Debugging Democracy: The People of the United States

You have to believe your vote will count for something otherwise whats the point in voting.

• Only 36 percent of voters from ages 18-24 showed up to cast their votes for the 2000 presidential election.
• 80 Million Americans, approximately 40% of the people, didn't vote in the last Presidential election
• A survey of 100,000 high school students in 2005 revealed that students who say they either don't know how they feel about their First Amendment rights or they just take them for granted came out at 73%. These students will be voting in the coming elections.

The rule of the majority and the principle of free elections are the foundation of modern western democracies and most of the American democratic model as we see it today. All eligible citizens around 200 million of them can vote though too many don't. The system isn't working the way it should. Why?

Visualizing huge numbers is difficult think of them in massive anonymous groups and you lose the intrinsic qualities of the individual. To make any sense of the numbers you have to look at it another way, as a citizen. Every citizen has equal rights and responsibilities in the electoral process, so looking through the eyes of an individual as they enter the polling booth and the influences on them at that critical time, what they see, think and feel makes more sense.

The test of citizenship, your rights and responsibilities and the Bill Of Rights are included in the reference section below, its not a comprehensive list but a fair reflection of what the voter understands about the part they play in act of voting.

Next, depending on your state and the nature of your city and town council is the list of elections you can decide to participate in,. This list covers Utah local, state and national voting.

Elections you can vote in during 2008

• President and Vice President
• State Governor and Lieutenant Governor
• State Attorney General
• State Auditor and Treasurer
• U.S. House Districts
• US Senate Districts( 2010)
• State Senate Districts
• State Legislature
• State Board of Education Districts
• Council Elections
• Mayoral Elections

This is a lot of elections, a huge number of issues and can anybody put hand on heart say they know the exact date and time they take place and the candidates stance on every issue at every level when they vote? Chances are they don't. Who has participated in ALL elections they were eligible for?

For the dedicated citizen willing to spend time finding out about all the issues to be fought for in these elections, legal, technical and weigh up all the arguments at all levels is a big job. It takes time and you have to be motivated. Picking a candidate who's policies and thinking are in line with yours is a matter of compromise, finding the best fit. The average voter with a family, job, mortgage and life to run is not dedicated to politics they are dedicated to the safety, security, health and well being of their families and themselves. So they turn to the professionals, the media to keep themselves informed or simply don't bother due to apathy.

Voter apathy and alienation
Apathy is a term used to mean indifference toward things you are not responsible for and can't control. For 80 Million Americans in the last presidential election there was a disconnect between themselves and the office of the President. It just wasn't worth voting. So how did the citizen get into this condition?

Thomas Jefferson once suggested that we should have a revolution every ten years to keep the government in line. Yep. Thomas Jefferson said that. Thomas Jefferson who had to take the presidential oath to protect and preserve the constitution and defend the country against enemies both foreign and domestic. Apathy is our enemy, and one must ask the question 'When did this start?'.

And we as a people aren't acting. When there are 50,000,000 persons aged 18-29 (the youth vote) most of which are pretty vocal about their beliefs and only 7,000,000 of them voted in the last presidential election, there's a problem. There is apathy. There is not spirit of revolution. And this makes me cry.

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Citizens take their rights for granted

A survey of 100,000 high school students in 2005 revealed that students who say they either don't know how they feel about their First Amendment rights or they just take them for granted came out at 73%. These students will be voting in the coming elections.

The knowledge that every American is protected by the constitution and bill of rights, is not fully understood by the electorate and if they dont understand this then they dont fully understand each individuals responsibility to protect their rights.

Only when their first amendment rights are infringed in some way does the Bill Of Rights become meaningfull and the link is made between it and democracy. People who dont know what rights they have don't complain if their rights are taken away without their knowledge and are unaffected as an individual. Life goes on as normal so they are not motivated to vote.

How do you motivate someone like this out of complacency?

A Citizen may think their vote doesn't matter

17 US presidents have been put in power when only a minority voted for them. George W Bush is the latest example. That is undemocratic, the will of the majority has no legal standing, and in the days

Who can forget the lines of congressional representatives addressing Al Gore as 'Mr President' trying to object to the election of the new 'president' appealing for the support of just a single senator for an investigation. The bizarre sight of Al Gore himself overruling the objections. This sent a very powerful message to the voters.

Nixon, Bill Clinton, Bush/Cheney and the 935 lies that got the US and the coalition of the willing into an illegal war in Iraq and the Democrats willingness, even when voted into power to stop it again damaged the American democracy's credibility.

Now the obvious and glaring economic damage caused by deregulation, they voters did not vote for this and yet they are powerless as are the representatives they elected to stop it.

Citizens Distrust all politicians

Who can blame them, the constant stream of court cases and investigations at local, state and national level revealing the ever present, secretive, lawful and unlawful links between big money and their elected representatives own interests. Its not a question of if you are being lied to its a question of how much and voting accordingly. However the lesser of a dozen evils is still evil.

For a humorous look at the issue see this opinion and as true today as it was then in 2000 before the US presidential Elections.

The bugs have been in the system a long time.

Distrust of the Election System
America has one of the most mobile workforces, people move around a lot and voter de-registration /registration is not uppermost in their minds when they move or when they die. Electronic voting has opened up a whole raft of potential weaknesses in the system. Providing ID's, registration manipulating dead voter roles all contribute to a perception of distrust.

Some voter fraud stories bearing witness

Voter Fraud 2000 - Presidential Election
Recovered History: U.S. Election Fraud Circa 2000
Sludge Report #164 - Vote Fraud 2004 – WTF!!!
This story on 'Dead Men Voting'
For an eye opening list on voter fraud commencing 2004 Go Here
Voter Fraud (The Machines)
"Myth" of Voter Fraud Focus of Senate Hearing 2007

How could they get away with it?

This is just a few of the cases, the last one shows how you can disenfranchise a voter by convincing them not to vote by encouraging apathy. I will be looking more deeply at the election process in a coming post.

The result of an election should be fair and verifiable, if it is not, then your system is in big trouble. Another problem to look at is the long list of allegations compared to the number cases prosecuted, why?

Press Detachment From The Citizen
Blame the media

In this article Emma Claire Sohn, as an individual, blames the media for apathy and Brian Pierce makes the case that the media is not responsible. That the media is self service these days and its the responsibility of the citizen to go find what they want he ignores Emma's argument that she did. Brian's argument is spurious as you can never find whats not reported. The medias duty is to serve up only the most popular news and entertainment, the stuff that makes the most money.

The first amendment guarantees the individuals right to free speech and the freedom of the press. In supreme court judgments the press has rarely been given rights over and above that of the citizen. Its based on the assumption that the press should accurately reflect the citizens voice.

Here is the bug, in Emma's case the press does not reflect her voice and her needs as a citizen. It does this by not informing her of elections or even recognizing a duty exists to tell her elections are coming, the issues and who is standing for what.

Although at a local level it highlights a change in the role of the press in society one which should be recognized at a state and national level. The difficulty comes in identifying how much is evolution and how much is orchestrated.

All media have a commercial interest in selling as much advertising space as they can and if they have to ditch space on local or national democracy for something sexier to attract readership and revenue they will. Plus they can't afford to get involved in expensive court cases, they might win the legal case but go bankrupt doing it. This means they go after only popular uncontroversial stories. Self Censorship.

Media Owners may not invest simply to make profit but also to promote their own political views and suppress those they disagree with. Own enough media outlets and you can control the stories the people rely on to keep themselves informed.

The point is you cant argue, form an opinion or vote about something you don't know about.

Disenfranchised Voters - Voter Suppression – Voter Caging

Voters in general are made aware that this goes on, but not the scale of it because it is hard to prove and prosecute. I'm going to leave this to the post on electing Congress and the office of the President as this is something done to the citizen, something they are not aware of when they vote. Just like the citizen the perception this section gives is a somewhat uncertain feel about the worth of voting.

From the Huffington Post: Could the Republicans Pick the Democratic Nominee? -- The Untold Story of How the GOP Rigged Florida and Michigan" Posted March 31, 2008

Some believe they are more equal than others

Something I will just touch on here but it will be a large part of my argument later on.

You run a large corporation or a political party or you own a bank, you could be a General, your word is law in the domain you have created for yourself. The democratic system limits you to just one vote. Your vote has the same weight as the man or woman you employ to shine your shoes.

How can you exert political and economic influence in proportion your wealth, education, politics and breeding within a democratic system? You can't, Its very humbling for you and your peers to have exactly the same democratic power as an unemployed man or woman living in poverty. So that won't work, you have make the wealth or power you have tell another way.

As an honest political strategist and tactician how do you bring the undemocratic wealthy and powerful into the American representative democracy.

Summary

When Joe or Jane Public goes to vote they sacrifice time and effort to figure out who they are voting for and have some understanding on why they will vote the way they do. All the stuff written above and in the reference section below will be absorbed over time and form the background for their decision as they enter the polling booth and face the voting machine.

Now put on your power elite hat and think of ways you can use these bugs to control the outcome of elections and ensure that your view. Its really not that hard. There are a lot of other Press Issues which need to be identified and fixed but I am leaving those for my post on the role of the press here its the role and perceptions of the citizen.

The bug list

• Bug People #1: Citizens take their rights for granted
• Bug People #2: A Citizen may think their vote doesn't matter
• Bug People #3: Citizens Distrust all politicians
• Bug People #4: Distrust of the Election System
• Bug People #4.1: Voter Fraud
• Bug People #4.2: Disenfranchisement
• Bug People #4.3: Voter Suppression
• Bug People #4.4: Voter Caging
• Bug People/Press #5: Citizens are not fully and fairly informed by the press
• Bug People/Press #5.1 : The press has no obligation to be the citizens voice or to inform the electorate of pending elections, the issues or candidates so local democracy suffers
• Bug People/Press #5.2: The press is risk averse it self-censors stories where legal action may follow despite credible evidence. This is big money at work throughout the US and western democracy. It is censorship through intimidation.
• Bug People/Press #5.3: People love human issues, it sells, so framing political issues in a personality and image becomes more important than the issues they represent.. The more personally controversial the better. You are voting for the person not the issues. For most people its easier and more natural to form an opinion about a person than an issue
• Bug People/Press #5.4: The Mainstream Media will over time, through the appointment of editors and staff reflect the political opinions of its owner, the owner in turn may be susceptible to or willing to promote the political views of others through publishing or suppression of stories.

Bugs will be analyzed in the final post in this series. Next....... Bugs in the Constitution 2008

References For The Citizens View.

Eligibility To Vote In State and Federal Elections

• Be a citizen of the United States
• Be a resident of your state at least 30 days before the next election
• Be at least 18 years old by Election Day

There are other classifications but this covers the majority.

The citizens Rights and responsibilities

The following basic list of citizen rights and responsibilities comes from http://www.voteutah.org/ It covers the state of Utah. I chose this as a fairly representative site advising citizens old and new of their rights.

Citizen Responsibilities

• Obeying Laws - Mandatory
• Paying Taxes - Mandatory
• Jury Duty - Mandatory
• Serve as a Witness - Mandatory
• Register for the Draft - Mandatory
• Voting – Optional

Citizens Rights

• Freedom of Religion – First Amendment, the establishment clause prohibits the government from passing laws that will establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. The free exercise clause prohibits the government from interfering with a persons practice of their religion
• Freedom of Speech - First Amendment, the right to speak publicly or privately
• Freedom of the Press - First Amendment, the right of the citizen to express themselves publicly through the press.
• The Right to Assemble – First Amendment, Citizens can assemble to exchange ideas or protest peacefully any issue and demand reform.
• The Right to Petition - First Amendment, The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through the courts or other governmental action. It works with the right of assembly to allow people to join together to seek change from the government.
• The Rights of Black Americans – After a tortuous political and military journey through American history the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This law bans discrimination because of a person's color, race, national origin, religion, or sex. The act primarily protects the rights of blacks and other minorities.
• The Rights of All Americans - In recent times, legislation has focused less on the rights of ethnic and racial groups. In 1980 the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act ensured that the rights of persons in institutions, such as government-run hospitals, nursing homes and prison, are protected against unconstitutional conditions. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) has helped strengthen the rights people with disabilities.

First Amendment: The Bill Of Rights

Full Bill of Rights in their original form with pre-amble can be read here

Amendment I - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II - A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III - No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V - No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI - In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII - In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII - Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX - The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X - The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.