Your town is running an election for Mayor. The incumbent
Mayor is loosing by very few votes, so what does he do? He decides to force the
polls to stay open longer so he can go out and muster up more votes to push him
over the top. This would send outrage to any citizen of our democracy.
This very practice was exercised in the House yesterday. A
bill helping oil companies build refineries was being voted on. At the end of
the five minute vote, the bill was defeated 212-210. This did not sit well with
House Republican leadership so they decided to extend the vote to nearly 50
minutes while Tom Delay could go out and twist arms to get a couple votes to
change. This resulted in it passing 212-210.
The fraudulent act of leadership in the House sparked an
outcry from Democrats who started chanting “shame shame†on the House floor,
which can be viewed at
Crooks and Liars. It was a total break down of democracy
in the very heart of our own democracy and should send outrage to every voter
this country has.
The House is the place where every American gets their
voice. Your voice is heard through your representative (which is why they are
appropriately called that). Instead the Republican leadership showed how much
they hate democracy and America by breaking the rules to mute out people of this
country. This act is unethical at the least, but more so probably illegal or
treasonous.
This is the second time this session of Congress has done
this. The last time was during the CAFTA vote a couple months ago where they
once again held open the voting so Tom Delay could wrangle the votes needed to
make it pass.
Considering these actions have been prompted by Tom Delay,
it makes his indictments seem that much more just. Money laundering is something
that is usually associated to organized crime. So is racketeering, which seems
to be what he is practicing in the very heart of our democracy. Next year we got
to do everything with in our power to kick these traitors off of Capital Hill
and restore democracy to the very heart of it.