June 6th, 2006 is fast approaching. In fact as your read this it may have already passed, but that is neither here nor there. If you pay attention to the media some people think that June 6, 2006 will be a very bad day because it’s date can be written as 6/6/06 or 666. For those of you who or missed the movie The Omen or aren’t big Iron Maiden fans, I’ll try and help. Some people claim that the number 666 represents Satan. It is the number of the beast. This overlooks the fact that a lot of biblical scholars disagree. The number 666 was probably just code for Caesar Nero. Also the Book of Revelations was not a book of prophecy rather it was a coded critique of the Roman Empire’s treatment of early Christians. But while all that is an interesting argument there is a greater evil taking place. It has nothing to do with Satan or religion. It has to do with your eroding rights.
Florida recently passed a law that fines organizations for turning it forms late. It is currently being challenged in court as being unconstitutional. These fines would make it next to impossible for organizations like the League of Women Voters to register voters. The League of Women Voters has been doing this for decades.
Washington has a law denying anyone the right to vote if their data does not match a state database. We all know how efficient and accurate our government is. This will disenfranchise potentially thousands of voters in Washington.
There is some talk of a national voter ID card or requiring photo ID to vote, but this is slow moving. Apparently even Bush, who seems to love needless bureaucracy, has rejected it. But it does bear watching.
Never mind the long standing practice of gerrymandering, which divides districts into regions of invincibility for the incumbent. Yes your district is more than likely been nicely divided into something that has the demographic makeup to always favor your incumbent politicians.
So this brings me to the scary part. Why are these moves being made to make it harder to vote? Isn’t voting essential to a representative democracy? Which is what we really are.
I know there has been talk recently that the 2004 elections, especially in Ohio, were less than earnest. But this is going deeper than that. It’s bad enough we have no national standards for voting, even in national elections. Are we going back to the days when voting was restricted to the white and wealthy?
Sadly I know why this is happening. It’s not totally the politicians’ fault. I mean sure they have seem to forgotten that their job is not that of divine leader but rather it is that of public servant. It is the politicians’ job to best serve the welfare and interests of the citizens. It is the right of the citizens to remove those politicians who are not fulfilling that obligation. Sadly in a lot of places that’s more difficult, because of gerrymandering, than it ought to be.
But as much as I’d like to sit here and write a thousand words or so on what a bunch of worthless snakes inhabit our halls of power, I won’t. I mean sure it’s true but they’re not who needs the swift kick in the pants.
It the American people who have to burden the bulk of the blame. I’ll say this early it’s a shame the mainstream media doesn’t get as angry with this as they should. It would make the citizen’s life a lot easier. But unfortunately this is the information age and being informed has never been easier. Sure there’s a large amount of crap that has to be sifted through but the truth is out there. You just have to willing to find it. So I can’t totally blame the mainstream media.
It’s the American people that have let the government do this to them. American’s are totally apathetic about their government. Recently an election in Israel had a 63% turn out. It was considered low by their standards. If 63% turned out in the USA it would be cause for celebration. The American people are also woefully ignorant of their own civil liberties as guaranteed by the Constitution. Most aren’t even aware of who represents them in government. If you want to see it for yourself start asking people who is the Representative in the United States House of Representatives. I’d bet that most couldn’t tell you even that. Or ask them to name the five freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. You’ll get blank stares.
The people of this wonderful country need to realize that freedom is fragile. It can be broken and taken away quite easily. You have to defend it. The people need to vote, educate themselves and make sure that those is government never forget who the real boss it. It is not they or their donors. It is the American people. We must never allow ourselves to forget that or let that change.
Florida recently passed a law that fines organizations for turning it forms late. It is currently being challenged in court as being unconstitutional. These fines would make it next to impossible for organizations like the League of Women Voters to register voters. The League of Women Voters has been doing this for decades.
Washington has a law denying anyone the right to vote if their data does not match a state database. We all know how efficient and accurate our government is. This will disenfranchise potentially thousands of voters in Washington.
There is some talk of a national voter ID card or requiring photo ID to vote, but this is slow moving. Apparently even Bush, who seems to love needless bureaucracy, has rejected it. But it does bear watching.
Never mind the long standing practice of gerrymandering, which divides districts into regions of invincibility for the incumbent. Yes your district is more than likely been nicely divided into something that has the demographic makeup to always favor your incumbent politicians.
So this brings me to the scary part. Why are these moves being made to make it harder to vote? Isn’t voting essential to a representative democracy? Which is what we really are.
I know there has been talk recently that the 2004 elections, especially in Ohio, were less than earnest. But this is going deeper than that. It’s bad enough we have no national standards for voting, even in national elections. Are we going back to the days when voting was restricted to the white and wealthy?
Sadly I know why this is happening. It’s not totally the politicians’ fault. I mean sure they have seem to forgotten that their job is not that of divine leader but rather it is that of public servant. It is the politicians’ job to best serve the welfare and interests of the citizens. It is the right of the citizens to remove those politicians who are not fulfilling that obligation. Sadly in a lot of places that’s more difficult, because of gerrymandering, than it ought to be.
But as much as I’d like to sit here and write a thousand words or so on what a bunch of worthless snakes inhabit our halls of power, I won’t. I mean sure it’s true but they’re not who needs the swift kick in the pants.
It the American people who have to burden the bulk of the blame. I’ll say this early it’s a shame the mainstream media doesn’t get as angry with this as they should. It would make the citizen’s life a lot easier. But unfortunately this is the information age and being informed has never been easier. Sure there’s a large amount of crap that has to be sifted through but the truth is out there. You just have to willing to find it. So I can’t totally blame the mainstream media.
It’s the American people that have let the government do this to them. American’s are totally apathetic about their government. Recently an election in Israel had a 63% turn out. It was considered low by their standards. If 63% turned out in the USA it would be cause for celebration. The American people are also woefully ignorant of their own civil liberties as guaranteed by the Constitution. Most aren’t even aware of who represents them in government. If you want to see it for yourself start asking people who is the Representative in the United States House of Representatives. I’d bet that most couldn’t tell you even that. Or ask them to name the five freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. You’ll get blank stares.
The people of this wonderful country need to realize that freedom is fragile. It can be broken and taken away quite easily. You have to defend it. The people need to vote, educate themselves and make sure that those is government never forget who the real boss it. It is not they or their donors. It is the American people. We must never allow ourselves to forget that or let that change.
posted by Eric at 10:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home