ALEC's Scary Plan for Elections
By Thom Hartmann A...
Right-wing oligarchs like the Koch Brothers don't just want to roll back a few regulations - they apparently want to repeal our democracy, too.
Republicans like to wrap themselves in slogans about liberty and freedom, but the truth is that deep down they hate our democracy - and now we have the proof.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (or ALEC) - the Koch Brothers-backed right-wing group that successfully gave us right to work for less laws, stand your ground shoot first laws, and voter suppression ID laws - has drawn up a dangerous new piece of "model legislation".
As John Nichols reports in the Nation - it calls for a repeal of the 17th Amendment - which gives the American people the right to directly elect their senators.
The proposed resolution would instead give state legislatures the power to elect senators.
As wild as this sounds, it's a popular idea among Republicans.
Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Jeff Flake have all said in recent years that they support repealing the 17th Amendment.
Why do Republicans hate democracy?
Comments
#2
Why wouldn't we expect them to eliminate the 17th amendment? After all, they have all but made it impossible for the majority of American voters to elect the president.
And now Trump went down, in what is possibly his most sickening delusional display of supreme, Il Duce, fascist megalomania, to enlist the loyalty of the Boy Scouts of America, which no doubt will soon be offering merit badges for turning in illegal aliens, harassing minorities, reporting anti-conservative dissension, etc, etc. I think they already offer merit badges in gun-nuttery and such activities.
I guess we should thank Trump though, for once and for all pulling the white sheets off of these aspiring little nazi bigots and proving beyond doubt what they are really all about. Hence forth, BSA will stand for Brown Shirts of America. Any rational parent that has a child in this organization, should remove them from it immediately.
Yes, it did happen here!!
#3
To be in the Republican Party, one has to reject American democracy, for an ideology, based on faulty premises. Autocracies don't benefit republicans either, yet they are hooked to serve their Masters.
#4
Their narcissism, doesn't allow them to accept, how's money works. It an arm of govt., to serve the whole country. Yet they horde, distort, avoid acting American, and serve thePutins of the world. The Koch bros, are americas Putin. We just get two of them.
#5
Fascism.
#6
Any of you genius leftie/socialists understand the process of actually repealing an amendment to the Constitution?
Obviously this is another ridiculous inflammatory OP just to keep the lemmings with hair on fire perched on the edge of their favorite cliff.
#onhungerstrikeuntiltrumpisoutofoffice
#7
Nonetheless, the last two Republican presidents came into office even though they lost the popular vote. Is this a trend? Is this really democracy?
#8
It was that way originally in the Constitution. Why would that be so bad?
#9
In reply to #6, You Fascist Republicans want to rewrite the Constitution.
#10
Why do Republicans hate democracy?
Short answer: Because democracy is based on everyone getting a say in things, and these people want to control all the say about everything.
Longer answer: Because they want to control everything so they can do terrible things to others with impunity. Anyone who is attracted to the Right-wing draconian zeitgeist has a problem with fitting in; they comfort their inability to get along with others through acquisitions; telling themselves they are better than the next guy and here is the material proof. (Just listen to the Koch brothers and their lying BS on YT, and have a look at our POTUS; his lifestyle.) Most of these people (and this includes the Neo-Liberals,) are undiagnosed sociopaths; they lack empathy; they think in terms of everything being either a commodity to be bought and sold, or "things" to provide services; trains, planes, guard dogs, women, etc.. For some mysterious reason, We, the People, tend to worship cold-hearted, rich, selfish, misfits, instead of kind, fair, selfless types of people. I'm guessing that's because cold-hearted and selfish translates "masculine" and "strong," in a patriarchy that values males over females, because men wage war; and war means profits, and so males are prized over females. And then there are those who are undiagnoses psychopaths; they have a need to have others suffer because they are so emotionally dead, that the intense sufferings of others is the only thing they can feel. And We, the People, go on worshipping these misfits. Even many denominations of the churches have gone from teaching the New Testament; and a god of love and forgiveness, to teaching the Old Testament with a god of hell fire and brimstone. I think the collective unconscious is beginning to turn, but we have a long way to go. If we get something sudden, violent, and unmistakably horrible for average people, things will turn around quickly. As it is now, we are dying of a slow blood-letting; the heat in the frog pot is gradually rising, and because this is happening 'incrementally' people keep accommodating it. It won't be until enough people reject this accommodation will things change for the better. And if the whole does nothing to correct this tilt to the extreme Right, things will only get worse; and that's a guarantee. Just like people want to do nothing but believe in the F(r)EE Market that will right itself on its own, people want to do nothing but have everything turn out okay for them and their issue. When they wake up to the fact that things don't work this way; and never will, when they start to fight for themselves and their own best interests, then the whole of humanity, and the planet, will have a chance to survive.
#11
Merry Christmas Diane:)
#12
Well said, ErinRose.
It turns out that "The Brainwashing of my Dad" is not a one-off:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXTjz2H57rE
re: The Bobbsey Twins #6 & #11:
Ah, the bliss of ignorance in full bloom, a pure delight! Do we not all appreciate a Trump troll's talent for polishing a turd, such as the badly mixed metaphors in Grammy Muck's jejune jeer du jour?
Or, this gem: "Obviously this is another ridiculous inflammatory OP..." In a mind fried by Fux News, whenever someone outside the bubble happens to report on whatever someone inside the bubble says or does on any given day, which reveals beyond debate their ideological lunacy and shameless immorality, it is always the fault of the messenger. Never mind that Republicans -- all by themselves through their own words and deeds -- continuously demonstrate appalling incompetence at governing a people's government; outside reality is not their point.
Through the magic of Fux think, simply to repeat the written words of ALEC -- a “draft resolution recommending constitutional amendment restoring election of u.s. senators to the legislatures of the sovereign states.” -- is to inflame the liberal base. Does it not occur to a conditioned mind that such a "ridiculous" truth should be "inflammatory" -- to all concerned citizens -- or is the conditioning too thorough?
Mmm ... we're left to wonder if Diane, the unending fount of all wisdom for us less desirables, had spent more time actually reading John Nichols' article than polishing her turd, would she still feel as compelled to question the mere-mortal commenters on this blog whether they "...understand the process of actually repealing an amendment to the Constitution?"
And the answer is ...drum roll... Of COOOUUURSE !!!
The shine from a washed brain and a polished turd is blinding.
#13
A well run Democracy ends up with GOod GOvernment, which frightens our Republican friends.
The have the whaa-whaa syndrome; bunch of crybabies. They are afraid of what everybody loves and wants; dear and beloved wonderful goo-goo, more goo-goo - good government.
Those goo-goo fearing republicans do not want everybody to vote. Our leverage in the elections goes down as the voting populace goes down. We want everybody to vote!
#14
'Right-wing oligarchs like the Koch Brothers don't just want to roll back a few regulations - they apparently want to repeal our democracy, too.'
ha ha ha...REALly? they're too LATE! WHAT democracy...? as if elections haven't been rigged, one way or another since the git...and every once in a while(younger bush. both elections) we get a peek behind the curtain. so to speak...but it's not just the voting machines or the electoral college...it's that the govt is nothing and has never been anything BUT business reps. major companies get their way. one way or another.
and what kind of 'democracy' is it when you have two parties, the only difference between which is who will jump through these corporate hoops the quickest...
i used to think 'the people' didn't know what was going on...but now i'm not all that certain...i think, maybe, it's just easier to pretend than to tip over your own apple cart, huh?
so keep sendin in those tax dollars, folks..support them invasions into countries under the pretense of democracy. when all that govt has done for at least a half century is increase and protect their markets/marketplaces...
maybe it's true that the logical extension of business is murder...?
#15
The reason they hate us is because the most common belief system in the USA now is atheism & agnostism. The GOP has started a Covert Holy War with Americans, only they're not letting us in on their Holy War until it's time to start the actual Civil War here on home soil between "Believer's" & "Non-Believers" ... While they continue to get richer on fossil fuels to finance their war against "infidels" ...
Expect a Gihad to happen right here at home ... this is where I think we are headed ... [if elections are stolen over the 'Right To Life' issue ? wouldn't this be considered a religious war? ... It will led by the Evangelicals [dubbed America's Taliban] and Dominionists (who apparently manufacture our Electronic Voting Machines], Wahhabists in Saudi Arabia [our friend & ally- this should be a red flag no?]... and the Zionists who created the "false flag" of 911 to get the ball rolling; i.e., massive surveillance of everyone here in USA & great excuse to invade sovereign nations like Syria, not interested in the New World Order and the IMF and just so happen to have lots of natural resources; like fossil fuels (Iraq) ...
Syria has been their latest regime change efforts, which in truth started over a proxy war the USA is having with Russia over a gas pipeline; the "false flag" they used was lying to the public that Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. Peace Activists from the United Nations went to Syria on their own dollar to find out the truth, because the lies made zero logical sense. Assad using chemicals on his people was a lie ; just like WMD's were a lie. And practically every journalist has been murdered [over a hundred]; unprecedented ... why? to keep the truth from getting out. They've even gone so far as to target hospitals; killing Doctors Without Borders [also have been witness to war crimes; they want dead]. The USA War Machine is supporting & arming terrorists in Syria ... committing war crimes on innocent civilians.
The Militarized Industrial Complex is EVIL ... They do not care about Americans! They use our youth for their Wars For Profit, that our tax dollars fund, while we don't even have healthcare, our infrastructure is crumbling, and they want to dumb us down (e.g., advocating trade schools, college unaffordable] ... They gain their wealth and power via irrational insane quest for more fossil fuels while our planet overheats. DO NOT THINK FOR ONE MINUTE WE ARE NOT NEXT ON THEIR ATTACK LIST ... they'll create some false flag to create a war at home for an excuse to increase & militarize the Police & their privately owned Force [e'g', thugs like 'Blackwater' in Iraq and the thugs at #NoDAPL @ Standing Rock].
There are hundreds of FEMA camps all over the USA; fully staffed with no one in them. The real truth & danger here is we, the people, have lost all our power because our vote is no longer being counted. We have not had a real functioning democracy since 2000 when the election was stolen by Bush; i.e., the "hanging chads" were just a distraction; there was evidence that the votes had been electronically manipulated in Florida 2000 ... Evidence which has never seen the light of day on mainstream media.
There is a surplus of concrete evidence that the electronic voting machines (D.R.E's can be hacked electronically; whose inner workings are considered 'proprietary info' - inaccessible to us, the voters, who pay for them via taxes ... We do not have access to the inner workings of voting machines ???? RED FLAG #1 ... AND We've known since 2004, they can be remotely hacked; RED FLAG #2.
The people who run this country now [not us; Oligarchs, Zionists, Dominionists & Evangelicals ] decide who is going to be our next president. The Dominionists, i.e., Radical Fascists Christians are the equivalent of Saudi's Wahhabists. Their Holy War [which we know is about power & money; not morals] is to rationalize stealing our democracy on the moral high ground of the excuse it is all about the 'Right to Life', i.e., their anti-abortion beliefs.
IT genius and loyalist of GOP, Michael Connell, shared with his friend Stephen Spoonamore [also an IT Guru; both from Ohio), that the Republicans manipulate elections to "save the unborn babies" from the holocaust. He shared with Stephen Spoonamore his regretting helping Karl Rove [with election fraud 2000 and 2004]. Why? ... because he later believed he was used by GOP and that their intentions were not exactly just about saving babies lives [as he was led to believe]; it was for greed & power.
Mike Connell, a devout Christian, was a Republican IT Guru and Karl Rove's chief IT Consultant. He was hired to manipulate the 2000 and 2004 election in favor of Bush. On December 19, 2008, the day before Mike Connell, was subpoenaed and expected to testify against Karl Rove, died in a plane crash at the age of 45, leaving his wife and four children.[please 'google': "CBS News Republican IT Guru dies in Plane Crash" if you doubt this info]
Why American's are in a state of cognitive dissonance regarding this issue of election fraud boggles the mind. Does everyone really believe that asshole Scott Walker, anti-union thug, got re-elected by 'the people' of Wisconsin? ... REALLY??? Or, that we actually were so stupid to re-elect George W. Bush? anyone recall being dumb-founded he won??? He didn't win ... he cheated!
Republicans now dominate state government with 32 legislatures and 33 governors... REALLY? ... All the poor people, and the neuvo impoverished middle class, are electing Republicans ??? ... Not!!! ... GOP has achieved these wins by electronically cheating.
Stephen Spoonamore, IT Guru, proved ... that the Ohio election in 2004 between Bush and Kerry was stolen ... this was done via what is called 'man in the middle' in IT world. Spoonamore who is very very familiar with computers and hacking (e.g., his job was to catch thieves hacking into ATM system of Banks worldwide; the security of our voting machines Spoonamore said, two graduate students figured out how to hack into them in a matter of 2 hours).
The way elections are stolen is (i.e., in IT Security world) known as a 'KingPin Attack' ... whereby the results of the election via a computer is inserted into the communications flow of an IT system, with the sole intention of changing the election results before it arrives at its destination/ a US Govt site; thereby providing results of a false 'winner' and false 'looser'. [please research this if you question its validity; youtube Stephen Spoonamore - who took the time in several videos to explain this to the public].
Also, Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org also has been on top of election fraud via electronic voting machines was able to prove this via a Memphis programmer Benny Smith who identified that a master computer, via a program called 'GEMS' is used to manipulate the electronic voting machines. This program, GEMS changes the votes from a whole numbers [i.e., 1 whole vote per person] to fractions - The Oligarchy/GOP Christian Extremists have remote access to election results all over the country [e.g., instead of each voter being allowed 1 vote per person; their votes are changed into fractions - larger fraction for Republican voters and smaller fractions for Democratic voters- just the ones they choose to win; and they do not target EVERY election/campaign; just the select ones critical to the GOP accessing more control, locally in the States, and in Washington, D.C.
We've basically had a coup d'etat by our own government a.k.a. the 'Deep State'-- all done in the name of religion & 'right to life ' apparently [but we all know this is a lie & it's about power, control and money]. The people of this country are closing their eyes and ears to any and all evidence of election fraud via use of hackable electronic voting machines! (studies from Princeton, Stanford, Harvard ... all concluded there was election fraud Primary in 2016; all exit polls predicted Sanders won, and instead Hillary won, by 4% 6% even 12% error rate [anything greater than 2% is considered cause for a recount; if this happened in some of the newer democracies around the world they would have been flipping cars. No recount EVER happened here in every district showing evidence of fraud ... NOTHING WAS SAID, OR DONE ABOUT IT.
Following the 2016 POTUS Election, USA dropped its ranking from the 19th best democracy in the world to now the 21st democracy and is now categorized as a "flawed democracy" post 2016 Election. ...
The best democracies on the planet use PAPER BALLOTS that are HAND READ [like we use to] ... It's cheaper and safer ... it's possible there may be some corruption, but no where on the scale and to the degree computers being hacked can cause (in the multiple millions).
The two countries in a state of chaos right now; both India and Brazil, both have 100% of their voting via electronic voting machines. Both countries democracies have been hijacked by fascists.
The way these machines are manipulated is by 'fractionalizing' the individual vote. Say for example, in the 2016 POTUS Primary; it is more than likely Bernie votes were assigned a fraction less than 1 [e.g., 0.75 vote] and Hillary votes were assigned a fraction greater than 1[e.g., 1.25 vote]. The Votes are covertly tallied as money - only the owners of this proprietary information can see the actual fraction total; the closest whole number appears to the district; they NEVER see any fractions - which of course would be a red flag. Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org has dubbed this this theft of our so called "democratic" elections 'Fraction Magic'.
Why the GOP hate us ?... most of us are infidels & they want to control us "in the name of God" ... what else is knew on this planet? Their plan is to force religion down our throat - like they did to Native Americans... in every community across the nation & world - the NWO (they laid down all the ground work already via Community Management companies incorporated world wide) ... And they know better than to tell us their agenda at this time in history because they know we will freak out.
The first thing we need to do is get our VOTE back ... it is the cornerstone of our democracy... without it we have no VOICE!
#16
The Target is not Democrats, But Democy Itself!
http://theocracywatch.org/govern_suspending_rules.htm
GOP is leaning more & more to being Anti-Separation of Church & State ... the NWO intends on forcing God down our throat ...
This is NOT propaganda. ... Dominionists actually own & manufacture our Electronic Voting Machines ... even the name of company that recently acquired Diebold, ES&S electronic voting machine manufacturers company is called "Dominion Voting Systems"
Steve Moreland is Chief Operating Officer of Dominion Voting Systems ... he's from Texas. The company has its beginnings in Toronto, CANADA, it now has offices in Colorado, New York and California.
definition of 'dominion': sovereignty; control
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems
Dominionists have hijacked our Democracy ...
http://revcom.us/a/033/dominionism-be-very-afraid.htm
[below: some quotes from the above link]
This Dominionist trend has been promoted and built up with major assistance from powerful ruling class forces. For example, two major contributors to the [Dominionist think tank] Chalcedon Foundation are Howard Ahmanson and Nelson Bunker Hunt - who are big monopoly capitalists and whose families played key roles in financing electronic voting machine manufacturer Election Systems & Software.
Dominionist beliefs;
If you don't follow the Christian faith, or if you ever leave it (we're talking millions of people in the U.S. alone) you'd be punished by death. Same thing for anyone who commits theft, who blasphemes (says "goddamn it"), or who commits heresy (says god does not exist). Frederick Clarkson, who wrote the book Eternal Hostilities: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, points out that "anyone responsible for abortion" (meaning women and abortion providers) would be given the death penalty as well.
Here's another Mosaic law: Leviticus 20:13.... "If a man lie with a man, as he would with a woman, they both commit abomination: they shall be put to death." Dominionist Gary DeMar told John Sugg of Mother Jones magazine that he was considered "liberal" among his cohorts because he only supported the death penalty for those who were actually caught engaging in "homosexual acts." And if the Dominionists made the laws, anyone who practices witchcraft or astrology, children who disobey their parents, women who commit adultery, and rape victims who don't resist sufficiently would all be executed.
Dominionists call for reinstating slavery, which is upheld throughout the Old Testament, most notably in the Ten Commandments. Slavery is openly defended by Dominionist writers such as David Chilton: "Heathen slaves ... were actually favored by [slavery], since it placed them in contact with believers. They received the relatively lenient treatment of the biblical slavery regulations, and they were also able to hear the liberating message of the gospel."
"Dominionists would nearly dismantle government, and establish the family as the basic governing unit of society - a family that would be mandated by god to unchallenged rule by the father. The role of the government would be limited to building roads and raising funds for armies carrying out sanctified battles."
#17
Sounds like Pence.
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The Kochs are the Tea part of the Teapublican Party and that Teabillionaire/ALEC part runs the show. Democracy is dead. We're currently no better off than Russian citizens. It's called Fascism. The Kochs hate democracy because it includes sharing the wealth.
The Kochs and Putin are the most powerful and dangerous individuals in the world right now. Trump's not far behind in the dangerous category.
Trump's insanity will become a moot point when the market crashes. Panic will set in and the corpse media will no longer focus on his bull.
Don't you just love how Teabagger "Fascist servants" all recite in a hypnotic manner... "The Russians interfered in our election but it had no impact on the results."
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