Sunday Soapbox
So read this and be very, very afraid... I have strayed from my normal blogging pattern in order to spread this as widely as possible. It is true that the GAO is one of the most trustworthy institutions we have left in this country. So what do we need to do to hold the government to accountability?
If you conduct online banking, would you be satisfied with just a verbal assurance from the bank that your transaction went through? Of course not, you would want some kind of transaction verification number, something so that you can track what is happening to your finances.
We do not even have that with our election ballots.
If you don't think that people are corrupted and corruptible, that people in power will do all kinds of nasty things in order to keep their power, then I've got some prime real estate in New Mexico I think you'd be interested in.
If you conduct online banking, would you be satisfied with just a verbal assurance from the bank that your transaction went through? Of course not, you would want some kind of transaction verification number, something so that you can track what is happening to your finances.
We do not even have that with our election ballots.
If you don't think that people are corrupted and corruptible, that people in power will do all kinds of nasty things in order to keep their power, then I've got some prime real estate in New Mexico I think you'd be interested in.
Comments
"Personally I think the so-called liberal media has been whipped into submission by the Bush administration. " I am curious how you came to such a conclusion.
As for comparing voting receipts to banking receipts you are operating under flawed logic here. These two things and the value they hold are too dissimilar. Yes, I have a visual record or my banking online. It's nice. I trust the bank, I trust the system, if I didn't I would be cashing my paychecks and stuffing the money in my matress. The bank is the keeper of my livelihood. It can hardly be compared to the value of a voting receipt, which isn't going to put a roof over my head and food in my mouth.
As for your assessment of the President - as is anyone's, it is totally subjective. You
think he is doing a terrible job? Lots of people think he is doing a good job, under very difficult circumstances. Most people have the same information and simply view it differently. We all look at things through the lense of our on experience and though it seems clear to us - it is really just that - clear to us. It doesn't mean it is accurate.
I asked you several questions (made obvious by the question marks at the end of the sentences). Feel free to go back and re-read them and may I suggest that you slow down so you don't miss the punctuation.
I can read. Though you have judged my comprehension limited, I am well aware of what you said and what you did not say. I apologize for assuming that your expressed issue with Bush's secretiveness reflected some unspoken desire to know the secrets. I did not claim that you were advocating a full open book policy. I merely stated that I know first-hand that keeping a tight reign on the information our government has is very important.
I did not answer the banking question because it is not a logical comparison to voting receipts. The argument falls apart because you are comparing two things that are not similar enough to each other to be relevant in either a concrete or abstract sense.
If you don't think your vote is as important as your bank account then I suggest you go live in China. I hear the economy is booming and you don't have to worry about pesky things like elections.
What I said was that bank accounts and voting receipts can not be logically compared. Do you think you could come up with some other comparison that makes sense? My vote has nothing to do with my bank account.
Banking Security actually means the difference between feeding myself and my children and us going hungry. It means the difference between me having a roof over our heads and a bridge over our heads.
Voting Security MIGHT mean the difference between my vote being counted or not being counted, which I never forget isn't all that relevant because I am not on the Electoral College.
The comparison is absurd.
Let's be silly for a minute and let me ask you...When the next election comes around, if you had to choose between banking security or voting security, which would you choose? The question makes no sense because you would never have to choose that. We live in America.
Oh and if you are from Texas and (I am guessing here that) you didn't vote for George, your vote didn't count anyway and having a receipt would not have made on iota of a difference.
When you likened banking receipts and voting receipts, it set off a debate in your comments. And the more I think about it, the more I realize this is the crux of the issue. By this I mean, when you retrieve money from a bank, it is a direct cause and effect. But, when you vote, it is based on the collective. For instance, when you recycle, you do so knowing that what little cans or paper you recycle are only a tiny drop in the bucket. But, you still do your part; why? Because if an entire city, state, or better yet, country recycles it has a dramatic impact on landfills.
I feel that many people view voting in this manner. Since there is no direct cause or effect (this is not to say that policies don't impact the people), it's easy to forget to vote, or not necessarily place much importance in voting receipts. But, we must. It is only through our collective that we can institute change.
I never really mentioned paper reciepts, but I don't necessarily think its a bad idea. It could be just like the bank- Do you want one or not? If you don't care and you think everything is fine and dandy, then refuse one. Or better yet, refuse the technology-driven vote and go for a paper one, not many people are aware that they still have the right to ask for a paper ballot. On a tangent, my sister asked for one at her polling place, and was at first denied. Only after insisting was she reluctantly given a paper ballot.
But, back to the point at hand. To me, the banking and voting issues are not that far apart. Both wire fraud and voting fraud are federal crimes (in a federal election anyway), but both felonies, if I am not mistaken. Apparently the government considers banking and voting to be not that far apart as far as punishment goes.
I consider my vote to be just as important as money. No, perhaps my vote will not keep a roof over my head, but does not the government have ultimate power over my life? Do they not make laws and decisions that affect my daily life? My vote is not something that I can hold in my hand, but I consider it to be of the utmost value.
And it isn't necessarily about the commodity anyway. It is about the protections and safeguards put in place to protect whatever commodity it may happen to be. I may not give two hoots about lightbulbs, but there is someone out there whose world and livlihood revolve around lightbulbs. Just because the commodities are dissimilar in nature does not diminish their respective values, in my opinion.
From what I gathered from that article, which was definitely not from an MSM source, it seems that little or no safeguards are in place in the voting machine technology.
Is it possible to agree that at the very least, our votes deserve the same technology and protections that our bank accounts do?
Yes, people suck, yes there are mistakes made. But, is that a reason to just stand back and watch it happen? I for one am not someone who throws their hands up in the air and says, "Oh well."
For some people, it is important to fight for the the right to own a machine gun and body-armor piercing bullets.
For some, it is ensuring that we have fair and open elections.
We all get to pick and choose our own battles. That is the greatness of this democracy we live in.