Volunteer to protect your vote

My column for the West Bend Daily News is online.  It’s called, “Volunteer to protect your vote.”

I made a mistake with this part.

Since elections are so crucial to the very fabric of our nation, there have always been people who seek to manipulate elections for their benefit. For decades, the crooks of Tammany Hall in New York City routinely stuffed ballot boxes, twisted arms, and invented vote tallies to make sure that their fellow crooks were elected into office. During the LaGuardia administration and for several years afterwards, Tammany was so corrupt that it was none other than the “Prime Minister” of the mob, Frank Costello, who pulled the strings of New York politics.

New York was by no means unique. After the Civil War, there were widespread efforts in the former Confederacy to rig elections in favor of the existing power structure. Artificial barriers were put in place that were designed to prevent black folks from casting ballots or running for office in an attempt to keep white folks in control of the government.

I accidentally used two examples of Democrat vote suppression instead of balancing it.  Oh well…

1. “I accidentally used two examples of Democrat vote suppression instead of balancing it.  Oh well…”

   Why start now??

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 15, 2008 at 1854 hrs




2. Owen, to bad you didn’t wait until today to write the story.  The issue has been resolved by the Democrats, led by Hillary.
   To vote at the local caucus’s on the Strip, in Las Vegas, the Democrats are requiring a ID to participate in the caucus. 
   So, if it is good enough for the Democrats, it is good enough for the country and to argue otherwise will be foolish and only produce phony arguments.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 15, 2008 at 2002 hrs




3. two examples of Democrat vote suppression

   The word you’re looking for is Democratic.  I’m sure you’ll be attentive to that in the future, yes?

   Posted by folkbum on January 16, 2008 at 0553 hrs




4. Well Jay, Democrats do surpress votes, as we are seeing here in Las Vegas and they are not being democratic about it.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 16, 2008 at 0804 hrs




5. That’s pretty cute, Dan, but caucuses in general are hardly the most small-d democratic institutions.

   And it’s not all Democrats, either, just, you know, your union. 

   Posted by folkbum on January 16, 2008 at 0846 hrs




6. Voluntary voter identification is a tiny step toward free and fair elections.

   Ok, we can disagree about the fair part.

   How does the voter ID issue affect the freedom of elections?

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 16, 2008 at 0904 hrs




7. This column suggests that Tammany Hall put La Guardia in office?!

   La Guardia was the Republican reformist candidate.  You could look it up.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 16, 2008 at 1537 hrs




8. Let me help you out there, Kay:

   http://www.bootsandsabers.com/index.php/weblog/perma link/brawling_with_reading_comprehension/

   Posted by Owen on January 16, 2008 at 1541 hrs




9. Let me help you out, Owen.  You wrote:

   “their fellow crooks were elected into office. During the LaGuardia administration”

   The extrapolation is obvious.  If you didn’t intend, then you wrote poorly.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 17, 2008 at 2008 hrs




10. Or you read poorly…   That’s why there is a period and a new sentence.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 17, 2008 at 2042 hrs