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Walk Don’t Run to the Polling Booth
“Every vote counts.” But, does it?
The other day I sat in on a conference convened by I Vote Israel, a movement to engage American olim eligible to vote in US elections in the 2012 election process. Their premise is noble. I Vote Israel is a diverse group of Americans who reside in Israel. They want to see a president in the White house “who will support and stand by the American citizens living in Israel in absolute commitment to their safety, security and right to self-defense.”
But, do we actually achieve this goal through “the vote?” Is our vote as valuable as we think it is, or as we are led to believe?
One of the main points brought up by I Vote Israel in order to influence American olim to vote in the next US presidential election is the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential election where it all came down to 537 absentee ballots cast in Florida.
They are quick to point out that only 64 of those were cast from Israel. Maybe so. But there was also a congressional hearing with regard to that election that questioned Clinton Curtis, a computer programmer who testified under oath to have written programs specifically used for rigging elections and that these programs were commissioned by various congressmen, including the Speaker of The House for Florida in 2000. Please click on the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPdwgNKQ9kQ
Rigged US Elections – Part 1
www.youtube.com
Not only that, but a private company in Florida, DBT – Data Base Technologies, employed with the task of tallying the votes “accidentally” wiped off thousands of democratic votes in Florida. Worthy of note is that DBT was paid $4,000,000 for tallying the votes. The question is, did Governor Jed Bush, his secretary of state, Katherine Harris and her director of elections, Clayton Roberts know that 22,000 democratic votes were barred before the elections? In addition, Palm Beach voting machines misread 27,000 votes. Furthermore, the media in Florida announced that the polls in the central time zone were closed, when they were still open. Was this all mere coincidence? In the end, Did Bush really win that election? Or was it stolen?
Is the voting process as sacred as we are led to believe? Or is it just part of the power brokers’ indoctrination of the masses to have us think that “we, the people” have power?
Here, in Israel we have the example of Arik Sharon who ran for Prime Minister on the right wing ticket, yet orchestrated the dismantling of Gush Katif in 2005. He didn’t merely have a change of heart. Netanyahu likewise won on the right-wing vote, yet now we are suddenly saddled with Mofaz and his Kadima cohorts.
One would be hard-pressed to find a politician without any skeletons in the closet. That being said, it’s not the president or the prime minister who is in control. “The buck” does not stop with them. It stops with the people who own them. Whether it’s the State Department, economic power brokers, “movers and shakers” who are capable of influencing the global market and who do not want any annoying politician’s foreign policy to get in their way. There is a reason why Bush didn’t go after Saudi Arabia after 911; there is a reason why Obama went into Lybia to go after Quadaffi but not into Syria.
Often people who rock the boat get killed or scandalized and destroyed.
Why was former Israeli President Moshe Katzav burned when others like Chaim Ramon received to what amounted to a slap on the wrist? I’m doubtful whether rape had anything to do with the hunt for Katzav’s head. Moshe Katzav beat Shimon Peres in The Israeli presidential election, the left’s and of course Europe’s treasured politician. Moshe Katzav had to go.
Frankly, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the US State Department had a specialized department just to collect damaging data on candidates in order to blackmail them at a more propitious time.
So, okay, my fellow American olim in Israel. If you want to vote in the next US presidential elections…go ahead and vote. Just consider your vote for what it’s really worth. Or what’s worse…you may indeed end up getting just whom you voted for.
And even if the vote is sacred…do we really know what we’re getting when we vote?
Warning! The George Carlin video contains what may be considered by many an inappropriate sexual line at the end of his routine.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGRcCN2VAzU
George Carlin On Voting
www.youtube.com
Asher Keren, author of A Time For Change contributed to this article.