Iran: If the Protesters Got Everything They Wanted, It Still Wouldn't be a Democracy

While Iranians have been protesting to live free, I take note of what they seem to think living free means. Their demand has been that the election be annulled and conducted again, that their very limited version of democracy be respected. All power is held by Supreme Leader Ali Khameni, his Council of Guardians and the small clique of military officers and businessmen around him. The Council disqualified thousands of candidates before the election, vetting only those who support the regime's ideological lines.Iranian candidates were handpicked by the leadership, not the people. The Supreme Leader, the Council of Guardians, these are not elected bodies . Iranians are not challenging the theocratic rule of the country or calling for that to be done away with. Its instructive that this conversation was had in 2005 too.

As conservatives and republicans try to score political points against the President during a foreign policy crisis, its worth keeping it in perspective. Iranians are protesting and being beaten and killed in the streets for a version of "democracy" no American would consider worthy of the name.

The Danger of Continued Republican Leadership

Cheney must keep records, judge orders - CNN.com

The battle for the preservation of records and documents produced by the Vice President is a little window on the reason why, despite my doubts and concerns about Obama on foreign policy, the economy and his social positions, I do not believe that Republicans deserve nor should be permitted another term in office.

In a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) against Cheney, the office of the President and the National Archives and Records Administration, CREW filed to have records of Cheney's activities preserved. Cheney's response to Congress epitomizes why Republicans should be removed from power:

Cheney chief of staff David Addington has told Congress that the vice president belongs to neither the executive nor legislative branch of government, AP reported. Instead, he said, the office is attached by the Constitution to Congress. The vice president presides over the
Senate.

So let me get this straight. The Office of the Vice President is actually a fourth branch of government!! Clearly its not part of the judiciary, and according to Cheney, its not part of the legislative nor the executive either. The arrogance, mendacity and duplicity in such a statement is simply breathtaking. An argument such as the one made above is a complete twisting of any commonsense understanding of the constitution and our system of government. The average man on the street would call check on this. There's no other way to view an argument like the one above as anything other than a naked attempt by the Vice President to wield power and escape accountability, and to do so in a way that distorts the balance of power in our government and threatens our democracy. People prepared to knowingly commit such distortions should be removed from power before they are successful in twisting government so far out of wack, our democracy is lost.

Look Ma, No Hoses or Dogs: Voter Suppression Watch

The Supreme Court recently upheld Indiana's voter ID law against a challenge to its constitutionality and in so doing, enabled an entire category of low intensity voter suppression tactics. I said then that what we would now see is a succession of republican led voter ID legislation efforts copying the Indiana approach by passing voter ID laws to address so called voter impersonation fraud. These laws will be pressed forward on the grounds of protecting the integrity of voting. However, these laws will have the effect of suppressing a portion of the voting public, by making it more inconvenient to become qualified to vote. There is a segment of the population that will be deterred from voting by this inconvenience factor. Republicans will be the only ones pressing for these laws because they believe that the people who are deterred are people likely to vote democratic. Its voter suppression without the hoses and dogs tactics of the old days. More like voter suppression by a million cuts.

As predicted, the first wave of voter id legislation is upon us. In Missouri, legislators emboldened by the Indiana decision are forging ahead with their own plans to enact the same law and once again, cannot produce a single example of voter impersonation fraud. Once again, it is being pursued by republicans and it is simply a way to rig the system by imposing inconvenience on low income and elderly voters presumed to vote democratic.

This kind of legislation must be fought state to state. Where it is enacted, efforts should be undertaken to overturn the law or to liberalize other elements of the voting process such as longer polling hours and voting by mail. More defensive response measures include grassroots drives to ensure that every person in our community has valid photo ID using community institutions like the church, community centers and schools. These laws are being pushed and passed for their voter suppression effects, Period. Full Stop, not to prevent voter impersonation fraud. Any supporter of them who says different is woefully uninformed or quite simply is a liar.

Today its voter ID. Tomorrow it will be some other type of reasonable inconvenience imposed on the franchise. Impose enough of these things and you will begin to get significant voter suppression effects in my view. We're the party of better ideas, but we purposely suppress the franchise to shield ourselves from the competition of ideas. It is the gaming of democracy under the guise of law and order and as a republican, it makes me sick.