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Feb. 24th, 2004 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heidiSomeone asked me how to convince people not to vote for Nader.
I wish to ask your expert advice on how to tell the Nader supporters this.
Tell them to email me. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, who worked tirelessly against the Bush machine as they tried and unfortunately succeeded in steamrolling over the votes of the people, throwing out enough legitimate votes to secure the state. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, the state where Bush's brother's secretary of state, who was also co-chair of the Florida for Bush campaign committee, scrubbed the voter registry of thousands of purported "felons" based on a flawed list from ChoicePoint, a private company with deep Republican ties, even though many of those listed had committed misdemeanors, not felonies, and others had committed felonies in other states, served their time, and had their voting rights restored. Those thousands illegally denied the right to vote were disproportionately African-American. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, the state where thousands of people in minority precincts were turned away from the polls, polling locations were moved without previous notice, and polling places "ran out" of ballots, and where a road block was set up by Florida Highway Patrol officers near a black voting precinct in Tallahassee, our state capitol.
Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, who will tell them about the riots by Republicans to cancel hand-recounts of ballots, and the hours I spent on the phone with Palm Beach residents who'd been misled by the balloting process.
Tell them that if they truly see no difference between Bush and either Kerry or Edwards, they should vote absentee ahead of time for whoever they please, and then come down to Florida and volunteer as a poll monitor for the party of their choice, to help everyone in this state, where voting rights have been besieged by the state government, vote at the polls and have that vote count.
If you want to enjoy the right to vote your conscience, then you owe it to every other voter to help them exercise their right to vote.
To be honest, if one lives in DC (which will go Democrat anyway) or in Texas (which will go for Bush anyway) vote for whoever you please. But if the candidates are less than 20% apart the day before the election, then, as a Floridian, as a citizen of a state where thousands did not get to have their vote count last time, I ask you to please vote *to remove Bush from office*.
Bill Clinton said in that speach I attended a few weeks ago that Democrats should fall in line behind the nominee, not fall in love with a candidate. But I don't just limit that to Democrats - it should actually be expanded to anyone who's horrified by things like this and this and this and the duplicity regarding Iraq. Even if you agree with Bush on a few things (and I do agree with him on (: counts) three issues) - the best hope for this nation and the world is to work together to get Bush out of office.
And that is all we can do.
And I know I've just pissed off a bunch of Republicans on my flist, but I want you guys to know, it's not personal to any of you. I just don't want this country to become a theocracy, and I fear that if Bush gets another term in the White House, that will happen.
I wish to ask your expert advice on how to tell the Nader supporters this.
Tell them to email me. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, who worked tirelessly against the Bush machine as they tried and unfortunately succeeded in steamrolling over the votes of the people, throwing out enough legitimate votes to secure the state. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, the state where Bush's brother's secretary of state, who was also co-chair of the Florida for Bush campaign committee, scrubbed the voter registry of thousands of purported "felons" based on a flawed list from ChoicePoint, a private company with deep Republican ties, even though many of those listed had committed misdemeanors, not felonies, and others had committed felonies in other states, served their time, and had their voting rights restored. Those thousands illegally denied the right to vote were disproportionately African-American. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, the state where thousands of people in minority precincts were turned away from the polls, polling locations were moved without previous notice, and polling places "ran out" of ballots, and where a road block was set up by Florida Highway Patrol officers near a black voting precinct in Tallahassee, our state capitol.
Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, who will tell them about the riots by Republicans to cancel hand-recounts of ballots, and the hours I spent on the phone with Palm Beach residents who'd been misled by the balloting process.
Tell them that if they truly see no difference between Bush and either Kerry or Edwards, they should vote absentee ahead of time for whoever they please, and then come down to Florida and volunteer as a poll monitor for the party of their choice, to help everyone in this state, where voting rights have been besieged by the state government, vote at the polls and have that vote count.
If you want to enjoy the right to vote your conscience, then you owe it to every other voter to help them exercise their right to vote.
To be honest, if one lives in DC (which will go Democrat anyway) or in Texas (which will go for Bush anyway) vote for whoever you please. But if the candidates are less than 20% apart the day before the election, then, as a Floridian, as a citizen of a state where thousands did not get to have their vote count last time, I ask you to please vote *to remove Bush from office*.
Bill Clinton said in that speach I attended a few weeks ago that Democrats should fall in line behind the nominee, not fall in love with a candidate. But I don't just limit that to Democrats - it should actually be expanded to anyone who's horrified by things like this and this and this and the duplicity regarding Iraq. Even if you agree with Bush on a few things (and I do agree with him on (: counts) three issues) - the best hope for this nation and the world is to work together to get Bush out of office.
And that is all we can do.
And I know I've just pissed off a bunch of Republicans on my flist, but I want you guys to know, it's not personal to any of you. I just don't want this country to become a theocracy, and I fear that if Bush gets another term in the White House, that will happen.
