The Activist/Protest agenda: what tops your list

[Ken Burch]

It isn't just about the politicians, y'know, it's about us and the work we need to do.
In 1992-94 we saw what happened when a Democratic congress had no pressure from its left. This mistake must NOT be repeated.

I call for:

1)Mass STOP THE WAR rallies in D.C. and other cities to coincide with the swearing-in of the new congress;

2)A Million Voter March on D.C. supporting marches elsewhere for electoral and campaign-finance reform and the end to electronic voting without a paper trail;

3)Voter registration drives starting NOW for the 2008 elections. The more voters there are the better chances there are for Democratic victories in general and progressive victories in particular;

4)An early consensus decision, if possible on who should be the left-Democratic candidate in 2008. If we can settle on one early, we could have a real chance of stopping it from just being Hillary Vs. Obama.

Add YOUR ideas here:

Remember, the real work begins now.

[hobbit709]

1. Mine are

1. GET OUT OF IRAQ
2. Investigate everything from 2000 election on
3. Healthcare
4. Minimum wage
5. If evidence warrants it, IMPEACH the bastards
6. Send the parties responsible for violations of the Geneva Conventions to The Hague to be dealt with accordingly.
7. PAPER BALLOTS

[anitar1]

2. Sound good to me. the first thing

that came to mind yesterday was antiwar protests.We voted for representation and need to remind our reps, if needed.

[Robbien]

3. Corruption and K Street.

Stop Corruption and close K Street.

Take down the "For Sale" sign.

[peacetalksforall]

4. Authentic voting and the end of private ownership and private

ownership of machines and sofware and tabulation (this involves making sure our leaders understand that WE DON'T WANT THE PRIVATIZATION OF OUR VOTE AND THEY BETTER GET OFF THEIR STUPIDITY and SILENCE PERCH.

Authentic leadership by example - reverse Habeas Corpus, Kyoto under Bush, and all the other broken treaties and laws.

Leaders who understand that we will that we won't be victim's of their deals with corporations.

Legislation that is read and understood and allowed the appropriate study time. No secret deals and lock out on meetings between the leaders. No master-slave demeaning crap. No extensions of the vote to get the result someone is pushing you to get for reward or not.

Equal rights and equal taxes. Stopping the process of organizing corporations outside the U.S. to eliminate taxes, avoiding U.S. laws, and dumbing us down to the point where we must take entry level jobs in spite of our parents efforts to put us through school. No crap with accompanying lies.

More citizen think tanks - eliminate the ones operated by barons to figure out how to improve on their wealth and our control and domination.

No more secret sub-governments where a few players beat us up and sneer at us.

Consider the child and their future and dreams in everything and let them rise to their full potential without bombing and killing damage and threats.

I may never get over my anger at Republicans. I hope I mellow out and the Dems stay very honest. That's a challenge because of their known sell outs to corporations - perfect example - the bankruptcy bill.

[Peace Patriot]

5. I would reverse #1 and #2. We cannot stop the war UNTIL we have...

transparent vote counting.

Massive witness against the war, and pressure on Congress--and a big march--okay. Those are very important. But as long as Diebold/ES&S are "counting" all our votes with TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code--paper trail or no paper trail*--we cannot elect a Congress that truly reflects the SEVENTY PERCENT of the American people who oppose the Iraq War and other Bush policies. With the current Congress, we are going to see plan after plan, and waffling after waffling over "withdrawal," and, at the end of it, we are going to find ourselves STILL thoroughly ensconced in Iraq and in the Middle East. That's what James Baker is all about--that and protecting the flanks of Bush Cartel war criminals. We'll see a lot of posturing by the Dems--and some sincere objections and efforts--but no effective end to the war. That's just how it is. Look at the numbers. Half the Dems voted FOR the war, and for the $11 million PER HOUR in funding, time and again. The OTHER half--about 25% of Congress--are still the only ones who represent the great majority of the American people. It is NOT a representative Congress, and not even close to being one.

Transparent vote counting is PRIORITY NO. 1.

Right now, we have Bushite corporations "counting" all our votes under a veil of corporate secrecy. Keep in mind that these corporations control the election results in the PRIMARIES as well as general elections--that is, control over who is PERMITTED to run--and this new direct control of the vote count combines with the utterly filthy campaign contribution system, and control of the political dialogue by the corporate news monopolies (5 rightwing billionaire CEOs), to exclude most leftist (majorityist) voices from issue discussions and from political office and power. I think the rightwing forces have carefully crafted a Dem majority in the House that is hamstrung by a contingent of "Bushite Democrats"--like those who voted for torture and suspension of habeas corpus a few weeks ago--who hold "swing vote" power. And, of course, the Senate is 50/50, with war profiteer operative Lieberman holding a pivotal vote. They had to let some revolutionary steam out of this system, and--with 70% opposition to the war--could not risk losing their election theft capability for future purposes with overly obvious election theft this year. That capability remains--the capability of "shaping" and of outright stealing elections.

Further, DO NOT EXPECT real election reform from this Congress. Most of the Dems are part of the entrenched corruption (billions in e-voting contracts through the fingers of local officials into the pockets of Bushite corporations) that is making it so difficult to dislodge these NON-TRANSPARENT vote counting systems. The best bill--HR 550--already has a loophole in it, for retaining "trade secret" code in the central tabulators. And, quite frankly, it wouldn't at all surprise me to see this Congress make things worse, rather than better.

I think real reform is only possible at the LOCAL level, using the huge voter rebellion we just saw--big increase in Absentee Ballot voting all over, indicating great voter distrust of the machines--as leverage for a backdoor strategy, and it is this: Mobilize this big base of discontented voters (it's up to 50%-60% of the vote in many places) to pressure local officials, to: 1) HAND COUNT the Absentee Ballot votes, and 2) POST the results BEFORE any electronics are involved. We thus begin to build a paper ballot system BY DEFAULT. It will snowball--because everybody will want their votes to be counted properly. Even more people will vote by AB. Optiscan voters will demand that THEIR ballots be counted before the electronic tallying. Voters in states without the AB option (about 20 states) will clamor for AB voting rights. With this strategy, we avoid a head-on collision with entrenched corruption. They can keep their dirty e-voting contracts for the time being. But we will win a paper ballot system by attrition. The voter BOYCOTT of the machines will become universal.

--------------------

*(A "paper trail" is not much help, if the votes are still being "tabulated" by secret code, and in the absence of adequate audits. What I mentioned above--hand-counting the optiscan ballots, for instance, and posting the results BEFORE electronic tabulation--would be a 100% audit, something we should surely have had FROM THE BEGINNING with these untested electronics. Many states are NO audit. The best--the best!--have only a 1% audit. HR 550 calls for only a 2% audit--very inadequate in this high speed, secretive environment, in which the auditing, if it is selected by the rigged electronics, is worthless--and I don't think even a very inadequate 2% audit will survive this corporatist Congress. And, in that case, a "paper trail" is a sop--an illusory reform. The corporations who brought us the Iraq War remain in control.)

-------------------

Consensus candidate: Al Gore? Russ Feingold? Gore has a lot of things going for him--first and foremost, his speeches/positions over the last three years, indicating a full understanding of the Constitutional and ethical issues that the Bush Junta has presented. I have been very impressed! Secondly, most people believe that he won in 2000 and was unfairly robbed of the presidency. He election would take on a "Restoration" glow--restoration of the proper order of things! I have advocated for a Gore/Kerry ticket for that reason--because I think both men were elected--although Kerry pretty much blew any chance he had, with his unfortunate recent gaffe. (Also, there is still a lot of bitterness about his refusal to fight blatant election rigging in '04--whereas Gore fought hard in '00.) I still have a big beef with Gore on NAFTA--but I'd give him a hearing, if he would speak to it now. He seems to have re-thought a lot of things. And I might even be willing to put it aside--if the "Iron Curtain" comes off political dialogue in this country, and the votes are being counted in the open--for the sake of restoring order, and doing the just thing: putting at least one of the men who actually won the office into power. We can fight about NAFTA and all the rest once order is restored. Another advantage Gore has is eight years of experience in the executive branch. Gore also, almost uniquely, has been trying to address the world's greatest crisis: global warming. And Feingold? I don't know as much about him as I do about Gore. One thing I DO know is that he holds his position of power by virtue of one of the few remaining transparent voting systems in the country--New York has strongly resisted the change to electronics, and retains their old-fashioned, reliable and virtually unriggable lever voting machines. Of course, that's true also of Hillary Clinton. Feingold, however, is a true Democrat, and is great on all the issues. So, maybe Gore/Feingold?

I really can't think of many other Dem politicians who, a) could produce a blowout victory, and b) put together a political consensus that *I* and most other Americans could agree with on most things. How to characterize myself? I'm a Bobby Kennedy Democrat. I try to look at the BIG PICTURE, as Bobby did--who we are as a country, and what our moral and spiritual obligations are, as a people, and how to inspire each other and to ennoble each other, along with toughness and determination, and a focus on what is practical and doable.

Does Hillary inspire? She does not. Does Obama? Maybe some day. He seems "green" to me--a bit young and unformed. And his statements about Iraq have been tepid and opportunistic (not a good beginning). Clarke? Possibly. He is a smart man, a good (though not great) speaker, and a brilliant thinker, but not very experienced in the political arena, nor in civilian government. (I think his talents would best be used as Sec of Defense.) We in fact have a dearth of candidates with the stature needed: the stature of an FDR, or a Bobby Kennedy. That's why Gore keeps coming back up. That could change in this new post-Nov. 7 political landscape--especially if we are able to make progress on transparent vote counting prior to the '08 primaries.