Say No To Dirty Tricks, Voters Kept From Voting, And "Washington Business As Usual"

With many of the reports, including that provided at All Things Democrat last week by Ricky Shambles, about the dirty tricks that may have been played in the Iowa Caucuses to drive the anti-Hillary/anti-Clinton vote in favor of others, I can't say I'm surprised. But I'm far from happy.

This year, perhaps more than ANY other, we need to combine our commitment to be active, informed citizens who demand the best (and hold them to account when we get less) from our elected leaders at the same time we dearly need to elect a president honestly, fairly, and without any of the nasty stuff we've seen in previous elections, especially that of the Bush-Cheney/Republican-Win-At-Any-Cost Sleaze team (and I do not believe most normal Republicans like this kind of thing anymore than the rest of us) in 2000 and 2004.

From here on, we can't just sit back and let Washington work as it does, because we know that the way it works is pretty corrupt, pretty nasty, and pretty much slanted at billionaires and fatcat/corporate interests rather than in the "Mom and Dad America" politicians like to talk about at election time. So we're going to have to work a great deal harder to get Washington working right again and we have to be pretty damned selective about who we put there. No more "anybody but (this person)" mentality and no more dirty games.

Mind you, Democrats (and others) have pulled nasty tricks, too. But we don't want them from ANYONE. I want the people I elect (and those who help elect them) to operate better than that. You should, too.

Also, every American with the right to vote not only should vote, but should NEVER be kept from voting by dirty tricks like we saw in Florida in 2000 (and ever since) and in Ohio in 2004.

So I ask myself, as I ask you, to do your best to keep dirty tricks away from the process, even at our lowly voter level and, should you see someone kept from voting who has the right to vote, don't just shake your head and walk away. Stand up, speak out. We may not always be able to depend on Washington to behave itself so, until we can force them to do better, WE have to be the better people. It can start one American at a time. And it must.

I'm game. Will you join me?