Sunday, March 05, 2006

Will Black Elites Please Shut Up About The Voting Rights Act!

I wish that the Black elites in this country would shut up about the renewal of the Voting Rights Act set to expire soon. This is just another example of their tendancy to think small. And i'm getting tired of hearing their mindless ranting about this issue. It makes me want to puke.

They are begging rich white folks in Washington D.C., who don't give a damn about their right to vote, to renew something that never lived up to its original promise in the first place. They act as if this piece of legislation really gave them a fair vote. Instead, they should think big and demand real voting reform in this country- such as:

1. Standardized voting across the country.

2. Demanding an end to the 50 separate and unequal votes in the State by State voting system.

3. More national political parties so that the 300 million people in this country could be better represented and balance could be brought into the system currently run by two thoroughly corrupt organizations.

4. Demand that votes are actually counted.

5. Demand that votes are counted by non-partisan election officials.

6. Voter verification and ballot verification.

7. A Nationwide voter registration system....or at least Statewide systems. This would allow voters to vote anywhere in the State that they choose...no more designated polling places...which is outdated policy. This would prevent the problem of the same person voting twice at different locations.

8. Allow people to register to vote at more locations...including the neighborhood grocery store, Walgreens, Banks, Drivers License offices, Public Libraries, Colleges/Universities, etc. Voting and voter registration should be as easy and convenient as possible.

9. Have a popular vote for President.

10. Stop voting on Tuesdays. Saturday or Sunday voting should be the new norm.

Black elites should be fighting for these things and more. Instead, they are begging for the weak system that we have had for the past 40 years to be reinstated. That is nonsense! The same voting rights act that they are begging for was almost never enforced.

*Throughout the 1990's, when Republicans were able to dominate the media and manipulate voting- The Voting Rights Act was in place. Didn't help.

*In 2000, We all know what happened there. All sorts of trickery all over the country, especially in Florida with partisan voting officials controlling the vote, votes not being counted, votes thrown out, ballot tampering, bags of ballots thrown in the trash or missing, vote rigging of various kinds, entire areas where votes were thrown out, and an election that would have gone to the other candidate had all the votes been handled properly. THE SAME VOTING RIGHTS ACT WAS IN PLACE. It didn't make one bit of difference. The election was STILL a fraud with the Voting Rights Act in place. Didn't help!

*2002, more Republican trickery allowed Republicans to gain even more seats in the U.S. Congress. One of the main tricks used was changing the bounderies of the voting districts...called redistricting, in a way that gave Republicans an advantage. Now, most Congressional seats have no serious competition, and run uncontested due to all the redistricting that has taken place. This is an example that shows how far the U.S. is from being a real Democracy. THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT WAS IN PLACE in 2002. But to no avail. It didn't help.

*2004, Even more political trickery occurred in 04. Ohio and other States like Florida, have Secretaries of State who are responsible for counting the votes, but these same people are also the chairpersons for one of the political parties involved in the election. International Observers (the OSCE) were shocked to learn about this system in 2004. Then there were all of the scandals regarding voters being turned away, fraudulent organizations working for the Republican party, posing as independent voter registration groups but were really throwing away voter registration cards made by Democrats... all sorts of undemocratic behavior took place during the 2004 election season..., in particular a lot of media manipulation of the voters. ALL TAKING PLACE WHILE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT WAS IN FORCE. Didn't help.

*In 2006 and 2008, you will see the same nonsense.... culminating in a fake ceremony that Americans take part in every 2-4 years, giving themselves the illusion of being a Democracy, without actually being one.

*The Voting Rights Act hasn't done a goddamn thing to guarantee or protect my vote. And even if it did, what good does it do to protect a vote within a larger broken, corrupt, un-democratic system?

Black Elites...wake up and stop thinking small! Shut Up about the Voting Rights Act and push for real Democracy.

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