Political smears, threats to freedom, and getting out the vote
The McLoughlin Post, October 22, 2008
On Congressional representative Michele Bachmann:
Congress, do not permit the degradation of the spirit of America to continue to go unchallenged.
There is not another moment to lose. Rise up and shake off the stupor, the blanket that has been laid
over the nation, this blanket of fear, this fiction of terrorism, this fascism that threatens the very core of
Americans who stand and speak for their country. Threatened. Threatened with this stinking innuendo
of anti-Americanism; this stinking threat of the powers of the state they would harness against those
with whom they disagree --- censure those such as Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who
smears Barack Obama and others who don't happen to share her political views; put all on notice that
this nonsense, these threats to freedom of speech, of thought, of assembly, of liberty WILL NOT BE
TOLERATED for a nanosecond; not one whit; I want to hear Congress thunder we will not tolerate
these insidious threats, these odious smears, not now, not ever.
The McLoughlin Post. Signed to the petition.
On republican efforts to disenfranchise voters:
I would say to voters in democrat predominant neighborhoods do not despair. This is nothing new.
So many stalwart citizens have brought this country a long, long way forward. We used to have
slavery. Women were once thought of as little more than slaves as well. Women not so long ago did
not have the right to vote or the right to participate in society as fully autonomous human beings.
There are many ways American society has improved. But there is a problem.
Backsliding. Civilization is backsliding.
Partly as I write I am reminding myself of the accomplishments, frankly, so that I do not succumb to
despair myself.
While the ways and means of corrupting the electoral process gets more sophisticated, so too do we
learn. We learn to expose these activities. The good guys fight back. How?
Watch Video the Vote!, and see if this is something you can do on election day to help keep the
election clean.
Vote. Believe in the transformative power of your vote. Your vote is like scoring a goal. You get to
score a goal for your team. Will your teammates score enough goals to win the game? Nobody
knows how a game will turn out going in. All each player can do is their best; rally the other players;
and hope.
There are practical tips for trying to make sure your vote gets counted. These are ideas that writer
Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are working to get out to voters to help them. In an interview
with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez at Democracy Now!, they make these points:
Don't mail in your ballot; vote early, vote now; check your registration (they say you can do this on-line
at stealbackyourvote.org . The system rules are picky; your name has to match exactly); vote
unconditionally, not provisionally; demand adjudication if you are challenged at the voting center and
they try to make you do a provisional ballot (which Palast and Kennedy says just gets thrown out. The
Steal Back Your Vote link, above, gives tips for how to handle this). If you vote early you can get out
and help other people on voting day. Last, when you go to vote it can feel better to not go alone in
case you are challenged and they try to give you a provisional ballot or you encounter any other
problems.
If you happen to go alone to vote, one last thing. You are like the quarterback jumping over opponents
while running like the wind - I am cheering, the crowd is roaring, doin' the wave - because you are
exercising your God-given right, you care about your country, and you are marching out - to vote.
Diane V. McLoughlin
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