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of our vote counting system--the number one cause of fascist policy--there couldn't be a more important issue.
But I am not all that up on current or proposed legislation.
Funny, how the really important and most fundamental things almost never get spoken of, or, if attention is brought to them, such that they cannot be ignored, the remedy is always either a lame-ass bandaid, or worse than the problem.
The latter happened on vote counting. The minor problems that punchcard voting present, as seen in Florida '00, which could have been remedied by Republicons acquiring a sense of decency and ethics, were addressed with the bludgeon of electronic voting machines, run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount control. Remedy worse than the problem. In fact, problem invented in order to apply the bad remedy.
And now, the bandaid to that. Dems proposing a lousy, stinking 2% audit of these Bushcon voting machines. That's like proposing that the Bushites account for only 2% of the federal dollars they have stolen.
Other fundamental things that never get spoken of, or are bandaided or made worse:
The bloated military budget. Should be cut by, say, 90%, down to a true defensive posture. (No more wars of choice!) But nobody seems to notice or care that forty cents of every taxpayer dollar goes to killing people without cause, stealing their oil, and using US military power to unjustly throw business to US global corporate predators.
Never spoken of. What is this aggressive military machine FOR? Our "defense"? Right. When was the last time they truly defended us? They couldn't even defend our nation's capitol on 9/11!
Health care for profit. There should be no profit in peoples' illnesses and injuries, or in preventive health measures.
True "free trade." Trade without monopolies and corporate predators. A truly free, open, COMPETITIVE market. Doesn't exist.
A free press--the issue you raise in this OP. Doesn't exist. All owned by 5 rightwing billionaire CEOs, in huge conglomerates that control all news and opinion in the country, and grossly misuse that power to shove a fascist agenda down our throats, 24/7. Some news monopolies are directly connected to war profiteers via subsidiaries. The fascists who control all media (except the internet) can thus PREVENT any discussion of a true free press and proposal of remedies.
The border with Mexico. Most of the folks who cross the border from the south have more indigenous DNA in them than any of the rest of us do. They have a natural right to be here. How dare we put up walls and checkpoints and draconian laws to bar free immigration! It's the "Indian wars" all over again. "White man" steals the land, then defends it as his.
The war on drugs. As felicitous as Prohibition, or the war on terror, or the war on Iraq. Stupid, murderous, ruinous policy. A boondoggle for fascists.
Capital punishment. Magnifies evil by committing evil. It's been questioned recently, but very little has been done. No other civilized country on earth commits state murder.
The prison-industrial complex. One of the greatest evils in our society. 70% of the people in prisons are there on draconian sentences for non-violent crimes, and often minor crimes or acts that should not be crimes at all (drug use, drug selling, prostitution). Again--totally uncivilized policy. And the prisons are BA-A-AD. Dehumanizing. Breeders of criminals. And the so-called justice system itself, that puts them there, is BAD. No justice for the poor. All of it being privatized. Brutalization of the poor for profit.
None of this can be remedied without transparent vote counting. Next in line for reform: private corporate monopolies using our public airwaves for 24/7 fascist propaganda, in combination with monopolistic ownership of print media.
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