Message to America

Office of Senator Bill Frist
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3344
202-228-1264 (fax)

Dr. Frist,

Why is it that you never mention how vigorously the Democrats on Capitol Hill have supported President Bush and his appointees? According to your fellow Senator Harry Reid, during President Bush's first term in office, Congress confirmed 204 of his judicial appointees. In fact, only 10 nominees were rejected overall: that means that Democrats and Republicans together have already confirmed over 95% of Bush's appointees. You've got to admit: even though many of these appointees have close ties to corporate interests and less than moral values when it comes to protecting our sacred environment, this proves awfully good bi-partisan support of the President's choices by the Democrats.

Yet you feel that Bush's 10 remaining nominees, the other 5%, should be approved right away. But the stubborn Democrats are threatening to use the filibuster – a political tool more than 200 years old – to block these remaining appointees from being confirmed. They somehow feel that the remaining 10 nominees are too radical in their agenda, too conservative in their values to best serve the majority of the American public.

So this presents a dilemma, Doctor: you want something politically that your opponents don't. How, then, should you proceed?

Well, you've proceeded by becoming a key participant in "Justice Sunday", a day of conservative grass-roots organizing in nearly 1000 churches throughout the country on April 24th. The event is being sponsored by the Family Research Council, a Christian group which claims, on their website, to be "defending family, faith and freedom". You must, therefore, be a Christian man of great faith, Sir. And I respect that, being a man of great faith myself.

So...if we're talking about faith and Christianity, dear Doctor, let us ask the most important question any good, faithful Christian can ask when faced with a dilemma such as yours: what would Jesus do? Let's say it was Jesus Christ and not you, Doctor, who was a member of the current Senate and who was considering a run for President in 2008. Let's say it was Jesus and not you, Doctor, who got to vote on President Bush's judicial nominees. And let's say it was Jesus and not you, Doctor, who saw that he didn't have enough votes to stop his opponents from using a filibuster, a centuries-old political tool still acceptable according to the rules of the Senate.

What would Jesus do?

Would Jesus attack his opponents, calling them names, saying that they are "against people of faith"? Would Jesus just boldly lie, claiming that his opponents' use of a filibuster would be "unprecedented" or create a "crisis" that would damage the country? I wonder if Jesus would conveniently forget that the Republicans filibustered President Clinton's Surgeon General appointee, Henry Foster, just a few short years ago. Or, would Jesus propose to change the rules of the system in order to get his way?

Would the Son of God, good Doctor, do as you have done and manipulate the public opinion, engage in childish name-calling, obfuscate the truth and then spread lies among those he was elected to represent? And would he do so all the while proclaiming he was a man of God?

Not by a friggin' longshot, Sir.

If Jesus were a Senator, he would strive to create peace, harmony & understanding. He would demonstrate loving his enemy, practicing kindness, compassion and working with those who opposed him to help educate and elevate them to a higher level. That's who Jesus was. Which makes you, Dr. Frist, a complete sham.

News flash: if you're going to represent Christ, then act like Christ would, Senator: tell the truth, don't seek power to suit your own personal needs, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you and start to love your enemy. If the actions you're taking are supposed to represent the true teachings of Jesus Christ, you might want to read the Bible that your constituents have read.

So do us all a favor, Doctor: either step up to the plate and act like a good Christian or step down from your decaying pulpit and resign from your post as Senator. Further, please understand that you and those who preach hatred and lies as you do are a dying breed. And though it is true that throughout history, those like you occasionally rear their heads and come to power, eventually, the people see you for who you truly are, Doctor: a charlatan and a liar. Rather, it is those who seek true love and kindness and openness that will prevail. 2000 years later, people are still talking about Jesus Christ; how long will people be talking about you?

No, Democrats aren't against people of faith, Dr. Frist. However, we are against people who use their faith as an excuse to repeatedly lie to the American public in the name of grabbing more personal power.

Sincerely,

David Koff
Editor, Message to America
http://messagetoamerica.blogspot.com

If you’ve never examined the history of voting rights in America, you might be surprised to learn that our beloved Constitution doesn't actually grant any of us the right to vote. Go ahead and read that last sentence again. It’s true. Instead, Article II, Section 1 of our Constitution describes how "Electors" (who are chosen by the State Legislature) get to vote in elections, not ordinary citizens like you or me…

Turns out that since the Founding Fathers couldn't agree on who deserved the right to vote, they removed themselves from the debate entirely, leaving it up to the states to decide for themselves. Thus started a 229 year odyssey during which time nearly every group of disenfranchised citizens have had to petition for their right to vote including: poor white men, white men who didn't own property, white men who weren't Catholic or Christian, black men, uneducated men, all women and finally, young people over the age of 21. During those 229 years of struggle, three Amendments were passed to forever alter our original Constitution, redefining who should be granted the right to vote: the 15th, the 19th, and the 26th Amendments.

Which brings us to today. Today, any American citizen who is at least eighteen years of age (and who isn't a convicted felon) is legally permitted to vote in any state regardless of race, sex, education, sexual orientation or financial status. We've come a long way, but the struggle for securing our voting rights is not over. Today, our votes are in danger of being forfeited because we have no legal rights to have our vote be properly counted and verified. Unlike the 15th, the 19th, and the 26th Amendments to the Constitution, there is no amendment which guarantees that your vote MUST count, MUST be verified, or MUST be accurate.

Now, if you think that sounds far-fetched, think again: unless your rights are spelled out specifically, they don’t legally exist. And now, with the advent of electronic or computerized voting machines, your vote is in even greater danger of being ignored, altered, dropped, or outright changed. In fact, here are a few examples of why the vote you cast is already in grave danger:

•

• 80% of EVERY VOTE cast in the November 2004 election was counted by just two companies - Diebold and ES&S - which are owned by brothers with deep ties to the Republican party.

• Diebold's voting machines continue to use software that is not verifiably safe from outside manipulation, also known as “hacking”.

• •Diebold was aware that its voting machines were open to hacking LONG BEFORE the November 2004 election and tried to hide that fact from the news, the public and the government.

• •ES&S was previously owned by Republican Chuck Hagel. After selling voting machines to the state of Nebraska, Hagel decided to run for Senator and won virtually EVERY demographic group, including many largely black communities that had never before voted Republican. In fact, Hagel was the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska, nearly all on unauditable machines he had just sold the state.

• •During the November 2004 election, WIDESPREAD MALFUNCTIONS of electronic voting machines occurred in the states of: Ohio, Nebraska, New Mexico, Indiana, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina, Washington, Florida, Nevada and Louisiana. That means that 26% of all the states in the entire nation that had voting machine breakdowns. For a full list of all of these documented irregularities, click here.

The good news is that many non-profit organizations have sprung up to address the very important topics of:

• voting inaccuracies
• election monitoring
• educating the public about electronic voting
• and insisting on accurate and verifiable vote counting

But it's not enough. At no time in our country's 229-year history has our democracy been so close to being undermined by a few people with power and access to technology. The time has come for the federal government to provide specific protections for our most basic democratic right: voting. In part two of this essay (due out next week), I'll propose what a decent "voter's bill of rights" might include along with actions that you, as citizens, can take to help support current legislation along these lines.

In the mean time: educate yourself. Here are two links to a rather disturbing 30-minute online documentary about how Diebold's security flaws were discovered. Watch from the comfort of your own office, living room or dorm room.

• For broadband access, click here.
• For dial-up access, click here.