"We don't have a democracy"

from steven d's diary at daily kos...

Some think that we shouldn't talk about stolen elections. You'll only suppress the vote, they tell us. And you'll hurt our credibility with the national media. Better to keep quiet. Keep working hard to rebuild the Democratic Party so that we can win back at least one house of the Congress.

Well, with all due respect, those people are wrong. I finally get what the poor people in the Cincinnati projects I canvassed for Kerry were trying to tell me with their weary postures, rueful grins and knowing looks. We don't have a democracy. At least not the kind where each vote counts the same as every other one. What we have is a broken electoral process. No, more than just broken, our elections have been corrupted. They are a sham and a mockery, and its past time to be talking about that fact if we ever want to return a modicum sanity, honesty and common sense to our politics.

Because at present we are at the mercy of a silent coup. One where the media and the leadership of the Democratic Party have been effectively muzzled. One that is watered by a spigot of corporate money pouring into the coffers of Republican politicians and lobbyists. And one that is beholden to the radical agenda of certain fundamentalist right wing Christian pastors whose congregations provide the organizational muscle to pull it off. People ask if this is really happening why don't the Democratic leaders believe it? I think they do. I think Al Gore and John Kerry both know their presidencies were taken from them. And I think many of their fellow Democrats believe it too. But they're afraid to talk about it, afraid of destroying their political careers should they ever dare to speak about what they know to be true. So I'm writing this diary to let them know that I believe that these elections have been stolen. And there are many more like me. We'll have their backs if they ever have the guts to do what Mark Crispin Miller and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have done, which is simply to speak the truth. Our elections are a sham and its about time more people started saying so, inside the Democratic Party, and out in the progressive net roots. Because until we conquer our fear of this topic, until we confront our denial of the truth, we have no hope of taking back our country from the criminals and fanatics that are now in charge.

i've posted repeatedly on the extent to which our system is diseased so, yeah, this is another one... i'll keep talking about it until they carry me away, which may be sooner than i think...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet