The Vote Fraud Movement Needs Heart and Head: A Plea for Unity

[JohnnyCougar]

Some notes from a soon to be social/organizational psychologist. I have noticed two distinct factions popping up here on DU and at Kos. There are people with "heart," who want to make as much noise as they can right away about any evidence of electoral impropriety. There are also ones with "head," who want to scrutinize every fact and supposition until they are 100% sure that the evidence is sound. This divide has been the basis for many arguments here, and threatens to divide and weaken our movement. We must realize that each side has a specific useful purpose, and learn to live with each other on common ground.

The anti-fraud movement is growing and growing. Just the thought of our elections being stolen evokes anger in many, many people. Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, Socialists, Independents and Constitutionalists all put faith in our elections to guide our country in the right direction. We, as Americans, have so much trust in this system, that any evidence to show it has been dishonest will certainly cause immense backlash among the entire populace. Our job is to find evidence that there was fraud, and create this backlash when we do. If large enough, this backlash will be a tidal wave upon the shores of corrupt, cronyistic government, and bring the day that all progressives, libertarians, independents, and even a lot of conservatives dream of. To allow this backlash to occur, we must be strong, and we must stand unified. But we must have a strategy.

For the hearts (you know who you are)
People who are skeptical of claims of voter fraud are only skeptical because they want us to succeed, too. They realize that if we overexpose ourselves without sound evidence to back up our position, it will drastically hurt our credibility in this matter. The heads want to be sure of a move before they make it to avoid political injury. And they do serve an important purpose.

Once facts check out, though, it is your job to be the lungs of our movement. There have been enough facts that have checked out in the past month to raise hell. It is your job to give our voice strength, and to make it be heard all around the world. DO NOT SHUT UP ABOUT VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND THE HACKABILITY OF THE MACHINES EVER!!! There is no denying that voters were suppressed, and that the voting machines are flawed on so many levels that I wouldn't hold a high school class presidential election on them. You also may want holler out about the statistical irregularities. Some pretty reputable organizations have put their name behind analyses indicating fraud. As for the rest of the stories, it may be best to hold your breath until the facts check out.

For the heads (you also know who you are)
The hearts are only making noise because they are afraid our movement will lose strength if they don't. And they are right. In 2000, the recounts lost strength because we didn't have a loud enough voice. We should not have accepted the Supreme Court's election of George W. Bush. When the recounts favored Gore, we should have had millions of protesters clog up Washington until the election was overturned. So the hearts serve a purpose, too.

Your job is to be the mouth of our movement. You must articulate the hearts' energy into a message that is appealing to all people, and one that will withstand the wrath of Republicans. You must focus the raw energy from the hearts screams into a message that is irrefutable, understandable, and concrete. You must explain that everyone should be interested in fair elections, and that the reasons why people are concerned are because this election simply wasn't credible. Cite the investigations going on, the facts about vote suppression, and so on. But do not discredit the entire story. There is definitely enough irregularities going on to warrant a re-vote.


If the lungs and the mouth work together, we can formulate a voice that will be unstoppable. We will never accept any compromise of our democratic right to vote. This time, we will not stop because the Supreme Court says we should stop. We will not stop because the Republicans say they won or the Democrats say they lost. We will not stop until every question is thoroughly answered about this election. And if Bush is still president after that, we must not stop until our government takes responsibility for its war crimes, for its neglect of morals, and for it's blatant lying and corruption.

If we want our movement to succeed, though, we must stand together with one voice!