Vote! Undo the coup of 2000

I have voted. I hope everyone who is eligible to vote does so, regardless of party. We, as Americans, have a civic responsibility to exercise our right to vote—the right that so many people have fought for and died for. I am disgusted by the GOP-endorsed efforts to discourage people from voting and their tactics designed to deny the right to vote. Which leads me to the reference to the coup.

The most striking part of Fahrenheit 9/11 for me was the section showing the installation of Bush by the Supreme Court, the repeated protestations of the Congressional Black Caucus to the Senate for a single senator to support their charges of disenfranchisement, and the protests of Bush's motorcade on the way to the swearing-in. I understand why the senators didn't challenge, but it was a chilling scene never the less. Americans should not have to plead for justice when it comes to voting. And the line of black limousines pushing through crowds of people struck me as similar to scenes in the Soviet Union or other dictatorships where there exists two classes: the leading elite and everyone else. No wonder 40-45% of Americans don't believe Bush is legitimately the president. We know as fact that Gore won the popular vote by over 500,000 and that he should have won the vote in Florida, thus winning the electoral vote. Had the Supreme Court put democracy ahead of their own desires they would have pushed for full accounting of the votes instead of installing their preferred candidate in office.

Today is the day our country has an opportunity to restore democracy. Unfortunately the GOP insists on putting party before country and are prepared to resort to any lengths to win, including illegal ones. Should the election outcome once again get thrown into chaos by the litigious Republicans (it was Bush who went to court first in 2000, which apparently is a favorite tactic of Karl Rove), there is an organized response. Instead of pleading for help, people will exert their power to fight back. Nov3.us is an organized effort to make sure we restore democracy to this country. Hopefully the election results will be clear and decisive and this won't be necessary. But if needed, this time the people will be ready. Hopefully come January 20, 2005 we can say democracy has been restored to America.

kherr @ 10:27 CST | link | politics