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LONG BEACH (coup2k.com) May 22, 2001 -- VoterWest, the San Francisco sister action of VoterMarch, was hijacked by some groups with other agendas, whose opposition to the coup itself was weak.
A HOLLYWOOD MOMENT: Jamie Murray introduces me to actor and activist Ed Begley, Jr. In what I can only describe as an utterly Southern California moment, oddly transplanted into the Northern California environs, I was introduced to star of silver-and-small screen, Ed Begley, Jr. I can't be sure, but I don't think he heard a word of anything I said to him, or cared to, since he had an earpiece in his ear, and was obviously listening to something other than li'l ol' me. Maybe he was listening to VoterMarch DC on wireless internet. Maybe he was listening to a sports broadcast. Maybe he was listening to Gregorian chants. Maybe he was listening to the new Tool album. I have NO idea. When he gave his speech, Ed spoke about Shrub and the environment (big surprise), which brings me to a point...
TIME TO PISS OFF THE FAITHFUL: Friends don't let friends hijack their public actions. I don't go to anti-war protests to speak about the coup. I don't show up at anti-sweatshop demonstration to rant about the coup. I don't attend environmental actions to publicize the coup... AND I DO NOT LIKE THE FACT THAT EVERY OTHER GROUP UNDER THE SUN -- from hemp supporters to drug decriminalizers to electric car proponents to no nukesters -- attend anti-coup actions to speak about their pet issues without speaking about the coup. Don't get me wrong. I am grateful that we have cobbled together a leftist/liberal/progressive/moderate coalition of activism groups to dissent from the coup. I am MORE than grateful. But unless a group or speaker is as dedicated to opposing/reversing the coup (and/or instituting electoral reform to prevent another coup) as they are to promoting their central organizing issue, I'd just as soon they save their remarks for THEIR OWN PUBLIC ACTIONS. Friends don't let friends hijack their public actions. Just my two cents-worth (as always), and mine alone.
ONCE MORE, AND FOR THE RECORD: THE POINT IS THE POINT! While there is nothing wrong with opposing Bush appointistration policies on their merits, such a strategy must never take the place of speaking out on Bush's illegitimacy. I took Latin in high school. I know what 'illegitimate' literally means. It literally means 'not legal'. I know that there is no specific statute on the books making the theft of a presidential office by judicial chicanery illegal. HOWEVER... I also know that every (In)Justice of the Court is required, by law, to support the Constitution:
Article. VI. Section. 3.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
I also know that The Filthy Five of The Extreme Court, in ending the vote count, made themselves de facto presidential electors, which is specifically PROHIBITED by the Constitution:
Article. II. Section. 1.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
Thus they not only violated The Constitution (particularly the "original intent" of Article II. Section 1.) and their Oaths of Office, but installed an illegitimate executive branch of the United States government.
(And if that is not enough of a crime to justify continued dissent and vocal opposition, then I grieve for my country, dammit!)
Stay on this message! Don't chase the bunny! The coup-conspirators want you to chase the bunny! Why do you think, when Bush 'n Thugs, Inc. could have focused on centrist proposals in their first 100 days, building a coalition government and healing the wounds of the coup, they chose instead to roll out the BIG BAG OF BUSHIT? They did it to get you off message, and chasing the bunny! If you must chase the bunny -- and I know I must; I can't help myself -- then stay on message while you are doing it!
REDEMPTION IS IMPOSSIBLE: Even if Bush was further to the left than Clinton, even if he never proposed another egregious policy, or sent another indefensible proposal to the floor of the Congress for consideration, he would still be unfit to hold the office of the President of the United States, because of what has already gone before. When Bush or his handlers made the decision to oppose the counting of legal votes ON THE RECORD, he ceased to be fit to hold public office, let alone our highest national office. That's it. This is to say nothing of any possible involvement he may or may not have had with:
-voter purges naming innocent blacks felons, using Texas government lists
-duplicate absentee ballot mailings to military personnel overseas
-efforts in the Florida legislature to overrule any possible Gore victory
-paying protesters and instructing them to shut down the counting of ballots during the protest phase (prior to the contest phase),
-receiving embargoed VNS data from his cousin, John Ellis, at Fox News
...etc., etc., ad infinitum, world without end, amen.
There can be no redemption for Bush, PERIOD.
MORE: Resistance Fighters on VoterMarch DC-SF
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