Choose language






Lost Password?
No account yet? Register

Games

Arcade
Sudoku
Anderson: Elections or selections? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Anderson   
Tuesday, 08 January 2008

As the primaries are upon us, I find myself thinking about our election process. For many, politics is a personal choice. It is considered the perfect example of the democratic process. A fair and honest collection and count of individual votes made in individual booths by individuals. But, really, is it?


When you vote…


Do you vote for your team or the best person for the job?


Do you vote for the most popular person or do you vote for the most intelligent person?


Do you vote for the person who looks respectable or do you vote for the person who has earned your respect?


Do you vote according to your standards or the standards of your peers or party?


Do you do your own research on the candidates or do you rely on commercials, catch phrases, and/or corporate media to make your decisions for you?


Does your vote have your personal stamp of approval or does it simply have the stamp of approval of your party?


Before you vote, this year, take some time to ask yourself these questions and one last vital question:


Are you electing someone according to your conscience or are you selecting someone according to someone else’s agenda and/or persuasion?


Andrea Anderson lives in Lakeport.


Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)



Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
Reddit! Del.icio.us! JoomlaVote! Google! Live! Facebook! StumbleUpon! Yahoo! Free social bookmarking plugins and extensions for Joomla! websites!
Comments
Add NewSearch
James - Got it Registered | 01-09-2008 07:54:54
It took me some time to understand I was a robot for the party.I have been a non-patrisan for over 35 years now.The partys as they are now is about power and what that power will bring.With they hand in your pocket they have the best health'care, good pay,perquisite we can't begine to know. So we slowly die from within. We can't live as partys and not Americans. Abraham Lincoln said "A house divided against itself cannot stand"Its true today as then, we will live togather or die apart.
Donna Christopher - Reality Check Author | 01-09-2008 11:15:48
Good article but I think we did all of the above in 2000 and then the electoral college told us, in conjunction with the Supreme Court, that we were all wrong. The EC needs to go (in all states at one time), the electorate is now fully submerged in information, the only way to be an un-informed voter is to be so out of it you won't know when the election is anyway.
Ben Edes - Understanding the process Registered | 01-09-2008 12:36:48
Great post. I might add one must also understand our form of government, the election process and why the electorate exists.

When the Founders crafted the Constitution they knew centralized government would lead to loss of Liberty. Hence, they feared concentrated populations could make for elections by "mob" that would deprive remote states, communities, towns, etc. Ben Franklin said this about it "Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for dinner, Liberty is a well armed lamb". Therefore, even if the majority wills murder, so called Democracy doesn't meet the test of classic rightful Liberty.

Today our Representative Republic is full of Legislators that have little respect for the Constitution to the degree that they even flaunt their "fancy hat" status above those they serve – We The People.

If you want your country back, find a candidate that respects the rule of law according to the Constitution. He's out there and not that hard to find. Americans can save the Republic.
Donna Christopher - Has the EC Author | 01-09-2008 21:53:54
not now become the 'mob'? Is anywhere so remote that they cannot participate and thus 'be deprived'? If we can get ballots thru the bullets to our service people I'm pretty sure anyone that wants to vote stateside can succeed. Which is why the Constitution can be amended, the FF knew things would change and that it needed to be a living document, able to be changed but not on a whim. And thanks, I always love to read that Franklin quote. It appears the strict Constitutionalist that has his hat in the ring may have some old newletters that bear his name come back to bite him in the bumm. He has some 'splainin' to do.
purplegirl - Just an afterthought IP:208.106.99.xxx | 01-10-2008 14:53:19
We need (more than ever) not only to be an informed voter but an active and conscientious voter. You can have all the information in the world at your fingertips but if you don't consciously act on it you may as well not have any information at all.

We say that the information is out there and we have all learned our lesson from the 200 and 2004 elections. Though, I have to wonder, if we have learned our lessons why aren't we acting upon what we have learned?

For instance, this story came out yesterday...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From blackboxvoting.org

UPDATE JAN 9 9am PST: TOWN OF SUTTON CONFIRMS RON PAUL TOTALS WERE 31, NOT ZERO.

I just got off the phone with Jennifer Call, Town Clerk for Sutton. She confirmed that the Ron Paul totals in Sutton were actually 31, and said that they were "left off the tally sheet" and it was human error.

This is not an acceptable answer, especially because one of the most common forms of fraud in a hand count system is to alter or omit results on the reporting sheet. Hand count is lovely, transparent. They then fill out another reconciliation sheet, often in front of witnesses, and it looks fine. Then they provide a summary or media sheet with the incorrect results.
``````````````````````````````````
How many of us questioned their media outlets as to why they aren't covering this story? Just because it happened in another area to a candidate you may not support doesn't mean that it can't happen in this area to a candidate you do support. This should concern all of us to the point of action. The New Hampshire District Attorney (as well as the person/people who committed the voter fraud) needs to know that this hasn't gone unnoticed and that there needs to be consequences for such behavior. Yet, we sit rather numbly doing nothing, even when we are made aware of it, pretending it doesn't concern us or (worse yet) it doesn't matter.

What about this bit of news...

Clinton came out on top in New Hampshire even though Zogby polling numbers had Obama leading Clinton by 42/29 per cent. Clinton took the primary by three per cent, Obama being ahead in handcounted ballots which is about 20% of New Hampshire and Clinton being ahead in Diebold machine ballots which is about 80% in New Hampshire. In precincts where electronic voting machines were used, Clinton received a 7% swing over Obama, having gained 5% in comparison to hand-counted ballots and Obama losing 2%.

Why is this important? Maybe, because a Diebold executive is a known felon who has the ability to replace memory cards in the middle of an election. Maybe, because the Diebold machines are known to be hackable. Has anyone questioned why we are still using Diebold machines that do not allow for a paper trail when banks have Diebold machines that do allow for a paper trail? Why aren't we questioning these things?

Better yet, why aren't we doing something about these things? We can't just sit around and gather information, we need to act on it.

I, for one, will be downloading a citizen's toolkit in order to do what I can to protect my vote and the votes of others. At least, it is something.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.pdf
Donna Christopher - Good Blog PG! Author | 01-10-2008 15:37:33
Your right, info not used may as well be no info at all. I love our paper ballots in Lake County. I will go to absentee ballot if I'm ever faced with a voting machine. I think we are lucky in Lake County with our Registrar of Voters and the folks that work in that office. But we have many great things here that aren't available elsewhere and I do not doubt for one minute that if the powers that be can't win fair and square they will have no qualms at stealing an election.
James - ENEMY Registered | 01-12-2008 16:42:16
"We have met the enemy...and it is us"
Its my view that tells it like it is. Look it up and get a smile who was quoted.
Only registered users can write comments!
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 January 2008 )
 
< Prev   Next >
Forecast
Mostly Sunny Today: Mostly Sunny
62°F | 39°F
Mostly Cloudy Tomorrow: Mostly Cloudy
60°F | 43°F
7 day forecast...

Calendar: click on a date to submit an event

« < November 2008 > »
S M T W T F S
26 27 28 29 30 31 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 1 2 3 4 5 6