The Coup2K
Experience of
Bill Moses
"How can any judgment stand in the way
of a serious, deep effort to find out the truth in Florida?
Is any person's supposed harm more important than
the truth, as made by the vote of our citizens?
Okay, I'm "coming-out".
I will look Tent Lott, GW Bush and any other republican in the eye and
say, " I disagree!" I say to
this to my Republican sister and my Republican friends every day.
My name is Bill Moses. I live in Denver, Colorado.
I am 49 years old. I have voted
in every election I could, since I became of age. I have always faithfully, honestly paid my taxes. I
was a registered Democrat until just before the recent election. I changed to
Independent in October because I did not feel the Democratic Party had the guts
I was looking for. It appears my choice
had a little merit.
In November, 2000 when (like all of us) I would come home from work and
watch the drama of the November election, I was just stunned-as-hell that a
candidate, particularly a Presidential candidate, would do something that, to
me, was so viscerally undemocratic as to sue to stop the recounting of votes --
a perfectly legal thing as set forth by the Florida legislator, all statutes in
place, all rules and standards in place, BEFORE THE ELECTION. I was just totally stunned and would sit
awake at night pondering what was happening to our country. I just could not believe that any American
citizen, much less a candidate asking that we elect him to represent us, would
work so hard, spend so much money, and be so vehemently committed to stopping
the fair, honest, reasonable efforts of canvassing boards to try to discern the
intent of the voters.
I never, ever expected that more than a small handful of votes would be
tossed out. Yes, I was very naive about
that. But 15,000 votes tossed in one
county in Florida? 15,000 votes tossed out
is not an acceptable number to me. Is
tossing out 15,000 votes a democratic process we can embrace? I think not.
I believed that all those election officials where I would go to vote in
the past, those white-hairdo elderly citizens at the polling place, were
impartial patriots dedicated to the highest valor and honor of our country: to
honor and protect my simple, precious, and fundamental one vote! Each of us, all of us -- whether big, small,
brown, black, white, rich, poor, male, female, powerful or not powerful -- are
equal! We each have one vote!
Our country spends millions and goes to great effort to insure that we
all pay the appropriate tax. We spend
millions, and take weeks and weeks to make sure that, during a census,
everybody and everything is counted. Is
not our simple one vote more sacred than even those things? Should we not go to
EXTREMES of effort and cost to insure that every last vote is properly cast and
properly recorded? We go to extremes to
make sure that our blind citizens vote, and that their votes are correctly
recorded. We go to extremes to insure
that our institutionalized Americans; insane, mentally ill and retarded citizens’
right to vote is honored. Why should we
not be willing to make every effort to insure that my vote, your vote and
everybody's vote is easy to cast and correctly record?
But… GW Bush sued to block the legal effort by the State of Florida to
examine and try to discern the intent of voters! He took it all the way to the US Supreme Court.
Gee, was I ever slapped-down! I am still dumbfounded!
To me, there is only one reason that the republican candidate would do
such a thing. I don't need to explain
that reason to anybody in this group reading this. We know why he sued. It
was his last resort. He had run out of
rope, and all he could do was throw a fit!
I am not afraid of a republican.
I am not afraid to put my lawfully said opinions and expression on the
Internet. I am nothing more than an
ordinary, obedient, lawful, plain-Jane-as-hell American citizen, and if being a
Patriot means that I get in some sort of trouble, so be it. I'm glad I can contribute to a cause I
believe in. I am comforted to know that
I am not alone.
I am not afraid of GW Bush, Jim Baker, Jeb Bush, Poppy Bush, Tom Delay
or Trent Lott. I will speak to the
Devil and I will say, "This is not the America my elementary school
teachers taught me about." I will
say to our Supreme Court, "How can any judgment stand in the way of a serious,
deep effort to find out the truth in Florida?
Is any person's supposed harm more important than the truth, as made by
the vote of our citizens?" Count
the votes! If Al Gore loses, so be
it. But prove to me that Al Gore lost
and GW Bush won. What could be any more
patriotic than that?
Now, we know that those who are more powerful, with greater wealth and
greater influence, have other hopes than the truth or the valor of our
democracy. Our votes are an obstacle to their agenda. To them, it seems, winning is more important than the truth. America must not accept such selfish acts.
The Democratic Party had better prepare themselves to get up, get going,
and get in their (the republicans’) faces. They need to be so angry that they
slobber when they speak. They should
let their passion show through.
So… here I am. I am angry! I am upset!
But, I am confident. I do not choose
to "get over it". I am the
"fringe"! So be it! I have committed no crime in my rantings on
the Internet, and have reveled in my right to say what I say, and feel what I
feel, and have my consciousness about my part in this country.
I am not afraid!
Bill Moses/Denver