I have been abandoned by both political parties here in Florida!

The Neo conservative take over chased me out of the republican party under Jeb Bush's arrogant administration here in Florida. Then came big brother "Dumbya" and his chicken shit, chicken hawk, corporatist admin. I did not like being associated with what the party had come to represent, fascist corporatism serving only the social elites.

I made my transition after stumbling on to DU and re-registered as a Democrat, I liked what I saw and heard and have been here since. So now the Democratic party has decided that I do not deserve a voice in the primaries and am not being allowed to vote for my choice of candidates in the primary.

Florida has successfully disenfranchised all voters of both parties. Through election fraud via electronic voting and gerrymandering on the repub side and by not allowing me to participate in the primaries on the Dem side. Independents are not allowed to vote in either of the primaries here in Florida, and by being a registered Democrat I am not allowed to vote in the Republican primaries, therefore by default I am now an Independent. I have come to the conclusion that Corporate America is succeeding in their total take over of the United States, come on lets quit the charades. They allow elections to continue for entertainment purposes only.

We the people no longer have a say in who is running the country. We are just along for the ride, and forget about running to another country. They own almost the rest of the world, it just comes down to a few very rich and powerful men playing a game of Risk. We the people are here only to serve and entertain those few. I challenge any one to convince me other wise! And I do not give a rats ass as to why I am not being allowed a voice in the Democratic primary. The end result is the same no matter what argument you give me, fuck both sides of that argument.

Have you been told who your Presidential candidate will be. If you do not live in Florida, then in my eyes, you have nothing to say that I want to hear. Because basically, thats what my party has told me.

:eyes:

I'm in Texas. Oh, our primary counts, but what does that mean in a system where the front runners are preselected behind the scenes and the real choices have all evaporated by early January? And the Democratic party in Texas is just a game of charades, designed to create an appearance of opposition while making sure that any real agents of change have the rug yanked out from them so fast that the Republicans never face a challenge. I'm not sure if the very sincere efforts of progressives to retake the party machinery will come to anything, but for lack of any other option, I'm supporting them.

support the progresives, when I am allowed the illusion to, and on the off chance that I am wrong about all of this.

Because I think we all want to still believe that we have some say in elections.

:kick:

The government says "Shop!" per the headline in today's St. Pete Times. So shop, damn it!

You are expected to shut the fuck up and watch the playoffs tomorrow. The Packers could win-as a transplanted Wisconsinite, I unfortunately do care about that.

Why do you care about any of this when they are ALREADY WRITING BRITNEY'S OBITUARY!!!!????

P.S. Your flag is upside down. :sarcasm:

:toast:

That will show them.

Don

Don, I think you you know me better than that. You were already here when I came to DU, and i know you have read many of posts regarding my feelings about the rethuglican party.

:hi:

But I live in Illinois and by the time I get to vote in my primary it is always over with. Its been that way forever. Everyone can't vote first.

I just live with it.

Its just real nice to have the internet and DU which allows me to feel like I get to participate, though in a limited way, in the earlier primaries and caucuses.

Take care and see you later.

:hi:

Don

Just have one day of primaries. Make it sometime in March or April or May, so candidates have time to get around to all the states, and so that we aren't subject to these 2-year long campaigns.

Democrats are turning out in larger numbers than republicans in early vote tallies. If nothing else, this large turnout could perhaps send a message that the spirit of democratic floridians will not be deterred by the corrupt republicans in Tallahassee.

Don't you let it.

It sits squarely with the Democratic party. I am truly tired of not having my vote count in this third world banana republic called Florida. It truly would be a wasted vote, I will just stay at home and wait to see who I am allowed to vote for in the general election. Besides why give the repubs accurate numbers to make their "Devious Plans" with.

:hi:

Please do not buy into repubican propaganda. The DNC has every right to determine the primary dates, and Crist could care less.

The odd thing about this is that democrats were beginning to warm up to him before he played this dirty trick on them. Perhaps republicans don't want democrats showing up to vote on another issue? Are you aware of this? I am.

... I THINK. He's doing his best despite the fact that he is, after all, a Repuke. I think part of the reason is that he's gay and knows that's an Achilles' heel. The other is that I think he thinks he can be president one day and wants to be popular.

He did it willfully, but had the right to do it.

(I'm in Florida)

Election reform was top priority for the democrats.

:shrug:

:toast:

they can't.

Like I said, no matter which side of the argument. The end result is still the same, I lose and the people of Florida lose. I had hoped for better from them Democratic leaderships elite. Whether they be Florida's leaders or the National Party leaders. So who won the argument?

:shrug:

but the Dem leaders in Florida are really the ones to blame here IMHO

but as an individual it sucks to not have your vote counted in the primary. I want representation when the delegates are seated dangnabit.I am really pissed off at the lot of them.

Republicans added the change in primary date to that bill

But I don't understand your voter registration status problem. In para 2, you say you re-registered as a Democrat. In para 3, you say, "Independents are not allowed to vote in either of the primaries here in Florida, and by being a registered Democrat I am not allowed to vote in the Republican primaries, therefore by default I am now an Independent."

Can you vote in the Democratic primary? If so, what is your objection to not being able to vote in the Republican primary? You want to be be able to vote in both? How is it disenfranchising you that the primaries are limited to party members?

I absolutely agree that we, the American people, have been disenfranchised by a voting system - rammed into place during the 2002 to 2004 period, all over the country - in which votes are "counted" on electronic machines run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls. Our Democratic Party leaders FAILED to protect us from this fascist coup - and supported it, enthusiastically - a mind-boggling development.

It matters very little, as to immediate transparency of the vote counts, that FLA now has a paper ballot requirement (optiscan system), as opposed to a paperless system (touchscreens - no ballot at all, no way to verify the vote) - if 99% (or more) of the ballots are NOT counted. I don't know FLA's audit requirement (automatic handcount), but many states do a ZERO handcount (whether they have a ballot or not), and the best states do only a 1% audit, miserably inadequate in a "trade secret" vote counting system. (By way of comparison, Venezuela does a whopping 55% handcount, as a check on machine fraud--and they have an "open source" code system - anyone may review the code by which the votes are tabulated - unlike our "trade secret" system, in which the voters have no right to know how their votes are counted. 55%! --compared to our 0 to 1%)

Thus, in FLA, and almost anywhere in the U.S., there is little or no transparency, and little or no verification of the vote. With these corporate-run voting machines, the rightwing Bushite corporations that control them can tell us anything they want to, as to who won - and we don't know, and can't know, whether or not it's true.

The entire government is therefore illegitimate - from the President on down. There is hardly a member of Congress who can prove that he/she was actually elected. And it shows. 70% of the American people opposed to the Iraq War and wanting it ended, and yet our so-called Democratic Congress ESCALATES the war, and gives Bush and Cheney billions MORE of our tax dollars to keep killing Iraqis until they sign over their oil rights.

But I will say this - about the change in FLA, from a paperless to a paper ballot (though uncounted) system. It is a step in the right direction, if FLA voters and election integrity activists persist - and go for 100% verification. FLA at the least now has the POSSIBILITY of knowing who really won. The ballots would come into play in a recount - if someone has the wherewithal to challenge an election. Recounts are rarely full recounts, though (often just 3% recounts) - but, as I said, it's a step in the right direction. Got to keep fighting, keep demanding transparency, and NEVER GIVE UP ON OUR RIGHT TO VOTE.

It's a hard, hard battle. It's going to take time. The fascists and corporatists did not destroy this democracy in a day, and it will not be rebuilt in a day. Transparent vote counting is a good place to start the rebuilding. Without transparent vote counting, and the ability to "throw the bums out" and elect true representatives of the people, reform is entirely blockaded. We have to break that logjam first - and restore vote counting that everyone can see and understand.

The change in FLA, from paperless to paper ballot voting, as the result of CITIZEN ACTIVISM, is a good sign that more can be done. The system is at least responding in this minimal way, to citizen efforts. We have a long way to go, but, hell, you CAN go a long way, one baby step at a time - with patience and perseverance.

Do not despair. You are not alone in the insight that both party leaderships have turned traitor on us, and have betrayed us - and that global corporate predators, with no loyalty to the American people, have seized our government, and control who gets elected and all policy. It is true. The great, progressive democratic spirit is still alive among the people, however. You are a good example of it. I am an example of it. There are millions and millions of examples of people who are waking up, at last, and are seeing what the core problem is: Corporate Rule--big, multinationals having more power and more rights than we, the sovereign people of this land.

But, as with the Renaissance and the Enlightenment movements that emerged from the Middle Ages, it is no easy task to overthrow a pervasive institution like the Roman Catholic Church was in the Middle Ages - so hauntingly similar to present-day Corporate Rule. It takes a long process of education, awakening and devoted and passionate citizen activism. Our American Revolution, in turn, emerged from that Enlightenment period, and - lo and behold - our FIRST Amendment says "no establishment of religion." State merger with religion was the core problem faced by the enlightened folks of the 18th century. What is OUR core problem? The state merger with corporations - particularly with large transnationals who care nothing for us, except as their "corporate welfare" cash cow.

Now we have to throw THEM off - just as we, as a culture, threw off the tyranny of imposed religion. Ask Galileo how hard it was. Ask any and all thinking people in the Middle Ages and subsequent centuries how hard it was. But that is the task given us by history. And I urge you to join with others who understand the task, and, as I said, I think the restoration of transparent vote counting is the first and essential step we must take out this mire, toward American Revolution II.