Enter The Post Office – The Ongoing Story of One Woman’s attempts to shut down Voter Intimidation Campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina
For those new to the bat story, tune into previous blogs on this and other very problematic voter issues around these parts.
But as in Star Wars, welcome to the next episode of VOTER INTIMIDATION HITS CHAR MECK.
And, as promised in previous installments, first thing this morning, we called the Post Office, per the recommendation of the FBI (for those who missed the last installment of this drama, we received a piece of mail that appears to be both fraudulent, using information they are not allowed to use, and that we see as voter intimidation.) Specifically, the document in question actually listed whether my neighbors voted in the 2008 and 2010 elections and promise to update the results this year. And their addresses and names. Most of whom were women and or minorities.
This is dangerous , if not illegal, why?
1. While your VOTER REGISTRATION information, including your address and party affiliation ARE public knowledge, whether YOU VOTED OR NOT is not, at least to the general public. That’s because your voter registration card lists how you are affiliated, NOT if you voted or for whom. That means that putting those two pieces of information together is tantamount to ending blind, free and fair, anonymous elections (a hallmark of our democracy.) You are allowed to know ONLY how your elected reps vote on every level, because you elected them to office and you need to understand HOW they voted on issues that you presumably elected them to office to address. And you are now paying their salary. That is fair. The press being targetted (and I understand the dubious logic behind this, but still do not think it is altogether unreasonable, because it assumes that the media itself must be accountable, and personal political beliefs can sometimes slip into even the most assiduously moral newsperson’s life and career at least once if you have a real one.
But electoral collateral damage (because this is what this and many other attemps are) is not acceptable. Or even legal.
It also allows bosses (like the Koch Brothers are already doing) to access their political connections and said knowledge from their high level government friends (like Scott Walker in Wisconsin) and literally hire or fire you for who you VOTED FOR.
That is why this kind of thing is illegal. Not to mention you, as part of a demographic, could easily be targetted or intimidated NOT TO VOTE. In this case, this piece of crap directly targeted WOMEN and endangered their safety.
Further, while those running for office DO have this information, they are ALSO not allowed to disseminate this kind of information to the public precisely because it then creates targets of ordinary citizens, and again, undermines the concept of a free, fair and ANONYMOUS elelections that do not threaten your personhood, your family, or your business, much less YOUR JOB.
Further, this is a tactic that was used in Nazi Germany (according to my father, who was a German Jew of the Holocaust era and “got out” early enough to save his entire immediate family but most of my extended family perished). And further, why say academics, people who worked for a living, starting with the press, and also of course anyone involved in any technical and or professional field (including lawyers and doctors if not engineers and scientists) were required to join the SS and the Nazi Party.
So, bottom line, I called the office of Postal Inspections this morning. Their number in Char Meck is (877) 876-2455. You must send a copy of the fraudulent document(s) if you suspect something is wrong, to their address locally, which is:
Office of Postal Inspections
PO Box 3000
Charlotte, NC 28228
Telephone: 877-876-2455
You know, I don’t like this. Most people are really scared. ON BOTH SIDES.
And this kind of thing is not only inexcusable, but illegal and shows just how far the upgrading (or actual degrading) of our infrastructure, much less policy regarding certain issues like say, oh, Constitutional Rights like voting, is rotting and further, we have no government will or budget to address these kinds of frauds.
Do I think what happened in this case in particular will make a HUGE difference all on its own?
No.
But in sum, these continued attacks are very dangerous, on the rise, and those of you who care need to understand YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TOO. AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.
By letting you folks know what to do, and what to watch out for, I am helping to educate you and empower those of you, who understand our fundamental freedoms, like never before, are being threatened. And no matter how you vote, or who you vote for, understand folks, that unless this election goes a certain way, this might be the LAST TIME you ever get the right or privilege to VOTE PERIOD.
The stakes are that high.
Oh, and in my case, let’s just get this straight, so people understand why I am now going to tell you who I am going to vote for. And a very simple reason why, even though technically I consider myself an Independent as conventionally understood in modern America. Even Michael Bloomberg is one. And he’s hardly a leftie tree hugger type.
As beyond angry as I am about this president’s many failed promises and lack of political skill (or much of a conscience apparently), he is superior to the other guy just on one SIMPLE FACT for me.
If Obama wins, my health insurance premium, which I cannot live without, will cost me about $1,0000 a MONTH more than I now pay with the federally backed high risk private insurer made possible by Obamacare (as flawed as it still is). That is if I can find an insurer who will insure someone like me with a pre-existing condition.
I don’t qualify for any services, slip through all the cracks, am not “disabled” per the medical and legal definitions of the term. And North Carolina appears not to understand the the federal incentives paid to the state GUARANTEE my right to meds and medical attention as well as medication even for free if I am a so called “medically needy person” (i.e. one who has a manageable disability, but can’t afford to pay for either health insurance or meds and doesn’t qualify for Disability (SSI OR SSDI).
But at a minimum, I would face a $1,000 increase in my health insurance premium (which would be then 25% HIGHER than my RENT for BOTH MY OFFICE AND MY HOME), and would cover less.
My meds without insurance, cost well over $25K PER MONTH. That’s more money than I’ve ever made. Even with my six figure salary on Wall Street that I was earning just a mere five years ago.
So that’s at stake for me in this election. I doubt many people reading this will fail to understand what that will do to me.
Why? Because you, just like me, could find yourself in this position very easily. In fact 1 in 3 Americans will develop, at least at some point, a debilitating disability (even if they learn how to manage it). Or your child could develop a disability and then what do you do? Bankrupt your family? Good public policy. Right?
But for me, it’s also very simple.
Bottom line: If the R’s win this election, I will die. Simply because I am not part of the 1% and certainly don’t earn enough (and never have) just to pay for the meds that allow me to function and work, and live a somewhat normal life.
I am shut out of every system. I can’t even get hired. I haven’t had a paycheck IN FIVE YEARS. Not just because I don’t have skills employers need, but because people with disabilities who are not DISABLED, DO NOT GET HIRED. My demographic (working age people with disabilities) are 20% OF THE ENTIRE AMERICAN PUBLIC, with a 90% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. That’a TWENTY PERCENT DROP IN FIVE YEARS. Worse than any other demographic.
So bottom line for me in this election is my life.
Not that I blindly trust the incumbent of the White House not to cave some more or do more stupid things.
But bottom line for me is if Obama wins, I might have a chance to see my 46th birthday (March of next year).
If Dweedle Dum and Dweedle Dumber win, I won’t.
Simple.
And I assume many of you reading this understand exactly what I am talking about.
That is why I am finally willing to come out and tell you who I will be voting for this time around.
Not because I drink the Kool Aid, am not critical of Obama (and I am, fiercely so), but because it boils down to this.
Obama wins: I might live to see my 46th birthday.
Obama loses: I will probably be dead by March 2013.
Pardon me for my “selfishness,” but honestly, can ANY of you disagree with my logic?
Bottom line, it’s economic. And of course my life.
Why this race is THIS close (supposedly) is understandable to me. I have worked in national politics and the press. I know how the system works. I am not an uninformed “citizen” if not “consumer” on this one.
But what is going on and what is at stake should make EVERY AMERICAN think very hard about why they are going to the booth this year and why.
And fully realize what is at stake in this election.
Including the very real possibility, that rigged or not, fraudulent or not, if it goes one direction (the R way), voting itself, right along with our democracy, will become an anachronism. In as little time as it takes for the Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber this year running for R spot in the White House declare martial law for some cooked up “emergency.”
Whether or not you care whether I die.
Your choice.
VOTE. And better yet, VOTE SMART.
If not, it might just be the very last time you get to do it.
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