Thursday, May 04, 2006

Diebold: No Taxation without representation.

Although it’s convenient to be angry at Diebold for the Cleveland election disaster of May 2006, it is worth recalling, as the Plain Dealer points out, that “Tuesday's meltdown, which pushed the vote counting into today, was not the first, the second or even the worst in the board's history.” Beyond having polling places that opened as much as seven hours late, it was discovered on Wednesday, a day after the voting “5:30 p.m.: Fifty memory cards are missing, and elections workers begin considering going to the paper receipts inside the election machines to count votes in precincts covered by the missing cards."

Even "the CEO of the board of elections gave Tuesday's performance a failing grade."

A media interested in protecting the people's interests, and not those of "the opulent few" would give voice to a sensible remedy to a culture of contempt for democracy: no taxation without representation. Specifically, those denied the vote, since they are denied effective representation should be exempted from paying taxes. All taxes.

Then perhaps the power that be would take voting rights seriously.

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