about the events of november 6th, i touched on the flower fund as well and the outpouring of appreciation, i'll let you know if it makes it to print. let me know if you can think of another paper/news editor to send it to,
Dear Editor,
On January 6th 2005 history was made in the halls of congress. Contrary to republican responses and spin, not a single democrat was seeking to over turn the election or its results. It was fairly obvious by the many speeches in both the house and the senate, and by the report by the GAO submitted to congress entitled; 'Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong In Ohio', as well as the many news reports and articles documenting; that there were in fact irregularities, there was voter suppression, there was voter disenfranchisement, and perhaps vote fraud. Pending the results of ongoing investigations as to what exactly went wrong in Ohio; I would hope that our leaders in the halls of congress would unite on a bi-partisan basis on an issue as crucial as the right to vote and voting reform. Many of the victim’s of such disturbing election day problems were in fact minority voters; Voters forced to wait hours upon hours in the rain to cast a vote, voters forced to vote in precincts with insufficient numbers of voting machines, and especially so in comparison non urban and non-minority populated areas. These are just a few examples, not even taking into account the conflict of interest controversy surrounding Ohio Secretary of State and Ohio Bush Cheney campaign member, Kenneth Blackwell and his many barriers to justice in his lack of cooperation with investigations into such problems.
I can’t express to you how proud I was of the patriotic senator from our state, Barbara Boxer, as well as Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, and the 30 or so members of congress who either stood in support of Boxer and the cause of bringing to light election irregularities, and forcing a debate that republicans have not been willing to have for some time. It’s unfortunate it had to come to what it has but it has. Common sense legislation such as voter verifiable paper trail bills to ensure accurate voting, accurate recounting, has been held in up in the republican controlled congress. This should not be a partisan issue, irregularities and problems similar to those in Ohio have been documented in nearly every state in this country, including Florida, the other highly contested state, including the state of Washington where Republicans are now challenging the results of a race as we speak. It’s obvious from the problems of 2000, 2002, and now 2004, that something needs to be done. HAVA (Help America Vote Act) was not enough; it in fact created more problems and confusion. It’s time for a serious review of our electoral system, especially at a time when we are spreading democracy around the world; we cannot allow voter confidence here at home to continue to deteriorate.
At www.democraticunderground.com, a Democrat discussion forum, proud democrat’s in just over a week’s time raised over $1500 dollars in small donations to send ‘thank you’s and bouquets of flowers to the patriotic congressmen and women who stood up for democracy on January 6th, 2005 as a sign of appreciation. A gesture of appreciation that started out as an idea to send Boxer and Tubbs-Jones flowers and ended up raising enough to shower all of the patriots who stood up for democracy with appreciation. Other folks decided to show their appreciation by forming a website called ‘Thank You Patriot’ (
http://shadowbox.i8.com/patriot.htm), soon to be thankyoupatriot.com, a site where anyone can post a picture of themselves saying thanks. All across the internet; on democratic forums, blog’s, and website’s a sense of pride swept through following the events of the 6th, in the halls of congress. While critics dismissed Barbara Boxer’s lone vote in the senate as a defeat, progressives across the country declared victory due fact that in the senate at least half a dozen big name democrats showed their support for boxer, bringing to light election irregularities and the need for election reform in the form of passionate speeches and calls for bipartisan action and legislation, including 5 minute speeches by; Obama, Clinton, Reid, Dodd, Durbin, and more as well as the many more representatives in the house of representatives who did the same. The democrats framed the debate like never before, and the republicans looked immoral sticking to their party line; dismissing irregularities and disenfranchisement of minority voters as conspiracy theories or simply a political move when the truth was right there, is out there, and is obvious; in the Conyers report, documented on the internet, in mainstream as well as Routers and Associated Press articles, and in the movie Votergate. Voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement are very real challenges to democracy in America. Voter irregularities are a fact as well and the causes need to be examined, investigated and corrected.
What occurred on the in the halls of congress on that day was democracy at work. It was the will of the people, it was done for the constituent’s and Americans these patriots serving in our congress are sworn to represent. It was done for every person who fears that their vote didn’t count and for those who were not allowed to. I sincerely want to thank all those who raised these concerns and made this happen, and I can only hope that good will come of this in the form of real election reform. A civil rights movement is underway once again in America, voting rights is turning out to be a major centerpiece of it. One person, one vote is the principle; it’s simple yet so very important. It’s about making sure every vote counts, it’s about restoring faith in our nations election system, it’s about pursuing election reform, and it’s about preserving democracy.
"The right to vote...is the primary right by which other rights are protected"
– Thomas Paine
Sincerely,
Robert
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