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Today's Top News
Will Al Gore Face His Inconvenient Truths About Our Stolen Elections?
Al Gore has just made his second major contribution to our national political dialog.
His first, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped make the perils of global warming real to the American mainstream.
Now his "Assault on Reason" is excerpted in Time Magazine. With it he paints a compelling portrait of a democracy being obliterated by money and television.
The content is very much on point. But the former Vice-President must finally face the huge personal responsibility he bears for much of the problem.
First, he was an important party to the complex but catastrophic Telecommunications Act of 1996. This Clinton-era corporate goodie bag enabled a huge spike in the monopolization of the electronic media Gore now decries.
To fight the problem, Gore should now become an active agent in reversing that horrific pro-monopoly give-away. He could fight to re-establish meaningful pluralistic media ownership and public access, and for reviving both the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time Provision, which once guaranteed balance in media content.
Second, Gore was victim of the theft of the election of 2000, but he also enabled it. In the entire history of the United States, few events have more deeply damaged our democracy than the stolen Florida vote count and warped Electoral College outcome that followed.
The Electoral College was ostensibly designed at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to protect the rights of small states. But it also facilitated the ability of slaveowners to cast 3/5ths of a vote for each of their chattel. There are few more destructive monuments to electoral cynicism. Gore would be a welcome ally in finally ridding ourselves of this historic obscenity. After all, he won by half a million popular votes and "lost" the election.
That Gore was victimized in 2000 was largely his own fault. Amidst the carefully choreographed chaos of the Florida 2000 vote count, the Gore campaign inexplicably asked for a recount only in four counties, rather than statewide. This was a miscalculation of epic proportions. In recent years it's been proven that Gore did win the legitimate Florida statewide vote count, and would have prevailed with a full and honest recount.
The Florida 2000 recount was sabotaged by Governor Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris, as J. Kenneth Blackwell did again in Ohio 2004. In both cases, a very sophisticated GOP apparatus aided by key technicians from partisan voting machine companies, has been bound and determined to steal the presidency at any cost.
Gore's actions on the 2000 recount might be discounted as a stategic failure.
But they were followed by something much much worse. In January, 2001, the Black Caucus of the US House demanded a Congressional dialogue on the seating of the Florida delegation to the Electoral College. This procedure had been established in 1887, in response to the stolen election of 1876. It required the signature of one Representative and one Senator.
Tragically, Gore prevented this from happening. As the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress gathered to ratify the election, Gore repeatedly gaveled down those Representatives demanding a discussion of the theft of Florida's decisive electoral votes. This very ugly, politically catastrophic moment is forever memorialized in Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11.
Staff from the office of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone have said Gore told those Senators inclined to join in that he would not recognize them if they tried. Senator Hillary Clinton told the Free Press Editor that Gore "begged" her not to sign on to such a challenge.
The result: there was no Congressional challenge on the theft of the election of 2000. Ironically, with Dick Cheney presiding over Congress, there was indeed such a session on the stolen election of 2004, facilitated by Sen. Harry Reid. But following the cave-in of 2000, it again lacked the full weight of the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate.
In short, Al Gore and the Democratic Party were complicit in the most demoralizing and anti-democratic events in the recent history of our nation. It is fine for the brilliant and lucid former Vice President to decry the power of money and television in the destruction of our democracy.
But what can tangibly and irrevocably destroy a democracy more thoroughly than the outright theft of elections, especially when it happens without challenge from the opposition?
We welcome the heartfelt insights of Al Gore on the broader issues of modern democracy. But when will he finally come clean on what he and John Kerry did---and didn't do---in allowing the theft of our last two presidential elections?
When will Gore muster the courage of former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker in denouncing the role of voting machine proprietors and techno "insiders" in corrupting the voting process?
Most of all, we need to hear how Al Gore and the Democratic Party plan to guarantee it never happens again. And then we need to see them actually act on it.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllThank-you Mr. Fitrakis and Wasserman, for this timely reminder. May I also remind the Gore '08 fans that, as Georege Monbiot recounted today on Democracy Now, Gore also worked very hard in Kyoto to make the agreement there the completely ineffectvive agreement that it is.
Professional politicians, with a tiny number of exceptions are all unprincipled hypocrytes and liars. Until we replace them with citizens or workers councils - selected by random lottery, "democracy" will remain just a word...
Adding to the above correct critiques of Gore is the fundamental issue that he's complicit with the crimes Bill Clinton committed during their administration. These crimes were a main reason why so many voted Nader/Green. And as the tally currently stands, Bush/Cheney have yet to kill and destroy the livlihoods of as many people as did Clinton/Gore, a fact that at first seems unlikely due to Iraq but when pondered a minute it becomes clear it is so.
I think that the dems will have to win the 2008 elections without the progressive vote. We've become nonparticipants. We think we have been sabotaged by just about everybody. I will never vote for Hillary because of Beirut. Fitrakis will never vote for Gore because of Florida. We're going to hold out for some Galahad untainted by politics or past error, or pin our hopes on the likelihood that PJD's random lottery idea catches fire.
While we are listing unforgivable sins, where were we, the American people, when the 2000 elections were stolen? Massed in our thousands in the freezing streets of Washington DC like the Ukrainians? Nope. We were sitting on our warm little Teletubby thumbs like everybody else.
Under what rock did Gore hide his "climate change" and "save democracy" rhetoric during the 2000 campaign/election? While I do appreciate his stepping up his game a bit as of late, he was an absolute coward in 2000, pandering to special interests like all of his contemporaries...
If HR 811, the Holt Bill on election reform, is passed unammended then here we go again! Just as Al Gore and John Kerry were, at best, asleep at the switch and allowed our elections to be twisted, stolen, and perverted, so now will those "well intentioned" folks supporting HR 811. The bill is wholly inadequate on one provision alone, allowing the use of touchscreen DRE electronic voting machines in any form. Support for HR 811 by Common Cause, PFAW, and MoveOn.org is as dangerous and irresponsible as was their support for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). HAVA has done immeasureable harm and served mostly to line the pockets of corporatists and criminal politicians.
"Legislate in haste, repent in leisure." Would that Al Gore would look at HR 811 and ask that it not be passed without serious changes. Just as he has brought global warming to the forefront of legitimate discussion and action, so he could be a force to correct and secure our election processes in the U.S. This would make up for 2000 and give him a shot at becoming president if he so chooses (I hope he does!).
I couldn't support Gore in 2000 because of many of the reasons stated above. But I also had NO idea of how bad the alternative would turn out to be. Gore has now been out of the corporate campaign finance sphere and special interest pressure long enough to actually start seeing what is really happening. I believe he probably sees the errors that he made. Do we really need a formal apology from him? Or can we move beyond that and appreciate that at least he has seen the light?
Related to the elimination of the influence of the Electoral College:
The "Compact for Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote" eliminates the "winner take all" Electoral College and has been signed off on by 47 states. Legislation has already been passed in several states and been signed by their governors. Legislation is before all 47 states in their legislatures. So get going in YOUR state! Go on over to www.nationalpopularvote.com and find out how you can support this legislation in YOUR state.
At least this would be a start at cleaning up this mess!
P.S.: MikeSinAZ - I'm not clear why you do not support HR811. Even if it isn't perfect, at least it is a start.
HR811 will put an end to unverifiable electronic voting machines, and is coming to a vote in the House of Representatives in just one week! This bill would require paper records for every vote cast and would require random, routine audits to make sure your ballot was counted correctly.
We need to remind Members of Congress how many votes have been lost, flipped and switched on unverifiable electronic voting machines.
Urge your Representative to vote for HR 811, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.
Find out more at: http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=186966
Amen. And he should admit he copped a lot of his latest from "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television," Jerry Mander, 1978.
No!No! Hell No!! Gore had his chance January 2001 when the Congressional Black Caucus tried, invain, to contest the seating of the Florida delegation to the Electoral College. Gore even told other Democratic Senators that he would not "recognize" them if they tried to help him to become president? I did not understand his reasoning then nor do understand it now. But the one thing I do understand is that he is not a patriot and did not have the "Right Stuff" to stand up to the bushies and the religous and republican right at that time, so what, pray tell, does he have in his breeches to give him the moxie to stand up now against terrorist abroad and here at home? An inconvenient truth my ass!! NO!
Rebel Farmer--Would an "apology" from Hitler have been okay; were the sanctions levied on those few Nazis tried too harsh? Why is it we call Cheney a war criminal while letting Gore off the hook?
Part of the two corporate partys' problem is that they have no moral principles when one actually examines their behavior in power. Oh, yes, they do talk a great game, but actions speak louder than words and are the true indicators of morality.
After the Republican Supreme Court gave the presidency to George Bush,I remember Gore saying, "I disagree with the decision of the Supreme Court, but I except it." Why would he except something that he thought was wrong? Al Gore has not acted any differently than the rest of the Democratic Party. It is not logical to me that the Democrats would allow elections to be stolen from them, but they have. Why is impeachment off the table? Can you tell me that? Why are they appropriating money for a war that they say they are apposed to? Are the Democrats beholding to the same corporate sponsors as the Republicans? Are they just plain stupid? May be they have been playing second fiddle for so long, that they are not capable of playing lead any more. May be it is time for the voters to change the billing and get a new act. Go Green.
Rebel Farmer, I don't think any of us had any idea how bad it would be. Rove coached him through his governorship (which in Texas means doing very little), presenting himself as a moderate, even appointing moderate judges, just to keep his record clean. He just didn't look all that scary. Undesirable, yes, but not what we got.
2000 just turned out to be the perfect storm. How fortuitous it was for George to get to run against Gore/Lieberman who a)could not have run a more incompetent campaign and b)turned out to be quitters when it got rough. I was furious that they hid when the Republican goons stormed the precinct offices and stopped the vote count. And no one even squeaked. Some democracy! If the military took over our country, everyone would just come home from work and go on watching their favorite TV programs.
Rebel Farmer, so you think Gore would have done a better job than Bush if he was elected president? Don't forget, it was Bush who even showed interest in the Muslim votes because the democrats wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole, just like Kerry and his moonwalking in 2004 and Obama now. There was only 1 Islamophobic party back in 2000.
Gore is not seeing any light now, he is just not under the influence of the lobbyist.
Does anyone really believe that a politician/candidate who means business in effecting the changes the country so desperately needs will survive the next election, or if s/he does, the first few months in office?
Remember RFK and MLK.
If on election day all the registered candidates look like they are going to be the usual sellouts to the war profiteers and corporate global control of our future, then instead of doing the usual of voting for one of the registered 3rd party candidates who have no chance to win or staying home and not voting for any office or issue and thus be not counted, there is a new choice we can all make together no matter what our political views.
We can spread by word of mouth and computer a plan for a national protest write in campaign. The idea is to make a virtual "none of the above" vote by purposely writing in yourself as in the spirit of Time Magazine's "you are the person of the year" and then vote for most of the other offices in the normal way that gets counted.
The idea of voting or writing in yourself or anyone you want so that it wont be counted in every case will have to show up nationally as a protest vote or a virtual "none of the above" for President. This way for the first time we will have registered our protest of the big money control of our government instead of having to be accused of being apathetic and staying away and letting your voice not be counted for all the other offices and judges and issues and laws that we should vote for no matter how disgusted we feel about our vote not being counted fairly or whatever million other reasons that discourage intelligent folks not to vote at all.
In other words the protest is to write in Yourself for president.
Tired of the big money game? write in yourself and see the change!
This is my option and feel free to join me if you want to register your protest at the polls.
Good Luck, Jim
jimglover@verizon.net
We are not going to get anywhere with elections until we have IRV voting -- Instant Runoff Voting -- which means that you can vote for a first and second and even third choice which would enable third parties to participate.
Otherwise, we simply have two parties, enabling one another and taking PRIVATE control of our elections, the debates, etc and selling our government off to corporations/elites.
Nothing new in that because immediately upon the establishment of this nation, the elites were there to control its wealth and natural resources.
Is Gore challenging that order?
Does he ask why control of our natural resources -- OIL -- are in a few private hands?
Nor has Gore discussed putting the ELECTRIC CAR on our roads.
See: WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?
Gore has had lifelong/career assistance from the oil industry.
And -- IMO -- Liebermann is rather hard to explain!!!!
Looking forward to returning to paper ballots.
But we have fascism establishing in America, which probably became open when they declared a coup on JFK. A crime scene which evidently still strikes fear in the hearts of politicians who are all too cowardly to reveal the truth. Not unlike 9/11.
Meanwhile, fascism is hidden behind illegal wars, "terrorism" -- "the Bay of Pigs" -- there is always a fear campaign being run to hide the true goals.
Today, much corruption is also being hidden behind this illegal war.
Florida state law at the time of the 2000 election had only shortly before been revised to stipulate that a contesting presidential candidate had the right to a recount in four precincts of their choice; the result of that recount was to be the determining factor in deciding whether a state wide recount was called for.
From the fact that mob violence halted one of those four recounts prematurely, shameful as that was, all else followed.
It is unfair to blame Al Gore for not seeking a state wide recount when he was complying with the rules laid down by the Florida State, regarding the correct mechanism for contesting the outcome of that election.
To the list of Gore's "sins" I will propose two: Globalization (in general) and Global Warming (of late). This whole "global" psychosis will bring us to nothing worse than global government.
From Babylon to the Caesars to Napolean to Hitler to now we have seen numerous attempts at bringing the entire world under one rubric -- and it always ends in disaster. When will we learn; when will we ever learn.
Global Warming? Well, errr, yeah. Earth warms and cools and warms again and cools again. That's life. And one day the sun will implode. And that's death. And before then you or I will die too. Life and death, warming and cooling. The Tao. And Gore, who could not even enforce the Nixon era environmental regulations thinks he's going to change that? I don't think so. I think that Gore, a professional politician, is once again playing a political card for personal political purposes.
No, neither Gore nor Hillary will save us from the twin ravages of neo-conservatism and globalization. Only a paleo-conservative like a Ron Paul even has a ghost of a chance of reeling us back in from the clutches of the Brave New World of technetronics (Z. Brezinski). Paul might seem much too old-fashioned, but that might be just what the doctor ordered.
I have just read the most recent post at the top of this blog/message-board, and have come to the conclusion that a useful article in outline form at Common Dreams could possibly, to some degree, cover the technical issues involved. Get real, consumers buy outlines by the ton. They do this for a reason. There is too much to cover with straight verbiage. Or provide "abstracts," if you like. Personally BTW, I could use a little outline on what was happening when "the Black Caucus of the US House demanded a Congressional dialogue on the seating of the Florida delegation to the Electoral College."
Again, speaking for myself, I may need to read a few of these books as things I read sitting in front of this screen all seem to become like that circular road that turns into luggage (that Jose Ortega Y Gassett talked about). Admittedly, the articles I read online at Common Dreams do not seem to become this road (which then morphs into luggage) as readily as others.
Read an inflamatory editorial by Alexander Cockburn this morning about Gore being in cahoots with the nuclear power industry, and asserting that Gore's passion about global warming is all about eventually pushing for nuclear energy to replace fossil fuels.