5. Not to mention the WaPo and AP articles defending Ion Sancho this weekend

that Wilms just posted:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418723

[mopinko]

7. i'll never have the sense to quit, ls

i just want to sometimes. and it's not the size of the problems, but the size of the enemy within that gets me down. it's when you have to fight the folks that are on the same side.
i just have to bitch about my sore feet, hug my kids, pet my dogs, scratch my parrots, and get some sleep. and, oh yeah, a little direct action-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x751361

[Amaryllis]

8. Say more about point number two: do you mean that we are

supposed to think positive and this leads to denial about anythign that appears "negative?"

GREAT post, LS. Well said, and well written! :) We still have a ton of work to do, but the climate has shifted dramatically in the past few months, with even MSM getting into the fray. I have seen nothing but positive articles on Ion Sancho come out of MSM. That is, IMHO, very significant.

[Land Shark]

11. Yes, denial of the negative is the flip side of accentuating the positive

Criticism can not be "sustained" under present notions of being positive. So we're not really free to call a spade a spade except at fleeting moments. Then we fall back into self-censorship.

Look at what rateyes came up with in a GD thread:

[GuvWurld]

23. I'd like to see the M-Peach image with the Golden Arches

Anybody good with PhotoShop up for a little late night copyright infringement?

[Land Shark]

28. The existing M is clever though as an upside down W

rateye's other designs have an M above a W, like

M
peach
W

so the M and W are perfect mirror images

[Kurovski]

13. If a lie can be repeated so often that people will believe it,

than the truth repeated will have that much more power, once the lie is broken.

Of course, as Winston Churchill said: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

My point is that there has to be an awareness that it's going to take time. And actually, I'm surprised at how much progress has been made in just one year.

Drop by drop, until there's that one drop that overflows the barrel.

OK, that's all the cliches I've got for now, but those cliches also happen to be true.

[Land Shark]

15. Cliche's are truth-repeated. Intellectual anti-"cliche'" snobbery can

also just prevent the truth from being reinforced. So if it's true, don't worry about "cliche"

[Kurovski]

17. I shan't any longer!

Thanks for your terrific post, Land Shark. :thumbsup: :-)

[Melissa G]

14. My favorite bumper sticker wisdom is Get Involved...

The world is run by those who show up...
I figure if enough of us keep showing up long enough the world is bound to improve....

[Wilms]

16. A book I read repeated over and over again THE fundamental question.

What is?

And start there.

We, of course, want what we want. And we believe in the fairness and justice of it, and believe in our ableness to over come on that basis and our own will and intelligence.

This is not always realistic, if only within the timeframe we construct often without thoroughly perceiving "what is".

Flames burning brightly have their places. Coals glowing warmly, too.

What if we're here only to plant the seeds? What if we're here only to till the soil? What if we're here only to bring sunshine or rain?

What is my part?

[Land Shark]

19. And the definition of "is" is.......?

Swing the axe, you'll find out later and soon enough if you were "meant to be" a lumberjack.

[PVK]

18. Au contraire, I am feeling more and more optimistic!!!

I have distanced myself from this issue somewhat and at this distance have lately been able to see the tide turning.

[NVMojo]

20. I'm feeling more optimistic about this issue since some in the media

are starting to do their damn jobs.

Thanks for the great post!

[understandinglife]

21. Quit. Nope. It's just getting interesting. Folk now have the ...

... opportunity to prove that they mean the words they say; that all those speeches and proclamations and declarations ... are more than just words.


Be The Bu$h Opposition - 24/7

[Bill Bored]

24. It helps that Shrub's approval rating is in the toilet.

The media is less likely to give him, or his re-non-election a pass now.

[IndyOp]

25. No moral person is allowed the luxury of being passive...

There is too much work to be done. When it is overwhelming, as it often, often is for me I go back to a very simple mantra: "Do what you can, when you can."

I felt like I was in a plane separate from all others when the Iraq War started -- WHY didn't we ALL leave our jobs and homes and go camp out in DC. How could WE allow this attack to happen? I don't have a complete answer, but I have an idea.

Talking, truth-telling, speaking truth to power: These create the conditions that allow for extreme (peaceful) mass action such as that I had hoped for to stop the war.

I am most hopeful about our nation and our world when I see the many different populations who are speaking out - the people of the Gulf Coast so cruelly abandoned to their fate, the elderly who have been hurt by changes in medicare, the veterans and military families who are getting wise, the immigrants and their families and communities, the voters who know their votes are not being counted, all workers who realize that their bosses work only in corporate-self-interest and the government doesn't care if they live or die.

Maya Angelou visited my campus a few years ago and her words still echo in my ears: 'Learn your poetry my friends, for you are going to need it."

We must have sources of uplift during struggle. Yours may be faith, family, a dream of true peace among nations. Mine includes poetry. If you aren't African American, then read the poem below replacing the adjectives with words that apply to you or to all people who are downtrodden.

Still I Rise
by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

=================

AMEN! SAY IT SISTER MAYA!

We rise.

We rise.

We rise.

[Time for change]

26. You're right, this is not the time to quit

And I doubt that many DUers believe that it is. Anyone who has the sense to belong to and participate in DU is not likely to see this as a time to quit. We get discouraged sometimes, but I haven't seen much quitting.

[Land Shark]

30. I know some who've more or less left DU to work full time on change

for some people, DU is inspiration, and once inspired, it may not be necessary to be here at least not as much..... Yet some people still here (and that's fine too...) might interpret that absence as somewhat of a loss, which it is not....

[JimDandy]

40. Then, let's hope more DUers get inspired to leave for awhile.

To reach critical mass, we need a lot more action in the real world, so that the election reform movement sweeps the nation. livvy put up a link on the 25 March ERD that showed only 31 states had election reform groups.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=418590&mesg_id=418600

That means there are 19 states that do NOT have such groups. (In livvy's thread, I miscounted the number of states that didn't have an ER group.)

Let's give support to those who are discouraged. If you're a member of one of the groups that do exist, then be a mentor to individuals in those states which don't have ER groups. Show them how to: start a group; put up a website; get their message across to the media and the public; file lawsuits; write legislative bills; request public records; etc.

Would someone start a post (I can't yet) to match up current groups with individuals from states that don't have a group.

These states need mentors to get a group started:

Alaska
Alabama
Delaware
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Mississippi
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
North Dakota
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Wisconsin
Wyoming


These states have groups that could supply members to be mentors:

Arizona
Arizona Citizens for Fair Elections
Arizona Volunteers Organized for Tomorrow’s Elections
Pima County Democratic Party
Arizona Progressive Caucus Electoral Reform Working Group

Arkansas
National Coalition for Verified Voting, Lisa Burks

California
California Voter Foundation
Californians for Electoral Reform
Contest the Vote
GuvWurld
S.A.V.E Democracy
Voter Confidence Committee of Humboldt County
VOTERR (Voices for Open and Truthful Election Results & Reform)
South Bay Phone Banking, Griffin

Colorado
Boulder County Citizens for Verifiable Voting
Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results
Citizens for Verifiable Voting
Coloradoans for Voting Integrity
Fair Vote Colorado
ProgressNow.org

Connecticut
True Vote Connecticut
Recount The Votes

Florida
Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition
Florida Voting Activist Steve Leff
Florida Voting Activist Ellen Brodsky
Gotta Audit

Georgia
Count the Vote
Voter Choice Coalition
Defenders of Democracy
Georgians for Verified Voting

Hawaii
Safe Vote Hawaii

Illinois
Illinois Ballot Integrity Project

Iowa
Democracy for Iowa

Louisiana
Louisiana Counts

Maryland
Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland
Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics
True Vote MD

Massachusetts
MassVOTE

Michigan
Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace

Minnesota
Fair Vote Minnesota

Missouri
No Stolen Elections

New Hampshire
National Ballot Integrity Project/New Hampshire Task Force, Sharona Merel

New Jersey
Coalition for Peace Action
New Jersey Citizen’s Coalition
Grassroots Action Supporting Progress
G.R.A.S.P. Voting Issues Project

New Mexico
Verified Voting New Mexico
United Voters of New Mexico
Democracy for New Mexico

New York
New Yorkers for Verified Voting

North Carolina
NC Voter
Southern Voting Rights Project

Ohio
Case Ohio - Citizen's Alliance for Secure Elections
Greater Cleveland Voter Registration Coalition
Ohio Forward
Ohio Free the Vote Coalition
Ohio Honest Elections Campaign
Ohio Vote Suppression News
Ohio Voters Reform
Recount Ohio
United For Secure Elections

Oklahoma
Oklahoma Grassroots Campaign

Oregon
Action Speaks
Oregon Clean Vote
Oregon Voter Rights Coalition
Oregon Voting

Pennsylvania
Vote PA
Mercer County Citizens for Better Government, Kathy McPherson

Texas
Texas Safe Voting

Utah
Utah C.L.E.A.R. (Center for Legislative Education, Analysis and Research)
Utah Counts Votes
Utah V.O.T.E. (Utah Voters for Open and Transparent Elections)
Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus

Vermont
Vermonters for Voting Integrity

Virginia
Virginians for Verified Voting

Washington
Citizens for Voting Integrity - Washington
Concerned Citizens for Democratic Integrity - King County), Holly Jacobson
WA Fair Elections

West Virginia
West Virginia Citizen Action Group


The list above was taken mainly from Georgians for Verified Voting:
http://www.gaforverifiedvoting.org/docs/election_reform.htm

JD

[Febble]

31. Good for you, Land Shark

I'm often called a naysayer around here, but I think of myself as a yaysayer - yay, it's not so broken it can't be fixed, and yay, it's not so broken that it's not worth voting!

Yay, the machines are not only unreliable but corruptible, and may have been corrupted
Yay, voter suppression deprived Kerry of thousands of votes, just as they deprived Gore of the presidency
Yay, your elections need to be transparent and auditable and they aren't
Yay, BoE's need to remember that every vote counts
Yay, you need to watch every precinct, and check every tabulation, and oversee the custody of the ballots, and insist on honest thorough audit protocols.
Yay, unless this is fixed, you don't have a democracy, because you jeopardize the Consent of the Governed

But Yay, you guys are doing a great job to make it gets fixed! And bonus prize is: the Republicans might not even be as good at stealing elections as you think! I think the evidence strongly suggests they weren't.

If I'm right, that is GOOD news, people!

Yay!!!!

[JudyM]

32. Great post! Here's a new approach to give some life and hope to dems.

I've just read with pleasure Michael Lerner's new book about taking back our country from the neocons, and it's a fantastic, inspired vision of what we can do right now. Practical steps to form a movement that directly answers the neocons' claim that they have better values than the Left. This book has given me more hope than anything in years!

His group is having its first national conference in DC in May, trying to get folks from all over the country to come, where we'll be instructed about talking to our congressional reps, with whom we'll have meetings before leaving town. Cindy Sheehan, Arun Gandhi, Holly Near, Cornell West and others will be participating - it's got the makings of something truly transformational, all based on raising our voices about our progressive values: compassion, ecological sanity, etc so that swing voters see more clearly what dem values are.

I just learned about this a couple weeks ago and am now volunteering to help build awareness of this movement. Would love to have some DUers to partner with. Please join me in making this happen!

The book (don't let the title turn you off: it's for secular folks like me, as well):
The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from The Religious Right
(ordering thru this link will send some of the profit to DU:)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=democraticund-20&path=subst/home/home.html

The conference and more info on this group, the Network of Spiritual Progressives:
http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/

Don't give up! Join in!


:hippie: :patriot:

[Land Shark]

33. He's doing good stuff on spiritual progressives; any political tent

needs to be broad enough to include both the spiritually inclined and the not so spiritually inclined. I've read several of Michael Lerner's books, though not the latest, and his insights are good.

[JudyM]

36. Absolutely.He expressly includes the not-spiritual folks in the tent, too.

He asserts that we Dems are united by the core values that we share, regardless of whether we're religious, spiritual or neither.
The key difference is between our dem values and the neocon value system.

[Patsy Stone]

34. Feeling none of the above.

Thanks for the great post. Why get out now? The hard part is already behind us? NGU.

[Land Shark]

35. Yup, darkest before the dawn but already seeing some rays...

[BeFree]

37. What a great thread!!

Maybe the best thread yet in this forum. Not just the OP but nearly every one of the replies.

Whoever it is that is thinking of giving up must have just now come awake. Those that have known all along, are still fighting to get our votes counted correctly, and none of us will ever give up.

To those just now awakened, I will say this: What we face IS the most awful thing we could ever expect - short of the nukes going off - and just plain dis-heartening to believe. The foisting of the machine counts upon our democracy will break our democracy's back.

So, welcome to the most awful consequence ever faced by this country. It simply must be destroyed - this culture of corruption. It will be destroyed, it will not stand. We will have elections that we can have some trust in... it really is so simple, and many have come before you attacking the problem. We have cut at the roots, we have trimmed the branches and the growth has been hurt - it no longer grows!

We need you now, you who have just taken notice, do not quit. Together we shall make history. We shall win back our votes truly counting. It is the right thing to do, and we shall overcome!

[PATRICK]

38. The dynamic and the reality

Of course it isn't time to give, but assessing the dynamic should not make anyone comfortable.

By November there will be more electronic devices in place than ever, some with paper trails as abominable as the original machinery. Certain states will have fought off or curtailed the e-voting machinery, but even there in places will it have any effect in time? The press does its service anytime the reality rises hard and fast to the surface. Then will allow, as they always do, the truth to sink and flounder.

What can be achieved:

Enough areas cleansed of e-voting and fraud to make ANY explanation other than e-voting fraud impossible, including mere "glitchiness" and unreliability. It will be very difficult to fine tune frame memes for the Dems to beat themselves over the head with and make the tampering with tallies very dicey. Awareness has spread for a wider more organized challenging. The impetus to go forward will increase regardless of the results of the election.

The caveat: Much more could have been done by action groups acting together on this, albeit many of them along with most of the nation were kept away from this issue. The snake oil salesmen still come to town as if the critics and the glaring track record of the companies is an interesting sidebar. The Democrats nor anyone else can rely on reform this year for most elections. Added to that is the power of the WH to scramble the polls with some event or other to provide false rationale on November 4th. The media, despite the editorials and reports can be poised to swamp the election activist message. Cautious Dems and the more cautious leadership that has hurt itself vastly in two areas(NOT leading this charge, NOT going for huge populist majorities). They need to get on board for self preservation.

Before the election is fouled up again, as it MUST be, the reformers need to get in the face, get to the hands about to reach into the cookie jar, prepare and pre-empt and punish the inevitable. The bottom line voting result atmosphere, where no matter what happens the desired result is to deny Dems a fair vote and many victories. Then they will doggedly fight the challenges before they even get on the beach. We have to be there already and never surrender the initiative. Too much has been defensive, argumentative and reactive, the begging for the paper trail and voter confidence reasoning being great but insufficient for this year's reality.

After all this time, with the ongoing greater advance of more e-voting, the resistance is just catching on, catching up and all the GOP stone walls, all the Dem apathy, all the media apathy is in place to ruin this year. The main thing is the evidence and the easy, growing public awareness of simple truths. That must be the groundwork of an aggressive grassroots advance on all levels, everywhere to get the real votes counted and recorded and recounted this fall. The Venezuela opponents of Chavez did not settle for the meager things we have. They had scrutiny and challenges for every part of the system without any plurality of the votes to back them up. The establishment of e-fraud charges should be so shrill that every precinct in America should expect to be under the microscope before, during and after the election.

There are two things that are not happening, neither very good in themselves. There is no easy answer, no legislative cure-all or messiah to make this all go away by November. There is not the necessary nationwide resistance to these machines in any field, especially institutional leadership, the media, the courts. In short the battle is merely enjoined and the dynamic still in need of forming and becoming pro-active and not fall short of the deeds done in other nations less favored than ours.

Since when was "We have not yet begun to fight" a cry of dismay and surrender? Nice to look back on after the story is completely over and the little guy has won. Easy to forget at the time when things were darkest that your smaller ship, riddled by cannon balls by the master navy of the world was logically doomed.

[BeFree]

39. I think I undestand that...

...and especially liked your closing.

Our effort is bereft of higher powers, yes. We are but a grassroots progression on the face of planet apathy, and all we get is pee falling from the higher-ups. No wonder there are brown spots all around.

Still there is much that has been done by the few and the active. Much. My state is well on the way to slaying the dragon. Many other states are in progress to the death of their own dragons. Congress has HR550 before it, staring it in the face. Will they blink?

Soon, real statesmen will emerge, and these will take pleasure upon our roots and grow a bigger and better branched Oak tree type of democracy. Or we will all die.

We have not yet begun to fight!

[Land Shark]

41. I find very few apathetic people, I find lots of missing information

that creates inaction because the case hasn't been presented to a particular voter, which can then, in turn, be interpreted from the outside as apathy on the part of that particular voter. but it's not, really, apathy.

[BeFree]

42. Good for you

But I've landed on planet apathy, I guess. But it does not stop me from forging ahead. What's funny is that as things transpire, these apathites will remember hearing it from me, first.

But really, our target is the elections boards, and they are not apathetic. They are scared, if anything: The sweet deals they've made, the 'easy' operations of the count, and the wall of silence they have hidden behind all these years is tumbling down and all the diebolders won't be able to put their humpty-dumpty back together again!

Halleleauh!

[mod mom]

43. Tired, frustrated, YES! but they will have to drag my sorry butt to the

gulag before I give up. I just don't get why the Dems are screaming about elections, especially with the GAO Report and the mountain of evidence. I feel I live in an alternate reality sometimes.

[BeFree]

44. Alternate reality, indeed

Just read an article in the ER News department about Pelosi. All she did was blabber about machine placement, totally ignoring the GAO report, HR550, and everything else.

No, we can't trust our leaders. Its up to us, the little guys. See you in the gulag, mom.

[Land Shark]

46. politicians are partly ignorant but mostly fearful they can't articulate

some sort of bulletproof position in 15 seconds or less. usually bulletproof translates as almost-meaningless. But that's one reason I keep suggesting "secret vote counting", that uses up less than 2 seconds, and you still got at least 13 seconds to make an ass of yourself. (A Democrat, that is)

[McCamy Taylor]

45. Grand Theft Election Ohio.com has grown in the last year, check it out

About half the toons are election related, some are funny, all are irreverant unless they are about victims of war or distaster. Remind the Big Whigs that their wigs just make them look stupid. (I'm talking about you, Sensenbrenner).


http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/index.htm

[Ellipsis]

47. Hopeful.

Thank you,

Land shark

[Land Shark]

48. Be good, /s/ L.S.

[Land Shark]

49. explained to btmlndfmr that "be good" is the equivalent of "you're welcome

in the finnish language. (the literal translation of what's said in response) Got a little too esoteric for a moment there...

[Nothing Without Hope]

50. I agree completely with this. I do believe that it's wise to take a

a little time off from time to time when you're feeling burned out or TOO angry. Take walks in natural beauty, tune yourself to the changing seasons, have good dinners and conversation with friends, whatever floats your boat (such a good metaphor here). That's not the same thing as GIVING UP, it's a re-energizing process that I think is essential.

I had the main point of this thread in mind when I chose my username. When we really give up hope, we have NOTHING. Can't do that, but we have to watch ourselves and refuel when it's needed. Then back to the fight with renewed energy!

[EFerrari]

51. I must be a wackjob because I haven't felt so positive and energized

in a long time.

Our community is learning and coming together apace.

The frauds are being outted equally.

It's become my habit to work every day on SOMETHING that needs doing. Thank you, George BushCo, that's a habit that needed to be formed.

And I get to read you all.

I don't see a downside here.

:grouphug:

:toast: