Elect Fritts

Dalip Singh Wasan asked:


Only elections do not establish a democracy

Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate.

Democracy is the best form of government because here they establish a government of the people, by the people and for the people and when everything is for the people, it is the best form of government. There is no alternative to this government. We, the people of India who had been under slavery for centuries chose this form of government for us and we are trying to follow this system since the start of this system.

In a democracy thee is no raja, no maharaja, no monarch and there are no imperialists coming from abroad and maintaining a country like a colony. The people are the real masters of the country and they elect their government themselves and they give time to the elected people to work for them and if the people found that they had elected wrong people, they change the candidates and they elect another set of people. But in a country like India, we have got the same sets of people who are in one political party today and they shall be found in another political party tomorrow and on the third day they shall be forming their own party. We have seen that families and families are joining these brigades and they are ruling us. We have been suffering under family rule, under party dictatorship and then under individual autocracy. We had the vote power and we could write off these units and now we are under alliances and they are obliged to function under a common agenda.

We have noted that people who are joining politics and are winning elections, they have got no motive in their mind to serve the people like public servants. They are still functioning as rajas, maharajas, monarchs and they are also found functioning like the imperialists because the same old principles of ‘divide and rule’ and keep the people as slaves are in operation and we could not convert the rulers as public servants. That is the reason the same old principle of ‘beat the people and loot the people’ are in operation and we have seen the people in power are coming forward with new methods of collecting money which is the wealth created by the people and they are fund living life of kings. There is none to have supervision and control over these rulers and that is the reason only small bribe takers are in jails and all big looters are out and are enjoying life.

On one hand the people have been declared as masters of the country, but they have been given only one right and that right is right to vote. Once they cast their votes, they are pushed backward and they are told that they shall be recalled for such a rehearsal after five years and during these five years, the people are suffering the same life which they had been suffering during the times of rajas, maharajas, monarchs and the imperialists. The same sets of people are coming to power in turns and there is no one new in the line and the people remain only subjects and they live life of slaves because in spite of all slogans and all promises, they are still illiterate, unemployed, poor, houseless, beggars, ill, weak, wearing rags, hungry, starving and all that which conditions were with them during the times of slavery.

So we can say that with the introduction of this election system, we are not electing right types of people and that is the reason we can say that this election system shall not establish democracy in a country. This is just a name and nothing more. We are still electing rajas, maharajas, monarchs and the imperialists and not public servants. The time is far away when we shall be having properly educated, properly trained, properly examined people on the forefronts. There are competent people available in this country, but the present batches are not allowing them to come forward. We had done something wrong when we were framing our constitution and we could not prescribed proper qualifications for the people in politics. We had been creating jobs for them and that could be the reason we established these state level legislative assemblies and other offices where we post these politicians. We are making them payments and we are giving them opportunities to loot public funds and we are surprised to note that a supervisor is lower in qualifications than the officer functioning under him. In such situations orders are passed by the bureaucracy and signed by the political heads and we all know that our bureaucracy is not elected and they are not answerable to the people.

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mipetro asked:


Republic of Moldova (Moldavia) is an ex-soviet country situated between Romania and Ukraine. It is the descendant of the medieval State of Moldova, it is the poorest country in the Europe and the corruption here flourishes. The only abundant resources that can be found here is rich soil (chernozem or black-earth) and building materials (granite, limestone, clay, gypsum). Yet, people have money; here you can see a lot of luxurious cars, houses, shops. How do Moldavians survive, what are their real problems? Do they care about their country situation?



Legislative elections 2009



On 5 April, 2009, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, must elect the new parliament which, according to Constitution, will elect the new country’s President. The parliament is consisted from 101 deputies; the president is elected with 61 votes. Vladimir Voronin, the actual president of Moldova, has two consecutive mandates and can not be elected for presidency anymore.

The 2001 and 2005 legislative elections were won by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), when they had respectively 71 and 56 deputy mandates.

Vladimir Voronin, the leader of the Party of Communists, now the President of Moldova, was elected with no difficulty in 2001, but in 2005 Communists needed 5 more mandates. To solve the problem they had to ally with Christian Democratic People’s Party of Moldova (PPCD), a nationalist party, and other two parties from opposition Social Liberal Party(PSL) and Democratic Party of Moldova(PDM).

That was strange, because PPCD was seen by people as the opposition party that will never support communists. PD, PSL and Alliance Our Moldova (AMN) formed the Electoral Bloc Democratic Moldova (BMD) that was the biggest opposition alliance, but first two left the bloc. PPCD, PDM, PSL were called traitors, many of their members regretted later they had supported Communists, others justified that their action was necessary in order to avoid chaos in the country, but the main idea of betrayal remained in Moldavians’ minds.

Many people expected that the 2005 parliamentary elections will bring a change in the country’s politics, that Communists will no longer have the power to rule, but it was a total disappointment. Communists kept the power and strengthened it gradually.

The 2009 parliamentary elections are expected to bring a change in the country’s politics, Penalization of traitors and the rise of modern parties.



Country description



After leaving of Soviet Union in 1991, the Republic of Moldova had to choose which way to go further: to unite with the country that has the same language and culture – Romania or to remain an independent as State.

Unification with Romania was not possible because of several reasons, Moldovan society was composed of many groups of pro-Moscow minorities that didn’t want to live together with Romanians; the political elite didn’t want to loose power; people that were influenced by Soviet ethnic politics claimed that Romanians and Moldavians are distinct nations; for some reason Romania was not quite opened to unification.

It remained independent, but culturally unified with Romania.



Social-economic life



This is a painful subject.

Life in USSR was dominated by soviet ideology and the State was in the center of it; the soviet economy, a centralized one, was totally different from the market economy, a decentralized one. The economy began to shrink with a fast rate because there was no longer the same demand for products as it was in USSR. People faced the new market economy laws where the State has less power. The politicians assumed what to do, but in fact they had no idea. With social care system collapsed and unpaid salaries for closed factories’ employees and budgetary employees, corruption became the only chance survive in the new world.

Corruption penetrated at all the levels of society; it was normal to give money to a medic that has just consulted you or to bribe someone in local administration in order to obtain some benefits for business you own, or to bribe to obtain a favorable decision in a judicial process. Beside this criminality in general and especially organized one aroused.

These things were largely accepted by Moldova’s inhabitants because the State couldn’t do anything to change or to prevent them. Politicians could not control the situation because they didn’t have the experience needed to rule efficiently in a fast changing world, when the country faced problems that in USSR maybe did not exist or happened at a small scale.

Given that, Moldovans started to leave the families, going to work in foreign countries where they would have big salaries, enough to sustain the family home. Countries like Russia, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain are favorite destinations until now.

Today, the official number of citizens working in foreign countries is more than 320.000 people, 25% of active population; the unofficial statistics indicate more than half a million people. In 2008 they sent officially more than 1.6 billion USD; unofficially it was speculated that it could be a sum between 2 and 3 billion USD. The GDP in 2008 was estimated at 6.197 USD. Taking into account these and the fact that Moldova’s economy is mostly based on agriculture with little export, the main external source of money comes from Gastarbeiters (people who work in foreign countries, guest workers), who support living of their families home. If people have money to spend why wouldn’t there be opened businesses to gain these sums. The Moldova’s economy develops, because people wanted to satisfy their needs by buying what they need.

The State makes money collecting income taxes, VAT and other taxes, which come from businesses that have families of Gastarbeiterers as clients. Of course, not only Gastarbeiterers contribute to the development of the country, but is the main flow of money coming in the country. Recently, a survey showed that many of these workers would return, if they had a salary of at least 500 euro per month in Moldova.

The State should attract people to invest money offering them a favorable environment for business meaning low-level taxes, stable legislation and a reduced corruption.

Taxes for business are relative low; from this point of view it’s good to make business here.

Legislation is unstable, laws change frequently; it’s hard to work in such an environment.

The corruption remained the main factor that prevents investing in Moldova; it’s a national plague, consequence of poverty and mistrust in the abilities of State.

The level of salaries in Moldova is from 500MDL (50 USD) to 10000MDL (1000 USD), in multinational companies could be earned more than. A young man rarely earns more than 4000 MDL, this is a maximum. A 2500 MDL (250 USD) salary is a rather good for youth, it covers costs like: rent (aver.60-100USD), food (aver.100USD) and transportation (aver. 30-50 USD), but not enough to do some savings or to take loan. A simple family with one child could make 5000-6000MDL per month, hardly could it permit to buy a used car or an apartment, maybe in decades. The level of prices here is almost the same like in European Union, the biggest part of salaries goes for food, rent and transportation.Recent polls reveal that 34.3% can’t afford to satisfy their strictly necessary needs, 37.8% say that can satisfy only strictly necessary needs, that means that more than 70% of Moldavians just survive.

Yet, the capital, Chisinau, is full of luxurious cars, houses and shopps, people are well dressed. How do they manage to be so generous? Gastarbeiters. Many say that almost anyone has a relative who works or worked in a foreign country and helped with money. Other source of money are corruption and dubious businesses that have the power to corrupt almost any clerk.



Politics



Moldova’s politicians can be divided in three main groups:



those who are Romanian nationalists and have a pro-Occident orientation



those who are pro-Moscow oriented



those who are moderates between first two.



Until 2001, the politics was dominated by nationalist and moderates. they have put the basis of market economy, adopted the main codes of laws, started to implement decentralization of regional administration and revived the Romanian culture of Moldovans, in the same time denying Soviet ideology that Moldavians in Moldova have a distinct ethnicity than Romanians in Romania.

Since 2001, the political power passed to the Party of Communists. This one is a pro-Moscow oriented party, it promised an official status for Russian language and that the prices will fall for the main food products. They also brought back the Soviet ideology about Moldavians being a distinct ethnicity than Romanians.

Communists Party pretends it was the only party that actually developed the country. In fact, they continued what did their predecessors. It was hard to live before 2001 because a new state of law had to be built on the ruins of old one, market economy was germinating and the social care system was young, beside the Russian Crisis dragged Moldova’s economy after real progress.

Although, the Communists’ Party had the majority in Parliament, it didn’t stopped the liberalization of the economy, but continued reforms. It tried to promote the Soviet ideology about Moldavians but the population opossed.

Progress in the economic area during their mandates is evaluated by international institutions showing that is still much work to do.

The level of the corruption is higher in 2008, despite efforts made to reduce it. The most corrupted institutions, as seen by people in 2008 (a poll executed by Gallup agency) are the police, medicine, political parties, juridical sector and the legislative. Also, Communists’ Party instituted a kind of dictatorship. For example a Beaurucrate fearing of loosing his job, given that is hard to find a well payed one, will execute actions on demand of his superior no matter if it’s an abuse. Such abuses are often practiced by police and other law-forces.

People are free to do what they want in Moldova, but pressure is on the press liberty, the public TV channel Moldova 1 is favorable to Communists and denigrate opposition leaders

One of the most disliked politics of Communists is their campaign to denigrate and complicate relations with Romania, accusing it for implications in internal affairs of Moldova sometimes even accusing that internal problems are created artificially by Romania. This campaign and the promotion of Moldavian language makes people just laugh. Scientifically there is no Moldavian language and the biggest part of society rejects this term which is used only in official acts.

No matter of the results of the 2009 elections, wining Parties, have to colaborate for the interest of the country, not their personal one. There is no bad Party, there are bad people, persons must be appointed by competency, not by political color.

Sourav asked:


News has always been of high importance to us. No matter it is latest news or any news that has been followed on, all are essential to update ourselves on current affairs. Moreover, it is necessary to get hold of what is happening around us in the country. After all, it is the duty of the responsible citizen that he needs to stay alerted. The recent talk of the country is been election 2009. Every time, we get to hear something or the other related to elections only. Thought the elections are about to happen, the contesting has been already started and the candidates have been trying their best to lure the general public in their favor for votes.

Through the election news, we get to hear that Sanjay Dutt has been appointed as the General Secretary of Samajwadi Party of Amar Singh. Another thing to be known is the BJP’s candidate Varun Gandhi got arrested for making anti-muslim speech. All this about Indian elections has been an interesting part of the news to watch. It is because you get to know that which candidate is bad mouthing about whom and what kind of politics is being played to win the trust of general people. After all, it is an essential piece of news that makes us aware of the process applied before the actual elections to win.

Apart from the above stated pieces of information, one can also get to know about the seats allotted to the candidates and which candidate is contesting from what constituency. Moreover, the kind of advertisements used by the parties to outshine other party and enhance its doings is also something that cannot be missed. All these information help us to make our mind for casting vote to certain candidate. The parties are using radio, television, newspapers, websites and mobile messaging as the medium of propagating their agenda.

The main idea of contesting and propagating through these sources is that they can have as maximum reach out to the audience as possible. Though, the candidates might not have done that much; still, they would highlight the weak point of other parties and tries to promise about their genuineness or willingness to help people in achieving new heights. The elections 2009 seems to be an interesting shot and wonderful experience as it would be awesome to see two major parties standing against each other in the arena.

R. Sebastian Gibson asked:


As this 2008 Presidential Election generates more interest than any election before it, and people from cities such as El Cajon, Carlsbad and La Jolla in San Diego to cities such as Newport Beach, Anaheim, Irvine and Yorba Linda in Orange County, from Santa Barbara to Ventura to Oxnard and Camarillo to Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Riverside, San Bernardino, Fontana and Fullerton to Palm Springs, Palm Desert and La Quinta want to know more about what they can contribute, both individuals and candidates have questions about campaign election finance laws and are looking for a California campaign election finance attorney who can advise them. 

 

Many people don’t realize that in federal elections, the biggest source of campaign contributions comes from individuals. The second biggest source is political action committees (PACs).

 

Soft money is funds spent by organizations that do not expressly advocate support for or against a certain candidate and is money not contributed directly to an individual or a political party.

 

Bundling is the effort of one donor gathering donations from numerous individual donors and presenting that gathered amount to a campaign.

 

It is this last type of money, money raise through bundling that has in recent years been the subject of much abuse. Campaigns actively seek out bundlers but when they are accused of wrong doing, they can reflect badly on a campaign.

 

But when soft money became more difficult to run through corporations and other organizations, bundling became more important.

 

Political parties may contribute funds directly to political candidates and can make unlimited expenditures to support or oppose federal election candidates.

 

Contributions by individuals to federal PACs are limited to $5,000. Federal multicandidate PACs can give $5,000 to an individual candidate, and $15,000 to a national party committee. Federal non-multicandidate PACs can give$2,300 to an individual candidate, and $28,500 to a national party committee.

 

A multicandidate PAC is a political committee with more than 50 contributors which has been registered for at least 6 months and, with the exception of state party committees, has made contributions to 5 or more candidates for federal office.

 

Different rules apply to state and local elections. An individual intending to campaign for any elected office needs to know election finance rules and should consult with a political campaign finance attorney at an early stage in their campaign decisions and certainly at the first sign of trouble.

 

News Note - Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has set a new campaign contribution record with his announcement that his campaign fundraising efforts brought in $150 million in the month of September 2008. This gives Barack Obama a huge advantage which is reportedly allowing him to outspend John McCain by as much as 4 to 1 in some swing states. The campaign added 632,000 new donors for a total of 3.1 million donors to date. The average donor contribution to the campaign is $86.

 

If you have an election legal matter of any kind, we have the knowledge and resources to be your San Diego Election Lawyers, and Orange County Election Attorneys. For this reason, be sure to hire a California law firm with election lawyers who can represent you from Palm Springs, Rancho Cucamonga, Orange County, San Luis Obispo, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, Corona del Mar, Anaheim, Irvine, La Jolla, El Cajon, San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Temecula, Palm Desert, Yorba Linda, Carlsbad, San Diego, Costa Mesa, Westminster, and Murrieta, to Indian Wells and La Quinta.

 

If you have an election legal matter of any kind, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com  and learn how we can assist you. You can also call us to speak directly to Sebastian Gibson on the phone about your legal matter.

Art Munin asked:


etted the streets of Chicago in a perverse attempt to find a liquor store that still carried Mad Dog 20/20, I reflected on how odd timing could be.  Not thirty minutes ago I was a doctoral student sitting in lecture at a prestigious, private university and now I was actively seeking a substance whose sole purpose was the destruction of the brain I was just developing.  Truthfully, this was the first time I was ever looking to buy some Mad Dog; though I do remember it floating around throughout my college years.  So, when I jumped in my car I never thought that this search would be so difficult; I just assumed I could get it anywhere.  But, as I continued to swerve my little Saturn from liquor store to liquor store, I kept receiving the same twisted dirty look from the staff when I asked where they kept their Mad Dog. 

After about an hour of scouring the city streets I hit pay dirt.  The clerk had to go all the way to the back of the store, move some boxes out of the way and dig out my prize.  When I went to the register the second clerk asked to see my I.D.  As I reached for my wallet the first interjected quickly and said, “Now, we don’t need to see his I.D.  I trust him.”  With that he shot me a sly wink and bagged up my three bottles.  He must have thought he was doing some underage kid a favor.  I wanted to scream that I was really over 21 (by quite a many years) and decree the real reason I was purchasing this vile liquor.  But I hesitated and thought, maybe it just makes more sense to him that a youngin’ was buying such an inexpensive, atrocious alcohol.  After all, what respectable doctoral student would?

At this point you may think this article to be about the trappings of a young alcoholic.  Now, while working toward a Ph.D. may drive me into the bottle, I’m not quite there just yet.  In all actuality, I was preparing for a party I hosted on November 2, 2004.  The invitation read as follows:

All people and political parties are welcome to Election Night 2004!!! But, there is an agenda for the evening.  If:
1. John Kerry wins, I will have champagne for all.
2. If Dubya wins, everyone will be required to drink 1 glass of Mad Dog 20/20.
3. If Nader wins, I will personally buy an all-inclusive round-trip package to Hawaii for everyone who comes to the party.
4. If, somehow, the Democrats win the election but the Republicans steal it AGAIN then we all will pile into our cars and make a break for Canada!
Hope you can make it!!!

As I’m sure you can assume, the champagne was decidedly easier and much more expensive to obtain for the festivities.  Also, I didn’t exactly have American Airlines on hold with 20 round trip tickets to Hawaii in anticipation of the greatest political upset in the last 100 years. 

As a reluctant Democrat, I spent the weeks preceding the election debating with my academic colleagues about who was going to win.  With all the higher education Republicans being called into an undisclosed F.B.I. conservative protection program, these discussions were largely one-sided.  The tenor is best characterized as having a measured optimism.  Kerry was obviously intelligent; the fact that he “flip-flopped” on issues only proved he could in fact change his mind if given new evidence.  And, of course, how could the character of a decorated Vietnam veteran ever be tarnished? 

These discussions also provided ample opportunity for Bush-Bashing; I admit that I participated in these sessions with zeal!  Now, our President Bush has never been seen as a flip-flopper.  You either clearly knew his stance on an issue or you clearly knew he had no intention of taking any stance at all.  I think Chris Rock summed it up best:

Reporter:          Mr. President, What about the economy?  When’s it going to pick up?

Bush:                Well, you never know.  We’re talking to people. And economic indicators are indicating that indications are coming to the indicators. You know what I’m saying?  Alright.

Reporter:          Mr. President, what about *** marriage?

Bush:                F— them faggots!

November 2, 2004 finally rolled around.  I was incredibly thankful that my near round the clock vigil of all the major media outlets would soon end; I hadn’t watched this much news coverage since the days following 9/11.  At any rate, I ducked out of work, drove to my polling station and cast my ballot.  Even up until the second I punched out my chad I was conflicted, but ultimately chose to follow my mind rather than my heart.   I make this distinction because if I had voted for who my heart wanted, Nader would have been a single vote greater in Illinois.  But, I bought into the hype that this election was just too important.  As I said before, I am a reluctant Democrat.

The party that evening went well on its way and we watched the events unfold.  Of course nothing surprising initially happened; states were falling where we all new they would.  The northeast lit up blue, the south burned red.  Like clockwork, within 5 seconds of the polls closing in Illinois it was awarded to the Democrats.  I always take it as a matter of pride that my home state is the first blue beacon out to the west. 

My partygoers continued to munch through all the hors d’oeuvres and make small talk since it would be at least a couple hours wait until we started receiving a few of the “toss-up” state election results.  And then it came - Kerry was projected to win Pennsylvania.  Not wanting to fall prey to another Florida fiasco, we quickly checked out all the news outlets for confirmation.  All except Fox News (surprise, surprise) had the same wonderful blue color enveloping Pennsylvania; at that point a Kerry win felt much more tangible.  The South cards all fell for Bush, as expected.  Our numbers looked horrible, but we knew we could add on California’s 55 electoral votes to put us at ease.  Until this point in the evening I was guarded in my optimism, but now I started to allow myself to believe.  Maybe we wouldn’t have four more years of Bush. 

The night rolled on and Florida fell as I expected but along came Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the win column for us.  My eyes began to bore holes into Ohio on the TV map.  I don’t think I moved from my position for sometime as I sat hoping for an answer.

I have never claimed to be a mathematician at any point in my life.  Truth be told, in my first-year of college I was required to take a no-credit, remedial Algebra course.  Nonetheless, on election night I found myself doing incredible calculations effortlessly in my head as I watched the returns come in from Ohio.  It was still too close to call but Kerry was trailing.  None of that mattered, each time I calculated the number of votes we needed I rationalized ways we were going to get them.  After all, Democrats are lazy aren’t they?  I had bet they were lounging around their houses all day, continually putting off going to the polls.  I just knew they were watching T.V. like I was and suddenly realized “Oh damn!  Look at those poll numbers.  We had better go vote!” 

Plus, we were heavily relying on the college vote.  Having worked in colleges for many years now I’ve seen first hand just how adept students are at procrastinating.  They probably were piling out of their residence halls right now and slowly trampsing over to the polls.  Yeah, that must be it.  I pinned my hopes of the election on the fact that lazy Democrats and procrastinating college students from Ohio were going to save the day. 

With fear starting to creep in, some of my companions began speculating about what four more years of Bush really meant.  The realization that we were going to lose continued to seep its way more and more into our psyche.  Needless to say, neither the champagne nor Mad Dog was drunk that evening.  And, my smart-aleck friend who brought with him a packed bag in hopes of a free Hawaiian vacation somberly went home.  The night ended on the familiar note of a build up minus a pay off reminiscent of 2000.  I struggled to stay awake into the night, but eventually fell asleep in my living room with the TV on.

Let me pause for one quick side bar.  If elections are going to keep ending like a Hollywood cliffhanger, can we all decide to move them to Friday?  On the Wednesdays following these sleepless nights I get absolutely nothing done between the frequent dosing off and even more frequent refreshing of every media outlet I have opened up on my desktop.  Days like this I am addicted to these websites even though I can get a better idea about what will be on next week’s “24″ than I can about an election that already happened!

The early morning hours came without any news.  I turned on the coffee pot, no news.  I toasted my bagel, no news.  I showered while occasionally craning my neck out of the bathroom to see the TV, no news.  I was starting to get irritated.

Then came the Kerry concession speech; I knew it was coming, but just didn’t want to believe it.  I wish I could say that he left me with some solace or hope in the future.  I wish I felt united behind President Bush as the justified winner.  But honestly, I cannot remember one word the man said during this speech.  All I remember is thinking that maybe it was a good thing he didn’t get elected.  I mean, for God’s sake, no President of the United States should ever be seen wearing a tie resembling something donated by the makers of Pepto-Bismol!  Come on, you have to agree with me there! 

Of course, this was just my humor consoling the incredible loss I felt in this moment.  How could my calculations have been so off?  Did the unreliable college students of Ohio sell our collective souls down the river because of a good drink special on campus?  The parade of Bush parties all over the nation began to spring up and glow on my television screen.  Bush was then able to give the triumphant reelection speech his father never could.  As Bush supporters throughout the country were chanting enthusiastically “Four More Years” I sat down, put my head in my hands and muttered in a barely recognizable, guttural, pained effort of speech, “four…more…years.”

This article is not about what happened to the Democrats in losing this election.  I merely tell my story of the election to one, set the stage for what we see in liberal America today and two, as a method of cathartic release for the emotions I still have bottled up.  Looking back a year later, I can’t bring myself to hold Kerry solely responsible for this loss even though it seemed like a proverbial slam-dunk.  What concerns me more is the attitude and rhetoric my fellow liberals have employed in the months since November.  A year later I stand aghast at the senseless ramblings of individuals I thought to be patriots of this country.  I believe in many of their virtues and ideals and thought I was standing shoulder to shoulder with them in a fight for what we believed in. 

Unfortunately, many of my liberal co-patriots have gone off the bitter deep end.  It is sad to witness the disgust, bordering on hate, many have expressed for those who dared cast their ballots for Bush.  I even heard remarks after the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe that “those people down South” should blame themselves for President Bush’s slow response in their time of need.  After all, they are the ones who voted for him.  I find such a sentiment revolting.  These are the people we hope to serve and yet we have shown so little respect for them in the wake of this election.  If they do not “get” that we can serve them better than the Republican right, who’s fault is that?

In my junior year in high school, my entire class was unexpectedly called down to our large auditorium.   Not knowing why we were being beckoned, we hastened downstairs knowing the reason could not be good news.  A month or so prior we had all taken the Pre-ACT and evidentially our results had just been received. 

My high school was supposed to be a rigorous college prep program and our combined Math scores were far below the national average.  This is of course a foreshadowing to the future problems I would have in college requiring remedial coursework.  In any case, the school administration had called us down to one, inform us of this fact and two, berate us for so horribly embarrassing the school by our poor performance.  The principal spoke at us.  The dean of students spoke at us.  After about 10-15 more minutes of our own teachers criticizing our work ethic and performance to date I shot my hand into the air.  I just couldn’t take it anymore. 

When I was finally called on I could actually hear the hundreds of heads sweep back in my direction to see what I dared to say.  While what I said next was most definitely rooted in a rebellious, adolescent, smart-aleck rebuke to the administration, it was nonetheless a moment of truth and relatable to our current political situation.  I said, “Now, if I do poorly on a test, then that is my fault.  But, if ALL 400 of us do poorly on a nationally administered test, isn’t that YOUR fault?” as I pointed my finger in the direction of the faculty. 

As I am sure you can imagine, I got into an incredible amount of trouble for my outburst; but that does not mean that I was wrong!  If Red-Staters who have lost their jobs, are having their daughters and sons die in the Middle East and are suffering through a horrendous federal response to a natural disaster are still voting for the man and political party responsible for their plight, how can we place blame for the election at their doorstep?  We evidentially did an outright horrible job at teaching and explaining how we want to work on behalf of these honest, hard-working people occupying the land between Los Angeles and New York City.  We did not show them how we have their true interest at heart and not just interests of the richest 1%.  It isn’t their fault and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with them.  The problem lies within our nation of real-life, working liberals.

I absolutely refuse to align myself with rhetoric of dejection, mistrust, and constant bemoaning of how we have been cheated.  I have some news for all my fellow liberals out there…WE WEREN’T CHEATED!  But, even if we were cheated, we cheated ourselves.  I can’t believe that some of the most highly educated and respectable people in our nation are such incredibly sore losers.  We aren’t on the playground anymore folks and there will be another day for another election.  I have no confidence in President Bush either, but I do have confidence in us as a people.  Besides, if Kerry was elected, we have to be honest, we were only hoping for a slightly less screwed up world than we already have.  A messiah sent to heal the wounds in our country he was not.

We liberals here on the ground floor, living real lives, will not have success just happen to us.  We have to create our own fortune.  The Democrats may be the best we have and, unfortunately for us, the only thing they have successfully created is an ocean of failure.  Just take a quick look at the results for the past 10 elections:

                        1968 - Richard M. Nixon (R)

                        1972 - Richard M. Nixon/Gerald R. Ford (R)

                        1976 - James E. Carter (D)

                        1980 - Ronald W. Reagan (R)

                        1984 - Ronald W. Reagan (R)

                        1988 - George H. W. Bush (R)

                        1992 - William J. Clinton (D)

                        1996 - William J. Clinton (D)

                        2000 - George W. Bush (R)

                        2004 - George W. Bush (R)

Are you able to see the problem?  We have elected 2 Democrats to our nations highest office in the past 36 years and one of those was JIMMY CARTER!  There are problems that pre-date the “Dubya” era of our history.  We have to take a critical look into how this history and the Democratic Party has affected the nation of liberals of which I am proud to be a part.  Proud yes, but not satisfied.  We can be better than we have shown ourselves to be this past year.

One, we are not going to win allies by calling people stupid.  It is just that simple.  Liberals are quick to chastise President Bush for pushing around the world like he is Clint Eastwood in some Western.  He is not well liked around the world because he is a bully and thinks he knows what is right; let’s not make the same mistake.  Let’s not assume we naturally know what a family living in Stillwater, Oklahoma wants or needs.  We may share in a collective American culture, but our individual experiences are far removed from one another.

Two, we are not going to win allies by looking down our noses at people.  Do you remember the stuck up professors you had in college who thought they were God’s gift to the world?  Did you like them?  Of course not!  Pretentious academics end their life in the solitude believing that they were always better than everyone else.  Notice closely that I said their story ends in solitude.  An important point here is that solitude doesn’t carry much voting power.

Three, we are not going to win allies by telling people how easy it would be to improve their situation.  First off, I have rarely met a person whose situation was easy to begin with.  Everyone has a story about the hardest thing they have ever had to deal with in their lives.  To them it was difficult and, even if another’s experience was different, no one has the right to pass a value judgment.  Everyone’s story deserves respect.

Many Red-Staters like their “situation” and don’t need people filling their head with the idea that there is something wrong with them.  We have fought and are still fighting hard battles for equal opportunity.  This means all people have the equal opportunity to lead any kind of life they want.  I too get annoyed when NASCAR clogs up my nightly ESPN time, but being a fan of NASCAR does not infer that you also possess a lower I.Q.  Again, I say we have constantly fought for the choice.  Why would we begrudge anyone that? 

We should learn from and show respect to the Republican Party and Red-Staters.  They are ardent Americans and a large section of the population we hope to serve.  Furthermore, when the Republicans took a presidential back seat in the 1990s, never once did I hear that they wanted to flee to Canada as I heard loudly exclaimed from many liberals this past year.  I point the finger right back myself in this instance in reference to my Election Night invitation.  How more un-American and juvenile can a person sound by saying that since I didn’t get my way I’m taking my ball and going home.  If the Left is going to flee the country because the current King of the Right is still in office, I have to respect Republicans even more for deciding to continue the fight and not just BLOW town when Clinton held the same JOB.  Remember, the Right was exactly too ecstatic when we had our president in the 90s. 

Special Note: For those of you who want to move to Canada over election results my first instinctual response is to help you pack.  We don’t need you here; you’re nothing but a pessimistic weight holding us down.  But, if you really are willing to move over this, then could you at least take one for the team and move to Ohio?  We need some more blue voters there.

The point is that I have not seen my peers leading with respect this past year and I call upon them to do so.  I don’t care about the politicians; they are going to do what they are going to do.  I say again that I am talking to the real world, working liberals where the true charge for change falls.  We are better than this and only by being better are we going to reclaim positions of power in politics.  It is 3 more years until the next election and I am guessing it is at least 8-12 more years before Barrack Obama can run.  We need answers and leaders today.  Get your game face on liberals!

James William Smith asked:


The most clever advertisement on television today is when the Maytag repairman saves the day at a polling booth by holding up a handful of crumpled ballots that he has just removed from a voting machine.

I watched that advertisement the other day as I was reviewing the latest public opinion polls from the 2008 Presidential Election. These latest polls told the same story as nearly every other Presidential tracking poll this year. It is a very close race for the White House in the 2008 election.

Indeed, it is a race that on election day may be decided by a handful of votes in a few battleground states. So, while contemplating another very close election, i wondered about the American voting system. I asked myself two question: Is our voting system fixed or will there be more controversy surrounding hanging chads and disputed votes on election day 2008? Will this election be decided in the legal system again or by accurately counting the total vote?

First, we should consider that the American voting system has dramatically changed since 2000. Funding from The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002, has permitted states and counties to replace outdated punch card and lever voting machines with electronic voting systems.

As a result, during the November 2006 general elections, just 12.7 percent of registered voters nationwide used the outdated equipment, compared with 45 percent in 2000. So, many Americans will vote in the 2008 election using equipment that represents the latest technology.

However, before polling places consider throwing away the telephone number of the Maytag repairman, they may want to read the latest test results concerning electronic voting equipment.

Several recent studies commissioned by the states of California and Ohio concluded that most Electronic Voting Systems are plagued by security glitches, and the technology has yet to prove itself as the solution many were looking for. The study concluded that such systems could allow voters and poll workers to place multiple votes, crash the systems by loading viruses, and fake vote tallies.

Of course, the American taxpayer should ask why these security questions were not resolved by election officials throughout the United States prior to the purchase of these electronic voting systems from Diebold (now called Premier), several years ago. The answer may be that in their haste to secure the latest in voting technology, many election officials did not exhibit proper due-diligence.

The fact is that the security of the voting equipment is so bad in the battleground state of Ohio, Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, is suing Premier the maker of the touch-screen voting systems in which Ohio has invested more than $62 million since 2005.

In her complaint, Brunner states: “We believe that Premier’s equipment has failed to perform as required by its contracts and according to state law. We have taken this action to recover taxpayer funds spent for voting systems used in half of the state’s 88 counties.”

The truth is that paperless voting is not secure and will not be in time for the 2008 Presidential election. If this 2008 election is very close, it may well be that the security of the electronic vote becomes as controversial as the hanging chad was in Florida in the year 2000 in several battleground states.

Indeed, the 2008 Electronic Voting Machine may be something that not even the Maytag repairman can easily fix.

Dalip Singh Wasan asked:


Elections in India.

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Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate,

Formerly employment Officer P.E.S. II.

E.Mail. dalipsinghwassan @ Yahoo Co.In.

After attaining democracy we had seen people winning elections and the people of India were giving them votes out of love, affection and respect. But those days are gone and now the people go to a polling booth and cast their votes, but there is no love, affection or regard for those for whom they cast their votes. They are just performing their duties cast upon them by the Constitution of India because this democracy could be the better alternative for them who had been under Rajas, Maharajas, Monarchs and the Imperialists. They are electing their own people for five yearsand then they get another opportunity to change the people and have a new set of people and they have to change this new set of people once again because they are still in search of right people. We had been conducting these rehearsal for the last six decades, but uptil now we had been just identifying our problems and atleast, we have seen that none of our problems which were available during the times of slavery aresolved. We are still illiterate, houseless, jobless, exploited, backward, poor, wearing rags, are not in a position to send our wards to schools, to trainaing institutions and are not able to adjust our wards at proper work from where they could carry proper earnings with which they should be able to run the family administration. All these problems were there when we were slaves and all these problems are still alive, though we had attained independence and democracy and we had been rehearsaling on these line for the last six decades.

There are political parties and all those who could not get work in other fields have joined in these political parties and if one is ousted from one party, he does not remain silent, he joins another party without any loss of time and if need be he creates his own party and starts functioning. He gathers a few persons around him and becomes the president of that party. Here we had seen ‘family rule’, ‘party dictatorship;’ and then ‘individual autocracy’ and when we could remove these institutions, we could establish a situation where political parties have been obliged to form alliances and we do not know our next step. God may help us and we shall takea wisestep next.

Here people are anot in a position to find out as to which political party is good and which is bad. When people come in open, they give us different lists of good works as well as lists of badworks and we have to believe in these lists. Often we vote for a party which we believe shall win the elections, because we do not like to cast our vote for a partywho shall lose the election. We do not want repeated elections and therefore, our efforts are directed to one and only one goal that at least one party may win the election with majmnority so that different people with different outlook should not make a crowd in the house where formation of government becomes difficult.

Since this democracy has given much benefits to those who had been governing us since 1947, the people are joining this line considering this line as a profession, trade, calling and employment and actually the people who had been getting chances to govern have turned rich because most of them had started collecting money through scams,scandals, muddles, commissions, dalali or the like and there is none to take action against them and uptil now not a single penny had been recollected from these people and it is on record that they had been enjoying on these collections and when they died, their wards had been enjoying on these collections and therefore, now people have started investing money in elections . We have heard that people are spending money to have a party ticket and if we have further investigations, we shall be coming to know more and a time shall come, when ministries shall be on sale.

Since this field is the best for investment, more and more people are coming and if one day we start selling memberships in the house, people shall bidding in these auctions. If we make a cndition that people who are appointed as ministers shall have to pay to the state exchequer, they shall make monthly payment because they shall be collecting from the people.

So such people in the market and we have got no choice but to cast our vote and after having our votes, we are pushed back to suffer for another term of five years or more. This is the situation of voters and the people who won. Since the people in politics are not from the people, they are not duty bound to work for the people. They may be visiting the houses of the people for votes, but once they get our votes, we have got no authority to meet them and tell them the work we have pending with us. The people around them would not allow us to meet them. Therefore, we cannot say that we have established a full democracy here because uptil now we could not elect our people and that is the reason the people elected are not working for our welfare.

But in spite of all this we are calling this government a democracy and we are telling the world at large that we are the largest democracy in the world.

In spite of all hurdles, we are going ahead. We could abolish family rule, then party dictatorship and then individual autocracy and a time shall come when we shall be establishing here atrue democracy. We must be more wise and we must see that only right type of people are coming forard and therefore, the epople who had been collecting money from the people must be identified and their properties be brought to the notice of the state so that those could be confiscated to the state and utilised for the people who created all this wealth. We shall have to go ahead because we have already suffered much and this suffering must end now. We have already spent six decades in all these trials and futile exercises.

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