Читать книгу The Best of "The Way I See It" and Other Political Writings (1989-2010) - Jamala Rogers - Страница 8

December, 2004

It has been a whole month since the November elections, but the end is not in sight. There has been the endless spinning, the paralysis of analysis and the disinformation campaign to keep us busy with an answer to what the hell happened? The more troubling aspect to the elections is the countless charges of voter fraud. Despite all the protections in place, some votes were not counted and some votes were repeatedly counted. The end result is that legal challenges of elections abound and in several states - the most publicized being Ohio - votes are being recounted.

I have documented in previous columns the kind of electronic and human fraud that permeated the elections. A German website acknowledges 3,000 links regarding the voter fraud in the U.S. Clearly, this country’s pompous demand for fair and legal elections in other countries is losing credibility.

Senator John Kerry finally added his wimpy voice to the chorus of those demanding justice in Ohio, a key battleground state. The Rev. Jesse Jackson has called on Kerry to use some of his unspent campaign money to pursue an independent recount in Ohio. That unspent stash is estimated to be about $15 million, a more than sufficient amount to wage a credible investigation into numerous election violations in the Buckeye State.

The bizarre counting of the machines in the presidential election also impacted state and local elections, sometimes even at the ballot issue level. This has serious and broad implications for which we may never to get to the bottom. But we must try, and try hard, and that goes for everyone, even those who came out as victors in a given election. Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to participate in government and in free elections. What happened in Ohio can’t stay in Ohio, no more than what happened in the U.S. on November 2nd can stay in the U.S. This potential theft of a basic right will have long term and international ramifications.

The signatories of the November 3rd Call to Action had the foresight to know that all may not go well on November 2nd. Concerned groups and individuals pledged to put the spotlight on voter fraud until issues were resolved or measures put in place to resolve them in the near future. December 13th is the day the Electoral College will cast its votes in every state across the nation for the US president and vice president. Citizens are being urged to demand that these representatives join the effort to investigate voting rights violations and election irregularities “which call into the question the integrity of the 2004 election” and to help frame resolutions that protect this democratic process. In Missouri, most of us don’t know who these people are, but we should. And they should hear from us in the next week.

It doesn’t stop here. January 20th is the inauguration of a president who has stolen two elections in order to get into power and stay there. An international protest awaits George W as gets he gets sworn in and others swear at him.

All justice-loving people must take voting security seriously. We cannot afford to give up one nanometer or else we begin the slippery fall in an eroding ground of participatory democracy. We must resist the “tyranny” of which Lani Guinier speaks, that gives rise to the empire of a few and the demise of democracy for the many.