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...have been drowned in the corpo-fascist 'news' monopolies' river of forgetfulness, along with so much else. Both these things really need to be understood as a continuum of Demorepublican U.S. policy. And I hate to say this, because I am a lifelong Democrat and loyal Democratic Party voter, supporter and activist, and I DO see the game that is being played by the far rightwing billionaires who are running things to "divide and conquer" the great progressive American majority, and to disempower and demoralize that majority, possibly in preparation for Bush Junta II. The parallel to Germany in the early 1930s--the fracturing of the center-left and its inability to govern--is quite scary and needs to be understood as a danger. But it cannot be denied that Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party leadership prepped the invasion of Iraq for the Bush Junta AND also paved the way for this induced financial disaster.
The majority of people in this country have virtually no representation in Washington DC. The country is now run by multinational corporations, war profiteers and the super-rich, and virtually all of our so-called representatives--all of whom are now (s)elected by 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting, with the 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY code owned and controlled mostly (80%) by ONE far rightwing corporation (ES&S, which just bought out Diebold)--toady to these powermongers and ignore the rest of us. The left--that is, the CENTER--represented by people like Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer and the late Paul Wellstone--always ends up in the minority--in my opinion, as democratic "cosmetics," in other words to FOOL us that we still have a democracy. I have no way of knowing--and neither does anyone else--if Feingold or Boxer or any of those who seem to be true representatives of the people are sincere, collusive or what. It seems to me that they would be louder about the 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting if they are not collusive. But I can't really tell what's in their hearts or what they know. Things are so bad in this new Roman Empire that they may have good reasons for not attacking the 'TRADE SECRET' coders directly.
Privatized, 'TRADE SECRET' code vote counting, with virtually no audit/recount controls, is THE most anti-democratic measure that has ever been taken by the ruling elite in this country to control the rest of us. It is completely outrageous. Yet you hear almost nothing about it, even from the few leaders who seem to have a conscience.
I try to never say such dire things without proposing a remedy. We need to get rid of private, secret, corporate vote counting--a project that is still doable, since power over voting systems still resides at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have potential influence. It will take a big and widespread citizen movement--a REAL "Boston Tea Party"--but it can be done. And until we restore transparent vote counting, we cannot even begin the reforms that are so badly needed in our troubled and almost non-existent democracy. Transparent vote counting is the BOTTOM-LINE of democracy.
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