Steve Gilliard is trying to shame us into stopping our complaining about electronic voting fraud and actually do something about it:
| The voting machine thing
Occasionally, you'll read an ominous article on the new electronic voting machines. That the GOP will steal elections because the machines are not sound. I have a novel and unique idea, which doesn't involve handwringing. It's called activism. Simply put, you demand that the machines leave a paper trail. How do you do this? Well, we have this thing called a lawsuit. What you do is file and claim that the state must provide a verifiable, non-electronic printout of every vote. That this printout must also correlate to any signature or Id mark made by a voter. See, you can sit on your hands, whine and claim that the nasty Bushies and their corporate masters will keep him in office, or you can whisper into the ears of the NAACP and other groups and demand there be external accountability for electronic machine voting. The voters rights act is a nice catchall. If you think the other side may cheat, why in the hell would you sit around and wait until after the election for them to complain? Preemptive action is now the motto of the Bush Administration, let it be yours. Why in God's name, if you think the machines may be rigged, would you not do a meetup or something and file papers. Each state consititution is different and if there is fraud, you can bring it to heel. Personally, I think the elections they cite had reasons for the last minute swings, but if you genuinely believe these machines can be used for voter fraud, filing a legal action, with at least six months to go before a vote, might make sense. Or you can join the tin of hat brigade and claim Bush will rig the election no matter what. You may not win, but you can raise a stink. Which is better than staring into space and plotting your emigration to Canada or Holland. Some of us like democracy in America and plan on keeping it. Thereis no law that says you have to be a vicitm. People sue and beat large corporations every day. Stop whining and start doing. Sometimes, that actually works. |
So, one commentor at Steve's post decided to whine anyway:
| That would be great except I dont have an in with the NAACP or any other group, and thier sure as hell not going to listen to me. Demand people listen to me, please. File a lawsuit, I'm not a lawyer, and I can't afford one. Yours solutions all require money and/or influence. All I can do is tell other people about this problem and inform the populace. This is something which Rebpublicans often call complaining or harping on the issue. Sure many people could do something about this issue, but most can't. Please, don't mistake getting the word out for education.
Chris Dub |
Steve's response:
| Chris Dub, You know, excuses are like assholes, everybody has one.
A: Ever hear of public interest law? What you do is contact your local ACLU or NAACP Chapter and ask them about this. Believe me, if there's a case, they will be interested and it won't cost you a dime. B: Meetups are free. You don't have to do this alone. C: Your argument is, to be blunt, a crock of shit. You don't need influence to raise a stink. You just have to decide to act over complain. They won't listen to me is so fucking whiny. You have to make them listen to you. Which means calling people, writing letters, sending faxes, talking to reporters. In short, it means being a pain in the ass until someone listens. Now, they may choose to ignore you. But don't give me excuses for not trying. Because that's all they are, excuses. Oh, they're going to steal the election, but I can't do anything because I'm such a victim.. Jesus Christ, there are countries where they boil people alive for even ssying the word vote. The worst that happens is that you're ignored. But at least you tried. And that matters. steve_gilliard |
Is Steve G. correct? What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment