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Friday, October 29, 2004

Republican Election Theft Watch for 10/29/2004
Posted by Jill | 10:07 AM

Why is the Bush campaign so afraid of the people who employ it? Why, if their record is so great, don't they want people to vote? That's the bottom line, folks: The Bush Administration doesn't think you have the right to vote unless you agree with them. This is not American democracy, this is fascism, as defined in the Merriam Webster New Collegiate Dictionary:

a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control


This just in:

Bush administration lawyers argued in three closely contested states last week that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights set out in the Help America Vote Act, which was passed in the aftermath of the disputed 2000 election.

Veteran voting-rights lawyers expressed surprise at the government's action, saying that closing the courthouse door to aspiring voters would reverse decades of precedent.

Since the civil rights era of the 1960s, individuals have gone to federal court to enforce their right to vote, often with the support of groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the AFL-CIO, the League of Women Voters and the state parties. And until now, the Justice Department and the Supreme Court had taken the view that individual voters could sue to enforce federal election law.

But in legal briefs filed in connection with cases in Ohio, Michigan and Florida, the administration's lawyers said the new law gives Attorney General John Ashcroft the exclusive power to bring lawsuits to enforce its provisions. These include a requirement that states provide ``uniform and non-discriminatory'' voting systems. They also must give provisional ballots to those who say they have registered but whose names do not appear on the rolls.


A government that does not wish its citizens to vote is not fit to govern. Support Bush if you must, delude yourself that it's necessary because of September 11, 2001 if you dare, but don't call yourself a defender of democracy. Call yourself instead an embracer of fascism, because that is what you are.

The American election process is starting to look more like that of my beloved vacation spot, Jamaica, every day. Election-related violence in Jamaica in 1980 is largely responsible for the island's reputation for unrest that alas, continues to this day. Looking at Jamaica's election problems is instructive, because this is where we are heading.

Jamaica is plagued by "garrison" communities, which are completely controlled by one political party or the other. Anyone who seeks to oppose the dominant party in these communities is in danger of suffering serious damage to their possessions or person. Is it so different here? I'm not the only one who's afraid to put a Kerry bumpersticker on my car or lawn sign in front of my house for fear of reprisals from the more rabid Republicans in my Republican-dominated town. The election "challengers" being recruited by the Republican National Committee are no different from the Jamaican posses which began in the late 1960s and 1970s as urban gangs recruited and armed by politicians to organize local constituencies, distribute political favors, enforce party loyalty and turn out votes.

People wonder why there's talk of bringing in international observers on November 2nd. The answer is easy: It's because our election process, which has been completely corrupted by a Republican party willing to resort to anything, including the kind of mass disenfranchisement not seen since the Jim Crow era, to stay in power, resembles that of a developing nation more than that of the world's only superpower.

UPDATE: More thuggishness in Ohio (via Atrios):

When Catherine Herold received mail from the Ohio Republican Party earlier this year, she refused it.

The longtime Barberton Democrat wanted no part of the mailing and figured that by refusing it, the GOP would have to pay the return postage.

What she didn't count on was the returned mail being used to challenge the validity of her voter registration.

Herold,who is assistant to the senior vice president and provost at the University of Akron,was one of 976 Summit County voters whose registrations were challenged last week by local Republicans on behalf of the state party.

She went to the Board of Elections on Thursday morning to defend her right to vote and found herself among an angry mob -- people who had to take time off work to defend their right to vote.

[snip]

``Why'd you do it?'' one challenged voter shouted out at Calhoun. ``Who the hell are you?'' the man asked.

``What the hell do you care?'' replied Calhoun, an attorney.


Let's stop tiptoeing around and call these people what they are: Despicable, un-American thugs. Brownshirts. Fascists.
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