 |
|
| |
|
|
|
 Mythmaking and DemocracyPosted on Apr 30, 2008By Marie Cocco WASHINGTON—History is forever burdened by the propensity of the political class to stir the public into hysteria over this or that threat, even if fabrications—not fact—form the basis of the provocation. The Iraq war is the most grievous recent tragedy to fall into the pattern. Phantoms are forever stalking the public conscience. The hype over gay marriage as a threat to the sanctity of the American family has led voters in 23 states to approve bans on such unions, thus relieving themselves of the psychic burden that gay couples pose to them—couples who are perceived, apparently, as a greater peril than a miserably sexualized pop culture that many of these same voters undoubtedly devour. Fear is stoked unabashedly by partisans who gain from exaggerating whatever threat suits their purpose. Since the 2000 Florida election debacle, Republicans have had great success in convincing Americans that “voter fraud”—in particular, ineligible voters who cast ballots (or try to cast ballots) on Election Day—is a grave and growing threat to the republic and so requires each voter to present a photo identification in order to exercise what is supposed to be a fundamental right. It matters not that the most frequent form of voting fraud is carried out through absentee ballots, which generally require no identity check other than verification of a signature. Or that even the Bush Justice Department, despite all efforts, has found no evidence that impersonating a qualified voter is at all commonplace. Or that states for decades managed to verify a voter’s identity by comparing that person’s signature on Election Day with a signature already on file. Inflaming the public imagination with such false claims is one thing. Convincing the supposedly learned and dispassionate justices of the Supreme Court is quite another. Yet this is what the state of Indiana and its partisan allies in the Bush administration have managed to do. In upholding Indiana’s strict photo identification law—written by Republicans in the Legislature and passed over the objection of Democrats—the justices admitted that the state had provided absolutely no evidence that the type of fraud the photos would combat (that is, an illegitimate voter showing up and claiming to be a different, legitimate one) has ever occurred in the state. “The only kind of voter fraud that (the Indiana ID law) addresses is in-person voter impersonation at polling places. The record contains no evidence of any such fraud actually occurring in Indiana at any time in its history,” Justice John Paul Stevens admitted in his controlling opinion. In fact, Stevens had to stretch so far to find an example that his footnote on the subject centers on Tammany Hall’s corruption of the 1868 New York City elections, and references a newspaper account of a single case of impersonation in the disputed 2004 Washington gubernatorial election—a contest in which 2.8 million votes were cast. Stevens, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, also found that the law would do exactly what those who object to it claim: It would place a “heavier burden” on the voting rights of those least likely to hold a driver’s license or another acceptable photo ID—the elderly, the poor, the homeless and those with religious objections to being photographed. In layman’s terms, this is the reasoning: Despite the completely bogus claims of voter fraud that allegedly would be combated through the identification requirement, Indiana may nonetheless disenfranchise some legal voters—notably, those who may tend to vote Democratic. Voting-rights lawyers are taking solace in the nature of the opinion. It was narrow, they say, signed by only three justices (though in all, six justices voted to uphold the statute) and seems to invite future challenges. “They suggest there needs to be either someone who is likely to be denied a vote, or is denied a vote,” says Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, one of the groups that opposed the Indiana law. Yet at its core, the decision says it is perfectly acceptable for a state to make it harder for some legal voters to cast ballots than others. The high court’s breathtaking illogic demeans it. More frighteningly, it diminishes democracy. Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
|
HOME|Digs|Reports|Arts & Culture|Uncovered|Ear to the Ground|A/V Booth|Cartoons
Bazaar|Podcast|About Us|Contact Us|User Agreement|Privacy Policy|FAQ: Comments and Moderation 
A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2009 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved. |
Joe the Plumber to Report on Gaza—Seriously
Email
Print
Share
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Fark
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
MySpace
NewsVine
NewsTrust
Reddit
SphereIt
StumbleUpon
TwitThis
YahooBuzz
Jump to Comments
By white noise, May 4, 2008 at 5:26 am #
This is one avenue…
Robert Kennedy, Greg Palast: The Final Investigation?
One million Democrats attempting to vote in this years primaries found their names missing from voter rolls.
WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GO?
Law professor Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and journalist Greg Palast are launching an investigation. We want to know: where are these votes? Who swiped them? How? And how do we prevent it from happening in November?
http://www.gregpalast.com/robert-kennedy-greg-palas t-the-final-investigation/#more-2005
EXTRA Hint…
LYNCHING BY LAPTOP 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCR6IdTQTeE
EXECUTIVE RESUME
Report thishttp://whitenoise.webnode.com/
By Coinservative Yankee, May 4, 2008 at 3:57 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
By white noise, May 2 at 5:52 am:
So you have outlined the problem. The facts you post are common knowledge among my friends family and acquaintances, and I assume the general public. The question which needs answering is WTF do we do now?
I suggest revolution, preferably of the French variety. Have you a better idea?
Report thisBy tom cady, May 3, 2008 at 2:31 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
—Voltaire
In a world that contains Laffer Curve, an Axis of Evil, Iraqi Freedom, Mission Accomplished, Clear Skies, Clean Waters, Healthy Forests, Family Values, No Child Left Behind, and a Patriot Act it is a good reminder for our time.
Report thisBy white noise, May 2, 2008 at 5:52 am #
20 Amazing Facts About Voting In The United States
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S;.
2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the US voting machine industry.
3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S;are brothers.
4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.”
5. 35% of ES&S;is owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S;machines.
6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, a long-time friend of the Bush family, was caught lying about his ownership of ES&S;by the Senate Ethics Committee.
7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush’s vice- presidential candidates.
8. ES&S;is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the US and counts almost 60% of all US votes.
9. Diebold’s new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
12. Diebold employs 5 convicted felons as developers. These are the people who write the voting machine computer code.
13. Diebold’s Senior Vice-President, Jeff Dean, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a “high degree of sophistication” to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold’s claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie at
17. 30% of all US votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail. 18. Bush’s Help America Vote Act of 2002 has as its goal to replace all machines with the new electronic touch screen systems with no paper trail.
18. All—not some—but all the voting machine errors detected and reported went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President’s brother.
20. Major statistical voting oddities (odds on the order of 250 million to 1!)—again always favoring Bush—have been mathematically demonstrated by experts.
Such amazing odds, the equivalent of statistical miracles these were. Was it God? Or was it Diebold…?
http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov
Its enough that people know there has been a vote. Those who vote decide of nothing. Those who count the votes, decides of everything - Joseph Stalin
Report thisBy cyrena, May 1, 2008 at 9:04 pm #
Blackspheare,
This absentee voting system, (which I’ve used for the past 7 years since returning to California) is probably the best way for most people to vote. Unfortunately, not all states allow for it. I don’t know which ones allow what, or under which circumstances, but ideally, that would seem the way to do it for all.
So, there must obviously be some nefarious reasons for the fact that such a system has not been incorporated, particularly after The Coup of 2000, which allowed for these past nearly 8 years of destruction.
Many will find all sorts of reasons for how or why it wouldn’t work, but those would be the same folks who have created this fascist system that basically disenfranchises more and more of the population that represents the majority of the our collective interests.
The repugs have worked very hard at this, utilizing (yet again) this hand picked Supreme Court to undo what was intended to be a democratic system of government.
This requirement for Photo ID’s is simply the 21st Century equivalent of the old Black Codes, or the Jim Crow system, for preventing blacks from voting. Now it prevents more than just black people from voting in these states that require them.
It remains to be seen how well trained the poll workers are, and I doubt it has anything to do with that. The reality is that voter fraud is simply not the problem that the repugs have used as an excuse to disenfranchise a huge section of voters who would most likely vote for democrats.
This has nothing to do with voter fraud, and everything to do with preventing representation in a democratic society. Just ask all of the US attorneys that were fired.
Report thisBy cyrena, May 1, 2008 at 2:53 pm #
Jackpine,
Sadly, I dont think many are necessarily laughing at this point, but they ARE still denying. Its like you said, it happens in a way that we dont even see it coming. But the reality is that its been coming for a very long time now, at least since the PNAC was able to perform The Coup of 2000.
But youre right, most of us dont see it until after the fact, and that is the nature of any country that falls to authoritarianism. Matter of fact, the more open and democratic a society may be to begin with, the more vulnerable they are to such takeovers.
So, for those who may still be in denial, I continue to recommend a reality check, as can be found in any number of places. Ive provided a couple of these links before, but there are many more.
FASCIST AMERICA, IN 10 EASY STEPS
Naomi Wolf
From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.
Actually, not seem to they HAVE been, and they are CONTINUING to.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329789179-110878,00.html
Then theres this from Joe Conason at Salon:
IT COULD HAPPEN HERE
In an excerpt from his new book, Salons columnist explains why, for the first time since the resignation of Richard M. Nixon, Americans have reason to doubt the future of their democracy
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/02/19/con ason/print.html
And for anyone with the time or inclination to do more of the theoretical heavy lifting on this understanding of Totalitarianism, I would highly recommend Hannah Arndts, The Origins of Totalitarianism, along with a review of her concept of The Banality of Evil.
The Banality of Evil
From the book Triumph of the Market
by Edward S. Herman
The concept of the banality of evil came into prominence following the publication of Hannah Arendt’s 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, which was based on the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem. Arendt’s thesis was that people who carry out unspeakable crimes, like Eichmann, a top administrator in the machinery of the Nazi death camps, may not be crazy fanatics at all, but rather ordinary individuals who simply accept the premises of their state and participate in any ongoing enterprise with the energy of good bureaucrats.
Normalizing the Unthinkable: Doing terrible things in an organized and systematic way rests on “normalization.“This is the process whereby ugly, degrading, murderous, and unspeakable acts become routine and are accepted as “the way things are done.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7278.htm
As for that wall, its hard to miss the obvious…
Government Authority Is Crossing a Line
By Raul Reyes
USA Today
18 April 2008
Last week, Eloisa Tamez, 73, lost the latest round in her ongoing fight with the U.S. government. A judge ordered her to let Washington survey her land near Brownsville, Texas. It lies in the path of a proposed border fence. Now, Tamez, heir to an original Spanish land grant dating to the 1700s, fears that her property will be seized with good reason.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff recently waived more than 30 laws in order to expedite construction of the border fence. He did so with little regard for the concerns of residents, local officials and environmentalists.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042008Y.shtml
Meantime, Cheneys lawyers are still claiming him King.
Cheney Lawyer Claims Congress Has No Authority Over Vice
President
By Elana Schor
The Guardian UK
The lawyer for US vice-president Dick Cheney claimed today that the Congress lacks any authority to examine his behaviour on the job.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042908B.shtml
Report thisBy Blackspeare, May 1, 2008 at 2:10 pm #
No doubt, Indiana and other states who require a photo ID to vote is fraught with abuse. How well trained will polling workers be to detect a false ID or will they be judgemental and deny those people who have changes their hair color, lost their hair or look somewhat different than their photo, the right to vote.
If it was me living in those states with Photo ID requirements, I would always request an absentee ballot. Come to think of it I do that now——better than standing in line!
Report thisBy Donald Burnison, May 1, 2008 at 10:28 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Republicans are not dumb - just arrogant. They know they can’t win the popular vote so they trump up false causes to change laws that allow them to win elections. At first they only had to worry about black people and women. Now these crusty, old, white men who run big corporations and sit in congress pass ill-conceived laws to allow them to continue their control of the country. Again it is still all about money and power. Nothing wrong with them as they stand alone, but it is the abuse of them that has us doomed to repeat flaws and inequities of the past; The Iraq War, WWII, WWI, Enron, The Keating Five, CEO bonuses, the annexation of Hawaii by the U.S. led by money interests, etc. etc. etc. Investigate any country in the world and see who is in power or has control. It is just class warfare repeating itself through history.
Report thisBy DennisD, May 1, 2008 at 8:39 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Marie - I’d say the real myth is that what passes for a government in this country is still called a democracy.
Report thisBy tdbach, May 1, 2008 at 5:54 am #
I’ve gotta say, your posts are the most inane and supercilious comments this site is subject to. And thats saying something. Jeezuz, get a life.
Report thisBy Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, May 1, 2008 at 5:41 am #
“Laugh and deny, but unless you know what its like to hear papers please… at the barrel of an assault rifle with the safety off, or know what its like to have the door of your home randomly knocked on for such a check, you simply dont know.”
If this happens to me, I’m going to demand (1) a product recall on the Pentagon and (2) my portion of the 3/4 of a trillion the Dept. of War, er, Defense costs taxpayers. That’d be a pretty good hunk of change. I could get my Prius. Well, at least a used Yugo.
Report thisBy Conservative Yankee, May 1, 2008 at 5:27 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Mr Savage:
I agree with your point, that we are headed toward a totalitarian system. I disagree that this is a recent change.
When the citizens of this nation bent over and put their asses in the air by accepting the idea that the “State” is able to issue a “Privilege” (driver’s license) we started down the slippery slope to where we are now.
If a “driver’s license” had remained as proof that the holder of this document was fit and able to operate a motor vehicle, maybe no one would have noticed, but now the “Privilege” has morphed into a check-cashing card, a identity card, a local passport, and a boarding pass. By extension all these actions are now “Privilege” granted or denied by the state.
Now when a cop stops you for speeding he as access (in violation of the fourth amendment) to your personal information; Where you work, what you earn, and even where you bank and the condition of your credit rating… All of this citizens must give up to the state in return for a privilege to hold a license.
Forget the election, there should be a revolution….of the French variety!
Report thisBy Purple Girl, May 1, 2008 at 5:23 am #
It was not the voters who have Stolen Election (and are continuing to Steal elections- MI Primary!). This is the same trick they have been playing for decades- point the finger at the victims while you steal the treasures out the back door.
Report thisSCOTUS ahs been complicte in these crimes just as much as the Exec Branch & congress.
the Indiana ruling OF COURSE comes down ONE WEEK before their Primary- sabatoging any possible ability to get absentee ballots, get a Photo ID and for some the transportation and money to actually even apply for one. This ruling is clearly another example of the Ways to Rig elections. I KNOW MI Prim was Rigged from the minute the got the date changed to th esecond I slide that bogue ballot into the SCAMtron!There is absolutely NO Reason this Primary Process can Not be done ALL on the SAME DAY. EVERY STATE,EVERY CANDIDATE for consideration by every citizen of this Democracy!Nor is there any reason a Court jsutice must be kept on the Bench for Life. I can think of several who not only need to be Fired By US- But Convicted for Treason!
By jackpine savage, May 1, 2008 at 2:56 am #
“Papers please…”
It happens in such a way that we don’t even see it coming. It’s like needing to build a fence to keep the Mexicans out…or is it to keep you in? Since there is hope to militarize the Canadian border too (and since Canadians don’t generally sneak across that border in droves to mow lawns or work in slaughterhouses), it might be the latter.
The United Soviet States of America isn’t coming from socialist Democrats, it’s coming from socialists Republicans.
Laugh and deny, but unless you know what it’s like to hear “papers please…” at the barrel of an assault rifle with the safety off, or know what it’s like to have the door of your home randomly knocked on for such a check, you simply don’t know.
Report thisBy Jaded Prole, May 1, 2008 at 2:52 am #
Most of the voter fraud occurs after legitimate votes have been cast. Machines are rigged, ballots are “lost” . . .
Locally in Virginia Republicans are known to tour senior facilities to “help” residents with absentee ballots.
Report thisBy TDoff, May 1, 2008 at 1:22 am #
Well, here’s Cocco again, trying to outearn her male counterparts by using lots of words @ 2 cents/word.
This issue, voter fraud, can be described simply. Misogynistic white republican politicians definitely believe in voter fraud. Every time they see a woman or another ‘minority’ voting, they think of it as ‘Voter Fraud’.
But they can’t say that publicly. So when they go before their legal counterparts, the republican judges at SCOTUS, they hire someone like Marie Cocco to write obfuscational, interminable ‘briefs’ to cloud the issues and give SCOTUS obscure tidbits to hang their mangled-syntax rulings on, trusting in the illiteracy of the American public to accept them.
And, so far, they’ve succeeded.
Report this