Election Reform

Three articles in today's LA Times sort of sum it all up. The first,Bush's India Plans At Risk, sparked a ray of hope in me. It appears that the growing opposition in both House and Senate will tank this insane plan, which "the White House considers one of the most important pillars of President Bush's foreign policy legacy." There is strong opposition internationally, and growing opposition within India. My hope was that within the States, our lawmakers are starting to rein in this rogue administration.

The second and third articles brought me to reality. The result of a 3-day United Nations Conference, 14 Nations Will Adopt Airline Tax to Pay for AIDS Drugs to make them more accessible. The US opposes the tax, siding with 'unlikely allies such as Syria, Yemen and Pakistan in opposing "empowerment for girls" in birth control and marital relations, and it fought to water down financial targets despite its own substantial contributions.'

And last, Gay Marriage Amendment Getting a Presidential Push. "But even before administration officials announced the event, some invitees denounced it as a sham." Most social conservatives say it is too little, too late, from the administration, however, the timing is clearly intended to galvanize the religious right prior to the mid-term elections. But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) says it best: "Our country faces great challenges: record high gas prices, skyrocketing healthcare costs and an intractable war in Iraq. Yet instead of addressing these issues, Sen. Frist has chosen to put the politics of division ahead of real progress by pushing for a debate on a divisive amendment that will write discrimination into the Constitution."

That, my friends, is the goal of this illegal administration: to write discrimination into the Constitution. To make discrimination law.

The actions of the last six years have been a clear erosion of civil liberites: TWO elections stolen; our phones are monitored without warning; we are living in a constant state of terror; and our government is on a mission to colonize the Middle East in order to control both oil and nuclear weapons. The 2000 election was a bloodless coup; Albert Gore won that election, yet Bush wound up in the White House.

Anyone who does not see the parallels to Nazi Germany is not paying attention.

In Germany, many Jews who had assimilated chose to ignore the warning signs: they stayed. They said "this can't happen to us, we're German." I'm not saying that liberals and the left should leave America. I am saying we have an obligation to take our country back from this would-be dictatorship. Steven D is absolutely right -- THERE CAN BE NO ELECTION REFORM UNLESS THE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHY REFORM IS NEEDED, and without election reform, nothing is going to change.

Peace.