Register. Vote. Take A Stand!

"In the United States, voter registration is the responsibility of the people, and only 70 percent of Americans who are eligible to vote have registered." (RegistertoVote.org)

Let's do the math: There are more than 300 million citizens of the United States. 30% of 300,000,000 is 90 million people.  Even if only half of those people are over 18 years old and eligible to vote, there would be 45 million eligible voters who have not yet registered to vote.

Among the 70% of eligible citizens who have registered to vote, the number who actually do vote is shockingly low. The per centage of actual voters by age cohort ranges from less than 30% for registered 18-29 year olds, to a high of just over 60% for 60-69 year olds.  There is not a single age cohort from age 18-49 years old which has a voting record of more than 40%.

Why is it that in a nation that fought a historic battle for independence - not to mention the right to representative self-government - so few of the people today actually exercise that right by voting?  In a world where self-government and constitutionally-guaranteed individual freedoms are a rare and precious commodity, it beggars belief that people who have it do not appear to cherish it and fail to guard it vigilantly. The assumption seems to be that gains once made can never be lost. But history teaches another, grimmer, lesson.

"...that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address.

There is a lot of talk right now about a tiny cabal of extremely wealthy and influential people pouring billions into the upcoming election in order to ensure an outcome which will suit their own interests and not those of the people of the United States. In a democratic Republic, the idea that wealthy or religious elites could rise to such power and influence that they could establish a de facto feudal economic system and authoritarian theocracy - almost exactly the conditions over which this country fought the War of Independence - could only be possible if a majority of the people allow it to happen, through ignorance, through apathy, through intimidation. 

But the American people are made of sterner stuff than that. 

Don't just stand there...do it!

If every eligible voter in the country performed hir civic duty at every election, and if every eligible voter made it hir business to stay informed about the issues that face the nation, then it becomes far more difficult for any one group, no matter how well-organized and determined, to seize control of the government.

Make sure you are registered to vote. Don't assume that you are registered. During the primaries, thousands of people were shocked to discover that their names had been stricken from the voter lists without their knowledge. Florida has purged nearly 200,000 names from its voter list, including seniors and veterans. Pennsylvania is preparing to deny voting rights to nearly 10% of its eligible citizens. 

Voter suppression threatens our Republic, but there are still enough voters to put a stop to it, if only every citizen who can vote, does so. There are as many eligible voters who do not vote as there are who do -more, in fact. Voter turnout could potentially be double what it has historically been. The current voter suppression tactics - ambitious though they undeniably are - would not disenfranchise enough people to overcome the will of the people if only the majority would take a stand, register now and vote in November.

Your vote counts. It really is that important. 

Remind your friends and family to be sure to register and be sure to vote.  

Resources for Eligible Voters:

Can I vote?  Need help with voting? You've come to the right place. This nonpartisan web site was created by state election officials to help eligible voters figure out how and where to go vote. Choose a category below to get started.

Rock the Vote   Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization in the United States whose mission is to engage and build the political power of young people.

Our Time.org   Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-29 year-old in America to register and vote in local and national elections.

League of Women Voters  The League is proud to be nonpartisan, neither supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties at any level of government, but always working on vital issues of concern to members and the public.

Register To Vote. org  In the United States, voter registration is the responsibility of the people, and only 70 percent of Americans who are eligible to vote have registered. RegistertoVote.org is a nonpartisan organization committed to reaching the remaining 30 percent. We simplify the voter registration process, making it faster and easier for you to get involved and become an active voice in our democracy.

Less is Mormon!

         "All you need is the slightest majority, and you get to waterboard a witch!"

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's best Christian, discusses the right wing tactic of putting civil rights to a simple majority vote via ballot initiatives.

Best line:

"The more timid founding fathers created a Republic instead of a democracy because they thought allowing citizens to vote on individual rights was a really stupid idea. But you know what they call a really stupid idea that's also a really popular one...a law!"

Really, What's A Few Million Votes?

Read more at Center for American Progress

"Under the United States Constitution, states may not restrict voting rights in ways that infringe one's right to equal protection under the law (Fourteenth Amendment), on the basis of race (Fifteenth Amendment), gender (Nineteenth Amendment), or age for persons age 18 and older (Twenty-Sixth Amendment)." Voter Registration, wikipedia.

As the 2012 Election draws nearer, efforts to suppress the votes of the people most harmed by bad government policies will be ramped up to a fever pitch. Already in 2011 and 2012, twenty-four (24) laws and executive actions designed to make it more difficult for citizens to vote were passed in seventeen (17) states.  This legislative activity is justified as necessary to deter "widespread voter fraud", a non-existent phenomena for which even determined and prolonged investigation by the Bush administration could not produce evidence.  

The real effect of these laws will be the disenfranchising of thousands - possibly even millions - of American citizens. Election results are positively correlated with voter turnout.  Reducing the number of people who vote - especially poor people and people of color - has been shown to reduce the per centage of the overall popular vote for the Democratic party, while increasing the number of people who vote in an election increases the Democratic share of the overall popular vote.

This fact has implications for the Republicans.  In close elections, low voter turnout will work to their advantage, while high turnout is likely to swing the election in favor of the Democratic candidates. It is therefore in the interest of the Republican party to discourage voter turnout. And they have been doing their utmost to do just that.

"Ticking off a list of recent accomplishments by the GOP-controlled Legislature, he mentioned the new law forcing voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Said Turzai, with more than a hint of triumph: 'Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania — done.'"
and
"Prodded by GOP political activists, the Justice Department under Bush conducted an extensive, nationwide, five-year probe of voter fraud — and ended up convicting a grand total of 86 individuals, according to a 2007 New York Times report. Most of the cases involved felons or immigrants who may not have known they were ineligible to vote.
  Not one case involved the only kind of fraud that voter ID could theoretically prevent: impersonation of a registered voter by someone else. Pennsylvania and other voter ID states have, in essence, passed laws that will be highly effective in eradicating unicorns."  The GOP's crime against voters, Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.

"Four years ago, Democrats expanded American democracy by registering millions of new voters — mostly young people and minorities — and persuading them to show up at the polls. Apparently, the GOP is determined not to let any such thing happen again. 
According to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which keeps track of changes in voting laws, 22 statutes and two executive actions aimed at restricting the franchise have been approved in 17 states since the beginning of 2011. By the center’s count, an additional 74 such bills are pending."  A GOP witchhunt for the zombie voter. more excellent work from Eugene Robinson.

"More than two dozen states have some form of ID requirement, and 11 of those passed new rules over the past two years largely at the urging of Republicans who say they want to prevent fraud.
  Democrats and voting rights groups fear that ID laws could suppress votes among people who may not typically have a driver's license, and disproportionately affect the elderly, poor and minorities. While the number of votes is a small percentage of the overall total, they have the potential to sway a close election. Remember that the 2000 presidential race was decided by a 537-vote margin in Florida."  Voter ID laws designed to deter fraud may end up blocking thousands of legitimate ballots, Mike Baker, AP (via newser)

"'The numbers suggest that the legitimate votes rejected by the laws are far more numerous than are the cases of fraud that advocates of the rules say they are trying to prevent," writes reporter Mike Baker. "Thousands more votes could be in jeopardy for this November, when more states with larger populations are looking to have similar rules in place.'
  NYU Law School's Brennan Center For Justice has reached a similar conclusion after years of analysis, arguing that some five million potential voters will have difficulty casting their votes in 2012. They say the restrictions will hit young, low-income, minority and disabled voters the hardest." Report: Voter ID laws... Anna Merlan, Dallas Observer.

"Though the story was largely overlooked due to the July 4th holiday, we learned last week that Pennsylvania's voter-ID law is poised to disenfranchise more than 758,000 registered voters this year. In other words, 9.2% of the state's 8.2 million voters will be blocked from participating in their own democracy because Republicans are trying to rig the election." Pulling off an unconscionable crime,  Rachel Maddow, The Maddow Blog.

“As a national organization that closely monitors public affairs in the Latino community, in general, and the Dominican Community, in particular, we have witnessed disturbing allegations of voter suppression and lack of transparency in the 13th Congressional District election,” said Dr. Maria Teresa Montilla, President of the Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR). danr.org, July1, 2012. (help hotline: 1-888-240-1494).

Occupy Reason!

The vast majority of reasonable people cannot compete with the wealth and influence of the .0001% - Koch brothers alone have committed to raising $88 billion to buy the 2012 election - but we have the right to peacefully dissent, we (still) have the right to vote and we have social media to communicate with millions of other Americans.

The power to decide elections and to choose the way forward for the country lies with the people, but we must shake off the apathy and perform our duty - exercise our right - as citizens.

An informed citizenry is the only protection against tyranny, oppression and abuse of power.

Let's counter the propaganda saturating the paid media with the truth.

Let's use those products of the scientific, secular world to rally spirits and unite the people.


Revolution
(lyrics)

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money
for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
Ah

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
all right, all right, all right
all right, all right, all right

John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Look Out, First World! It's Catching!

Even the Canadian PEARL (Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory) is threatened.

Just a reminder that religious fundamentalism is growing and thriving everywhere in the world:

Canada:

This week in Ottawa, Ontario, an international conference on evolutionary biology is being held. Scientists from North America and Europe will meet to discuss progress in biological research, further advances in evolutionary theory and many other topics of interest to practitioners of evidence-based science and the people who recognise its importance to humanity.

Ironically, however, the host country has been weathering an embarrassing number of popup storms in the officially clear skies of Canadian rationality and progress. Religious fundamentalists have "planted churches" in every province and territory, just as they have in the USA, and (just as they have in the USA) they have been patiently following a multi-year plan to "restore" Canada to Christianity (their own, narrow version, naturally). As in the USA, they started by undermining the foundation of modern, free society - public education - and as in the USA, their favorite targets are science and sexuality.

Canadian scientists march to draw attention to the suppression of evidence-based science.

"The cuts, according to the organizers' media release, are being imposed on critical research programs in Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the National Research Council of Canada, Statistics Canada, through the closure of Experimental Lakes Area, the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory and the First Nations Statistical Institute, and through the elimination of the National Science Adviser and National Round Table on Environment and Economy."
and

"There is growing concern in many quarters about what is being viewed as the government's excessive information control. Several organizations say they are concerned with what they call the silencing of Canada's federal scientists." Natalie Stechyson, The Ottawa Citizen.

Read the full story: Science community to protest research cuts....  Ottawa Citizen, July 8, 2012.

Also, while Canadians are rightly proud of their country's official recognition of the humanity and equality of LGBT people, there has never ceased to be a determined opposition to it (coming mainly from religious groups, as usual), and they are making gains:

Canada: Marriages of Foreign Gays are Invalid,  MSNBC, January 2012

Gay activist murdered in Halifax, Halifax Chronicle Herald, April 17, 2012.

Southern Ontario School board hires security after threats because of upcoming vote to ban distribution of Christian bibles in public schools  story.

Europe:

Even in 2007, some Europeans recognised that creationism was posing a serious threat to education in European countries. In October of 2007, PACE (Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe) adopted resolution 1580, The dangers of creationism in education.

Giant's Causeway creationism "controversy" in Ireland.

This opinion piece in the UK's The Daily Mail manages to be anti-science, anti-American AND tell readers that "no matter how fast and far we run from Him, we always seem to make our way back, rather like someone lost in the forest." From sneering condescension toward science and scientists (Carl Sagan...infantile?) to barely concealed, seething contempt for anything American, this piece is not to be braved without donning a hazmat suit. Oh, and it is dissing the potential discovery of the Higg's boson.

Asia:

Pakistan's only nobel laureate, physicist Abdus Salam, is shunned in his home country and references to him are stricken from school textbooks. Salam did pioneering work in the effort to discover the subatomic Higg's boson (often misleadingly called the "god particle"). Story here.

Indian skeptic charged with blasphemy for rationally explaining a "miracle".  Friendly Atheist, April 14, 2012

Sanal Edamuruku's situation worsens. (The Humanist, July 4, 2012). After being hounded out of India for revealing the simple scientific explanation for a Catholic "miracle", Sanal Edamuruku has been the target of an international manhunt at the urging of the Catholic archdiocese in Bombay.