Justice and Voter Caging
The controversy sparked by the firing of 9 US attorneys is full of characters, half truths and hidden knowledge based on claims of national security. How it all fits together can't be captured in a 60 second news clip or in short articles like this one. What is at stake can't be measured without understanding what is motivating the players involved. Today there is a political storm brewing in Washington. It is imperative that we ask from where and why these political winds are blowing. At stake is the integrity of the electoral process. What we could lose is the fair participation of the people in the choosing of our government.
The party that wins an election and is put into a position of power, it claims the right to appoint like minded people to positions in the justice department. The appointment of two Supreme Court Justices by the president is the most obvious example of this. It is little wonder that the general public has not found itself to be greatly outraged that the Bush administration conspired to fire 9 attorneys at the department of justice. The administration had the power to hire and to fire. The fact that the removal of these attorneys was politically motivated is embarrassing but not illegal. The fact that the Alberto Gonzales lied to cover up the impropriety doesn't surprise many people either. The party and ideology that wins the election wins the right to influence public policy and the direction of the nation. To some extent, this is the point of the democratic process. This nation will be influenced by the Justices that President Bush installed onto the Supreme Court for years to come. He won the right to influence our society in such a way when he won the 2004 election. However, what happens when the election process is tampered with by those in power? By what right can a President govern when the process of his election comes into question?
As the people of the United States of America, we give our elected officials a great deal of power over our lives when we vote them into office. Public officials at all levels of government make decisions on our behalf in our absence and disinterest. This system works because our voice can be heard every time we have the opportunity to vote. At the heart of Justice Department controversy may lie a subversion of the free and fair electoral process. If this proves to be true, then all the power that this administration has claimed would be fraudulent.
In 2004 the Republican Party engaged in an activity of “Voter Caging.” Please look this term up. The term describes a process of systematically challenging thousands of voters based on the likelihood they would vote against a particular candidate. David Iglesias was one of the attorneys fired by the Justice Department. He had been asked to make investigating voter fraud a priority in his work. He created a task force to investigate possible invalid new voter registrations. His efforts produced not one case worthy of prosecuting. Mr. Iglesias believes strongly that he was fired because of the lack of results from his investigation. In 2004 the Republican party challenged 35,000 voter registrations using “voter caging.” They targeted students, deployed military, and predominantly black neighborhoods to challenge their voter status based on a question of address. The Party doesn't deny this. They claim that it isn't illegal and not at all improper. At the heart of the scandal within the Justice Department is whether or not this is true. Loyal Republicans and Administration appointees such as Monica Goodling, FBI Director Robert Mueller, former acting Attorney General James Comey and the 9 fired Justice department attorneys are starting to put the integrity of nation over loyalty to party. They have come to understand that no political gain is worth the degradation of electoral process.
Partisanship and bias are a part of the system under which the United States functions. To deny this would be blind to human nature. However, when those we trust to conduct and protect elections begin to believe that they can subvert the process to their own gain, we start to lose what has made this country so great. If these tactics are allowed to stand, unprosecuted and without pubic outrage, then such tactics will be used in 2008, likely by both parties. In the end, the voice of the people will be diminished and democracy will only be a term used by those that can best cheat the system. The public needs to start paying attention and participating in this issue at the Department of Justice or we might be cut out of the process of governing all together.
The party that wins an election and is put into a position of power, it claims the right to appoint like minded people to positions in the justice department. The appointment of two Supreme Court Justices by the president is the most obvious example of this. It is little wonder that the general public has not found itself to be greatly outraged that the Bush administration conspired to fire 9 attorneys at the department of justice. The administration had the power to hire and to fire. The fact that the removal of these attorneys was politically motivated is embarrassing but not illegal. The fact that the Alberto Gonzales lied to cover up the impropriety doesn't surprise many people either. The party and ideology that wins the election wins the right to influence public policy and the direction of the nation. To some extent, this is the point of the democratic process. This nation will be influenced by the Justices that President Bush installed onto the Supreme Court for years to come. He won the right to influence our society in such a way when he won the 2004 election. However, what happens when the election process is tampered with by those in power? By what right can a President govern when the process of his election comes into question?
As the people of the United States of America, we give our elected officials a great deal of power over our lives when we vote them into office. Public officials at all levels of government make decisions on our behalf in our absence and disinterest. This system works because our voice can be heard every time we have the opportunity to vote. At the heart of Justice Department controversy may lie a subversion of the free and fair electoral process. If this proves to be true, then all the power that this administration has claimed would be fraudulent.
In 2004 the Republican Party engaged in an activity of “Voter Caging.” Please look this term up. The term describes a process of systematically challenging thousands of voters based on the likelihood they would vote against a particular candidate. David Iglesias was one of the attorneys fired by the Justice Department. He had been asked to make investigating voter fraud a priority in his work. He created a task force to investigate possible invalid new voter registrations. His efforts produced not one case worthy of prosecuting. Mr. Iglesias believes strongly that he was fired because of the lack of results from his investigation. In 2004 the Republican party challenged 35,000 voter registrations using “voter caging.” They targeted students, deployed military, and predominantly black neighborhoods to challenge their voter status based on a question of address. The Party doesn't deny this. They claim that it isn't illegal and not at all improper. At the heart of the scandal within the Justice Department is whether or not this is true. Loyal Republicans and Administration appointees such as Monica Goodling, FBI Director Robert Mueller, former acting Attorney General James Comey and the 9 fired Justice department attorneys are starting to put the integrity of nation over loyalty to party. They have come to understand that no political gain is worth the degradation of electoral process.
Partisanship and bias are a part of the system under which the United States functions. To deny this would be blind to human nature. However, when those we trust to conduct and protect elections begin to believe that they can subvert the process to their own gain, we start to lose what has made this country so great. If these tactics are allowed to stand, unprosecuted and without pubic outrage, then such tactics will be used in 2008, likely by both parties. In the end, the voice of the people will be diminished and democracy will only be a term used by those that can best cheat the system. The public needs to start paying attention and participating in this issue at the Department of Justice or we might be cut out of the process of governing all together.
posted by kamuizot at 9:25 AM
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