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Thursday, October 21, 2004
It Looms

Each day that goes by, we get more and more stories of voting "irregularities" in certain swing states. It gives you the impression that Florida in 2000 is going to seem utterly quaint by the end of the year.

Missouri - This state has 4.3 million election age voters. Guess how many have registered? 4.2 million. I had no idea Missourians were so civic-minded. (Unlikely)

Ohio - Thousands of absentee ballots already sent out have a typo on them. Why must I nitpick? The typo "inadvertently" involved the disappearance of the letters "K-E-R-R-Y." (Obvious)

Nevada - A judge refuses to reopen registration in Clark County where a Republican-funded group apparently destroyed thousands of voter registration cards on which people had the temerity to select "Democrat" as their affiliation. Clark County is where Las Vegas is, by the way. (Obvious)

And, of course...

Florida - Thousands of, ah, ethnic-sounding names purged from the registration rolls.
Asian-sounding names? Hispanic? No, not so much. But if your name happens to be Leonard Washington, I wouldn't count on making it into the booth this year. The governor's fingerprints are literally all over this one.

In a trial run last week, voting machines malfunctioned and thousands of test votes disappeared. The problem is that they overheated. But you know, it never gets hot in Florida...

How have we come to this? We already allow the ownership class in this country so much leeway. We know that their kids will go to better schools, including college. We know that they will get breaks when it comes to securing jobs. We know that these people always protect one another, unless of course, there is a dollar to be made by stabbing someone in the back.

But why have we ceded to these people the right to choose our leaders? Are we really so lazy and apathetic? I'm not so naive that I believe that the election of one candidate over another will instantly make things better. Frankly, my inclination is to give Bush another four years, and let him clean up his own fucking messes.

Iraq: We won't win if we stay, and we won't win if we leave.
The deficit: No matter who wins, we will be paying interest on this gargantuan thing for decades.
Partisanship: I think we may never go back to a time where people were able to put the good of the nation ahead of the advancement of party politics.

It's pretty depressing, and I understand why people don't participate, I really do. Giving Bush another term would serve him right. If there was any justice, impeachment hearings would have begun 18 months ago.

But since that won't happen, he has to go in November, and I'll again say why: The Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court justices are aging faster than Trump's show, and even with their conservative bent, they are the only thing standing between us and an Ashcroft/Bush Christianization of all public institutions in this country. In his nominations for lower judgeships, Bush has very clearly been promoting not simply conservative judges, but reactionary ones. If you are a woman, a non-Christian, or any sort of minority in this country, you really ought to be frightened. And not like "I hope it doesn't rain while I'm out at Wal-Mart" scared. I'm talking "I hope I don't have to thank Jesus for my textbooks in class" kind of scared.

Think you may want to have an abortion? If Bush gets re-elected, you'd better spend most of December having them, because by 2008, it won't be an option. Want to protest against the war? Better hurry up, because by 2006, that will be considered as treason, and you will be jailed. Feel like writing a blog that doesn't tow the party line? Get it out of your system because even at this point, the FBI has broad powers to invade your privacy, and lock you up. If the so-called PATRIOT Act is renewed or further expanded, dissent in this country will be further criminalized. And please, don't be a Jew, Muslim, or God forbid, an atheist. Those are fake religions, and Jesus tells me so. Well, he tells George W. Bush it's so, and I'm sure the President would never stoop to lying about his deep, DEEP religious convictions. What would he have to gain? Oh, yeah. Another four years in office, bankrupting this country in every sense of the word.

I don't care what you believe in, honestly. Whatever gets you through the day without killing someone else is a good thing. But if you honestly believe in this country, and care about it at all, we have to change course. Stop taking it for granted, and stand up for your own freedom. Ask around, it can be taken away.

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posted at 6:29 AM

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