I love it when I'm right. I'm pressed for time right now, but I will sometime later try to supply a link to an earlier post where I explained that the new touch screen voting machines, while they are probably easily manipulated for the purposes of cheating and stealing votes, are not necessarily a Republican tool alone.
Well, according to this story in the New York Times, evidently the Democratic majority in Congress has been told in no uncertain terms by a wide cross section of regional/local Democratic Party operatives* they should "delay"** their 2006 campaign promise for voter reform.
Look, folks, I'm not trying to be a dick. You are welcome to your little fantasies about how every time a Republican wins an election it's because of some world-wide conspiracy of Big Business and the national Republican organization to rig elections.
But, as I'm sure we all know, deep down inside, that is pure fantasy. (Every now and then I decide I'm going to make this a family friendly blog and so I say words like fantasy instead of fucking bullshit).
Okay, you can make the case for Bush's win in Ohio over Kerry-maybe. Well, more than likely, as you did have a corrupt Secretary Of State (Kenneth Blackwell) who seemed to go out of his way to insure a paucity of voting machines in heavily Democratic voting districts, such as Cleveland. (This, by the way, may have been as much about an effort to unseat Kucinich as to throw Ohio to Bush. I am planning to look into that possibility later).
By and large, however, this whole story is proof of that old saying-"All Politics Is Local". (Live Blogging Idea-I think this, or a variation, will be my post title).
In other words, what I am saying is-what I have always said is-local Republican Party leaders benefit from the potential to manipulate computerized voting machines, to be sure, but so do local Democratic Party leaders.
It helps them to keep people like me from challenging their hand-picked candidates in a primary contest. Therefore, it keeps the power of those local leaders intact, as it makes sure they field candidates who stay on the reservation.
Therefore, if I run as a Democrat who is opposed to any form of gun control, or any further taxes on tobacco products, or I renounce the constantly on-going drive to introduce yet another series of class-action lawsuits against, well name it-gun manufacturers, fast food restaurants, the alcohol industry, ad infinitum-they can keep me in check.
In a close primary election, which is the best that I as an unknown maverick primary candidate can hope for, they can rig the machine to where say one out of every 200 votes for me is thrown out, and another one of out every 200 votes for me is thrown to my opponent.
In the vast majority of cases such as this, the local political leaders hand-picked opponent will go on to win, though it might still be close. Yet, the election won't be so skewered as to raise eyebrows as to the seeming inconsistencies with polling data.
Of course, local Republican operatives can manipulate the thing in the same manner for their primary contests, and both parties can in a general election work to insure that any third party candidate is held down to maybe as much as a percent less of the vote than might ordinarily be achieved.
It's such an ingenious strategy it would almost be admirable, if it weren't so seriously corrupt. This is mainly because any such tampering, if it is caught, can always be marginalized as a "mere computer glitch".
So naturally the local party operatives have convinced the Democratic Congress it might be best to wait until 2012 to enact any voting reform legislation. There are just too many logistical and technical problems , etc., plus advocates for the handicapped are opposed to the legislation.
Surprise-Surprise!
By the time 2012 gets here no doubt it will have been decided to be a "non-issue".
And if anyone wonders why I am so adamant about this issue, and can make such allegations without proof, well, it's easy. Voting has always been crooked in the US, in some places more than others to be sure, and that corruption stems from the local/regional level, where the voting is controlled.
Once again-if people real want a national voting system that works, and is accurate, and tamper-proof, then all you have to do is adapt the voting system that has been utilized by Kentucky and New York for at least sixty years.
In almost every Presidential election, Kentucky will be one of the if not the very first state whose votes will have been totaled and announced nationally.
Did anybody ever wonder why that is? It is because Kentucky's voting booth, push button voting machines are fast, accurate, tamper-proof, and all but error-proof. They are fast, easy, and simple, and they leave a record of the votes that can be checked and verified.
They were adapted specifically becasue of early controversies in Kentucky over voting irregularities, whereupon Kentucky legislators adopted the same system adopted by New York in the wake of the Tamany Hall scandals.
But local/regional political operatives of both parties, after all, don't want a system that is fair, fast, efficient, and tamper-proof, nor do they particular care that much if it is error proof.
All they want is a system they can manipulate. That has bee proven, time after time, and they proved it in this case.
*Party bosses
**Kill it and hide the body
Well, according to this story in the New York Times, evidently the Democratic majority in Congress has been told in no uncertain terms by a wide cross section of regional/local Democratic Party operatives* they should "delay"** their 2006 campaign promise for voter reform.
Look, folks, I'm not trying to be a dick. You are welcome to your little fantasies about how every time a Republican wins an election it's because of some world-wide conspiracy of Big Business and the national Republican organization to rig elections.
But, as I'm sure we all know, deep down inside, that is pure fantasy. (Every now and then I decide I'm going to make this a family friendly blog and so I say words like fantasy instead of fucking bullshit).
Okay, you can make the case for Bush's win in Ohio over Kerry-maybe. Well, more than likely, as you did have a corrupt Secretary Of State (Kenneth Blackwell) who seemed to go out of his way to insure a paucity of voting machines in heavily Democratic voting districts, such as Cleveland. (This, by the way, may have been as much about an effort to unseat Kucinich as to throw Ohio to Bush. I am planning to look into that possibility later).
By and large, however, this whole story is proof of that old saying-"All Politics Is Local". (Live Blogging Idea-I think this, or a variation, will be my post title).
In other words, what I am saying is-what I have always said is-local Republican Party leaders benefit from the potential to manipulate computerized voting machines, to be sure, but so do local Democratic Party leaders.
It helps them to keep people like me from challenging their hand-picked candidates in a primary contest. Therefore, it keeps the power of those local leaders intact, as it makes sure they field candidates who stay on the reservation.
Therefore, if I run as a Democrat who is opposed to any form of gun control, or any further taxes on tobacco products, or I renounce the constantly on-going drive to introduce yet another series of class-action lawsuits against, well name it-gun manufacturers, fast food restaurants, the alcohol industry, ad infinitum-they can keep me in check.
In a close primary election, which is the best that I as an unknown maverick primary candidate can hope for, they can rig the machine to where say one out of every 200 votes for me is thrown out, and another one of out every 200 votes for me is thrown to my opponent.
In the vast majority of cases such as this, the local political leaders hand-picked opponent will go on to win, though it might still be close. Yet, the election won't be so skewered as to raise eyebrows as to the seeming inconsistencies with polling data.
Of course, local Republican operatives can manipulate the thing in the same manner for their primary contests, and both parties can in a general election work to insure that any third party candidate is held down to maybe as much as a percent less of the vote than might ordinarily be achieved.
It's such an ingenious strategy it would almost be admirable, if it weren't so seriously corrupt. This is mainly because any such tampering, if it is caught, can always be marginalized as a "mere computer glitch".
So naturally the local party operatives have convinced the Democratic Congress it might be best to wait until 2012 to enact any voting reform legislation. There are just too many logistical and technical problems , etc., plus advocates for the handicapped are opposed to the legislation.
Surprise-Surprise!
By the time 2012 gets here no doubt it will have been decided to be a "non-issue".
And if anyone wonders why I am so adamant about this issue, and can make such allegations without proof, well, it's easy. Voting has always been crooked in the US, in some places more than others to be sure, and that corruption stems from the local/regional level, where the voting is controlled.
Once again-if people real want a national voting system that works, and is accurate, and tamper-proof, then all you have to do is adapt the voting system that has been utilized by Kentucky and New York for at least sixty years.
In almost every Presidential election, Kentucky will be one of the if not the very first state whose votes will have been totaled and announced nationally.
Did anybody ever wonder why that is? It is because Kentucky's voting booth, push button voting machines are fast, accurate, tamper-proof, and all but error-proof. They are fast, easy, and simple, and they leave a record of the votes that can be checked and verified.
They were adapted specifically becasue of early controversies in Kentucky over voting irregularities, whereupon Kentucky legislators adopted the same system adopted by New York in the wake of the Tamany Hall scandals.
But local/regional political operatives of both parties, after all, don't want a system that is fair, fast, efficient, and tamper-proof, nor do they particular care that much if it is error proof.
All they want is a system they can manipulate. That has bee proven, time after time, and they proved it in this case.
*Party bosses
**Kill it and hide the body
