Good day, good people.
Be patient. Listen and read what others have to say; you may learn something you want to know.
The greatest threat to America during this election year is the perversion of Voter ID laws into Voter-Turnout Suppression laws by billionaires and Tea Party members. Disenfranchisement of eligible voters whom wish to vote by any means is un-American, un-Christian, and/or unpatriotic. Let us all hope the Department of Justice will use every legal means to monitor the illegal activities of the misguided Tea Party Patriots’, TPP, members of the King Street Patriots, True the Vote and other TPP organizations which are engaged in disenfranchising activities in an effort to subvert a fair and honest election on 6 November 2012.
For devotees of the English language: Proem is a noun. It means a preface.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!” Sir Walter Scott from his writing of Marmion.
And deceive Mike Turzai did. Speaking of deceit, read what a blatant deceiver had to say. Republican Mike Turzai is the majority leader of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives. He spoke on June 23, 2012 regarding the passage of Pennsylvania’s Voter ID Law. “Voter ID which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the State of Pennsylvania done.” Is this a proem to voter-turnout suppression, an illegal act, against the Democratic elderly, minorities, poor and vulnerable voters in Pennsylvania?
Why does Turzai believe this? What is he afraid of? The naïve actually believed the law was for the purpose of preventing future-voter fraud which had been nonexistent in the past. Actually, one can imply from his statement that Republicans through the TPP front organizations are going to try to suppress voter turnout and in the process commit voter fraud.
Mr. Turzai appears to be just another amoral-state legislator who has abdicated his responsibility to all of the people of Pennsylvania and decided to deprive the state of an honest vote. Which citizens of Pennsylvania and America does he intend to prevent to vote and how? With whom has he conspired other than with all of the other republicans in the legislature? Does he believe only people who vote as Democrats commit voter fraud? After all, Turzai knew voter fraud was rare and/or nonexistent in almost all states including Pennsylvania. This only confirms and emphasizes the purpose of Mr. Turzai’s and his co-conspirators’ deceptive law which is to engage in voter-turnout suppression.
This is not the first time the Republican Party has been accused of voter-turnout suppression. The Republican National Committee, RNC, got caught violating the Voting Rights Act. During the 1980s it was ordered to discontinue its efforts to determine ballot security because it was not even a subtle attempt at voter-turnout suppression of black Americans. Now the RNC and some states must get court approval for any type of anti-fraud activity which is synonymous with voter-turnout suppression. Desperate people use poor judgment and abandon honesty and integrity — assuming it was ever present among the members of the RNC whom engaged in this illegal misconduct. Were and are they bigots and racists?
The 1964 Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act signed into law by Lyndon Johnson caused the bigots and racists among the conservatives in America to believe this would give black Americans too much power. The white conservatives had lost the legal battle of oppression, persecution and repression of black Americans which they had enjoyed for over two-hundred years. But according to Douglas A. Blackmon in his book which won the Pulitzer Prize, The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, black slavery in America did not end until 1974. But as we will see, the attempted oppression, persecution and repression of black Americans and minorities continues in 2012 among white bigots and racists under the guise of preventing nonexistent-voter fraud.
One could say the radicalization of the Republican Party began to take place when the TPP began to control it. Then, if you add the Grover Norquist Tax Pledge which the Republican members of the Congress signed agreeing to tax neutrality which caused them to vote against any increases in revenue even when it was good for their employer, the American People. The National Commission On Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, also known as Simpson-Bowles, issued a report on 1 December 2010 to balance the budget. One of the many recommendations was for increased revenue. It failed to be enacted into law because of the intractables in Congress.
Catherine Engelbrecht, a woman and TPP member from Texas, and other TPP members formed an organization called True the Vote. These Republican TPP members train volunteers on how to suppress voter turnout. Not in Republican districts, but in Democratic districts particularly if they have the elderly, poor blacks, Latinos and vulnerables — the easily intimidated. The polling-places’ watchers will engage in as much aggressive challenging of voter eligibility and intimidation they believe they can get away with without being removed from the premises. Watchers have been locked up and expelled from polling places because of their illegal conduct.
In August of 2012 a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled that the latest attempt by Texas to pass a law to redistrict its voter maps violated the Voting Rights Act. Texas’ redistricting laws must be approved by a federal judge, because of their decades of egregious discrimination against minorities. The judge said the law was “enacted with discriminatory purpose.” Texas Republicans went to extreme lengths in order to dilute and suppress the state’s booming minority vote. Republican Rick Perry is the governor of Texas. This is the same Rick Perry who was a presidential candidate. He saw the burning bush and was told by God to run for president. Did anyone ever ask him what God sounded like?
I cannot abide an abuse of power. It is the twin of one whom believes he or she is above the law. I have always admired those among us for their lack of cowardice when they deprive the defenseless and vulnerable of their rights. The civil war in America will continue until all of its citizens are given an equal opportunity in every area of our society.
Is tolerance dead in America? If not, where is it? I did not get an engraved invitation to its funeral; so, intolerance must be still alive and thriving in America.
The Republicans who are involved in this activity of voter-turnout suppression are delusional in their belief there is to be voter fraud among Democratic voters. In fact, it is just the opposite. The True the Vote trainers are misrepresenting voter-turnout suppression as voter-fraud prevention. And cult-following members, trainers, volunteers and zealots are trying to disenfranchise registered Democratic voters only. The TPP and their surrogates will be poll watching on Election Day to try and eliminate eligible-Democratic voters at the last minute by confrontation and intimidation. True the Vote trainers invoke God’s name before an audience of cultists’ volunteers to motivate them to violate the law. Do you think God would be pleased to hear his name being invoked for illegal purposes? Are these misguided zealots un-American, un-Christian and/or unpatriotic? After all, God is not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Chandler Davidson, a professor for nearly forty years at Houston’s Rice University and an expert on minority voting rights in Texas, sees the King Street Patriots and its offshoot True the Vote and puts their activities in perspective. “We have a long and sad history of efforts by the white majority in the state of Texas to prevent or cut down on the ability of minorities to vote and to elect candidates of their choice. If it isn’t racism, the goal is to suppress Democratic votes.”
Mr. Ray, of the Harris County Attorney’s Office in Texas, said, “The way True the Vote goes about its mission creates tension. If you listen to all their rhetoric, it’s clear what their intent is. Their intent is to try to act on this belief they have that the only reason Barack Obama got elected is because a bunch of ‘those people’ [blacks and Hispanics] cheated on their ballots.” Brackets are mine.
Regarding True the Vote at polling places, Mr. Ray said, “If you have [white] people standing around and falsely accusing you of doing things that are innocent, then you quickly come to the conclusion that there’s only one reason that they’re doing that. I mean why aren’t they going to a white part of town and doing the same thing over there?” Brackets are mine.
The Ohio Voter Integrity Project, Project, is operating in Ohio. It is an offshoot organization of True the Vote. There is no doubt there is a conspiracy by the TPP to use front organizations in every state to try to purge as many voters from eligibility they believe will vote for Obama. So, they start their work in the Democratic districts where there are the highest levels of minorities, poor and vulnerables.
Reverend O’Neal, a black minister in Cincinnati, accused the TPP and Project of curtailing weekend voting. He described their conduct as “bigotry of the highest order.” He said, “Whoever thought we’d be fighting for the right to vote in 2012?”
The TPP is making many mistakes and accusing eligible voters falsely and trying to disenfranchise them. John Husted, the Republican secretary of state of Ohio said, “When you cry wolf, and there’s no wolf, you undermine your credibility, and you have unjustly inconvenienced a legally registered voter, and that can border on voter intimidation.” He was talking about white TPP members accusing blacks falsely and trying to purge them from the voter rolls. He also said only a few, 3-5, illegal votes had been cast in past presidential elections.
The RNC hired Nathan Sproul to do registration drives in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia. Also, he was hired to organize get out the vote drives in Ohio and Wisconsin. He set up Strategic Allied Consulting in order to try and hide the voter registration misconduct of his previous company. But it did not work. Election workers in Palm Beach County found fraudulent registration forms he had turned in to the Florida Republican Party which in turn turned them in to the registrar of voters. The workers turned them over to the local prosecutor. Sproul was engaged in disenfranchisement activity. When the illegal conduct came to the fore, the RNC discharged Sproul. But the RNC did know about his previous voter-registration misconduct when they hired him. I do hope they can find some honest people to do their bidding. Or, as their past conduct demonstrates, some dishonest people who will not get caught again.
As of this writing, Mr. Nathan Sproul and Strategic Allied Consulting are under investigation for registration fraud in the states of Florida, Colorado, Nevada and North Carolina.
Intimidation by True the Vote members, volunteers, TPP members and other Republican organizations will be normal at the voting places on 6 November 2012 in all states. I only hope confronted eligible voters stay the course and vote no matter what they may have to overcome.
Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson has written an excellent article for the Huffington Post called Voter Intimidation and Suppression Come to New Mexico http://huff.to/PTuXOJ
There is no “us” and logic dictates no “them”. We live in an interdependent society, a society without borders. To progress with the principle of no “us” and therefore, no “them”, we must build a We Society as the cornerstone in a democratic America.
What is your thought on the contribution you can make to be sure every eligible voter is allowed to vote in your precinct no matter his or her color, ethnicity or financial worth?
I hope this article will give you something to consider and discuss. To be successful you must understand other people’s opinions and care about them.
I care about your opinion. Contacting me with comments and constructive criticisms at http://bit.ly/z5MgmK with honesty and pleasantness their constant companions will always be welcomed.
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