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of them can prove that they actually were. And you know why? Cuz most of them voted for and enthusiastically supported converting the nation's vote counting system from a process that you could at least see, to a process run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, that you CAN'T see.
They 'disappeared' the evidence as to whether or not they were really elected. Why would they do that?
Sorry about the rhetorical questions. I will skip to a better mode. J'accuse!
So, here's the deal. Although 70% of the American people hate this war and want it ended, our so-called 'Democratic' Congress wasn't really chosen by the American people. It was chosen by Diebold/ES&S, et al, just like the Diebold I Congress before it (which was also pro-war). So they are not beholden to us. They are beholden to the rightwing Bushite electronic voting corporations who (s)elected 90% or more of them. And they are therefore not trying to respond to us--the vast majority, who want the war ended--they are playing to THEM, to the wingers who control the vote counting--so they can stay in power, with all of its perks.
It seems real obvious to me. I did not expect much more than this kind of behavior from the Diebold II Congress, when people thought we had 'won' in '06. God, I hated to say it. And I don't know if I did, right away. I didn't think there was a chance in hell that they would end the war. And my reason was, not that many of them had voted for the war, but that even more of them had voted for non-transparent vote counting in 2004, and subsequent (s)elections. This occurred in the same month as the Iraq War resolution (Oct 02). I can see making a mistake on the war--or voting to stay alive and keep a career in tact--given the hysteria and palpable fear of that period. I cannot see voting to turn the election system over to Bushites. And even if some felt fear on this matter as well, as the worm started to turn, round about 2005, why didn't they expose this fascist e-voting coup and start warning people about it?
Dead silence. Not a word did they breathe.
It was locked in by then. Fait accompli. Billions of dollars into the pockets of these far rightwing corporations were already filtering through their fingers, and those of their pals in state government. A perfect bind. A perfect loop of corruption and excuses.
I was, however, shocked by how blatant, and how immediate, the betrayal was. Day one: "Impeachment is off the table." Day two (it seemed like): Bush--"Gimme one hundred billion more dollars to keep killin' them Iraqis." Dems--"Ok!"
And it has gone from that to worse.
So, when they trot out the excuse that "we don't have enough votes in Congress" (to impeach, or to end the war), we should be replying: "Then why did you let Bushite corporations count all our votes with secret code, huh?"
We could have given them (and DID give them) the votes in Congress to force the issue in the House (50 seats, instead of 30--and far more antiwar seats). They DIDN'T WANT THEM.
The Senate is a slightly different scene. Only 1/3 of the Senate was up for reelection, so the Senate was harder to change. But with the charging steed of a 50-vote margin in the House, they might have been convinced, and they certainly would have been embarrassed, and their warmongering and war profiteering exposed, and their next elections put in great peril, if they had blockaded the will of the people--on the war, or on impeachment, and other mandate issues.
We need to look at this situation from the other end of the telescope. A corporation that had a Bush-Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser as CEO--Diebold--and another that has, as a big investor and its initial funder, a far rightwing nutball 'christian' multi-billionaire--ES&S--chose this Congress, just as they chose Bush/Cheney in 2004. Their secret code is not the only factor in elections, of course, but it is the deciding factor. It is the power to determine the outcome, no matter what. And in the case of congressional elections, it is the power to shape the overall tenor of Congress--to add votes here, to nip a few there, to risk a big switch-round in some cases, and be more subtle in others, to tweak people out of the running at the primary stage, to favor "Blue Dogs" (Democratic fascists and militarists) over real Democrats, and to come up with a formula overall that has nearly the exact same impact on Bushite crime and war as the previous Congress: none.
Looking at it from the other end--that the election system was quite obviously and blatantly rigged--things begin to fall into place, and not seem so Alice-in-Wonderlandish. OF COURSE they would behave this way, if they were not really chosen by their constituents (many of them), and/or if they can be easily punished and removed from power by Diebold/ES&S in the next (s)election. This sword of Damocles that hangs over their heads--of 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting--is in ADDITION to many other fascist pressures--fear of the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, fear of Bush Junta spying, blackmail, threats and who knows what else (murder?), fear of political money drying up (millions and millions needed to pay the TV fascists for air time), and so on. It's not just the rigged machines. It's everything else PLUS the rigged machines.
Given THIS other-end-of-the-telescope view, it's surprising that ANYTHING is going on in Congress at all, that actually benefits the American people. A little raise in the minimum wage. A little oversight. Maybe some armor for our soldiers. And it's all a little better as theater. We don't have listen so many Orrin Hatch clones.
I really don't pay much attention to Congress. I wrote them off soon after "Impeachment is off the table" (toyed with the idea that it was a trade for not attacking Iran--don't think that any more), and stopped even caring when I heard that Sen. Diane Feinstein (Bushite Democrat) was in charge of the committee on "election reform." At that point, I decided that our only hope, as a democracy, is election reform at the state/local level--closer to the people. But I may have missed something, and am being unfair to the Diebold II Democrats. Have they accomplished something on our behalf that I haven't mentioned?
And how does whatever I may have missed stack up against, say, losing the right of habeas corpus, or their immunizing Bush & cabal against charges of spying, torture and other high crimes and misdemeanors...or credit card usury and all the rest?
Well, I have been paying SOME attention. Do correct me--anyone out there--if you think this Congress has done anything worthy of the name Democratic, that I didn't mention.
I guess I'm tired of the cries of dismay here at DU, over betrayal after betrayal by this Congress. And I think it's time to demand proof of election from them. We have the most non-transparent vote counting system ever devised outside of Stalinist Russia. Do we have a democracy? Prove it. Show us the ballots.
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