I personally think that in a free speech democracy we have the right to:
- worry
- speculate
- think against the grain
- "fly the freak flag" of our personal theories when we want to
That being said, this is a community, and one that has a bit more reach than some folks suspect. I know I am just one voice here....
and as Joan in Seattle rightly points out, I'm better at pointing out
What we can do Today than when I do critical stuff...
but I would like to say something
very clearly about where I am coming from and where we are at right now.
Posts that add to or build a speculative meme that:
- this election is rigged
- the Diebold fix is in
- Bush and Jeb are gonna steal Florida, or Ohio, or....State X....
without presenting any hard evidence or new information are not merely counter-productive, they are
doing Karl Rove's work for him.
The most likely result of "the Fix is in" rumors will be to depress turnout among young people and poor voters. No, the GOP is not going to help us do GOTV in the least, but we should not help them by doing anything that suppresses turnout among our voters or works against the hard work of our GOTV volunteers.
I have spoken to young, new voters doing GOTV lately, and we use Florida 2000 as a positive example for getting out and casting an early vote. It is a powerful argument with them. When you spread rumors that this vote is likely to be "fixed or erased" you do those voters a disservice.
So, please, unless you have hard new, evidence of voter fraud or vote fixing or are highlighting news stories about irregularites and possible fraud like Chicago Progressive is doing....please don't give in to rumors that state this election is going to be stolen as a matter of certainty. It is counter productive. If you are concerned about fraud this election you should give to GELAC. Or if you can, help do GOTV.
Get Out the Vote is currently contacting every registered voter leaning our way in every close state and logging who they intend to vote for, and when and how they intend to vote, and educating voters about how to vote. We will have a powerful record of thousands of citizens in precincts across the country that will help us understand if something illegal were to go on. If you really care about this issue, you should help Kerry / Edwards or ACT by doing GOTV...and educating voters about how to make sure their vote counts.
Kerry / Edwards volunteer center
American Coming Together
and if you want to send youth voters to a site that's positive, informative and cool, blogswarm posted an excellent link that we should all pass around compare, decide, vote
Finally, I'd just like to say that I really hope that dKos will be a place that we feel "at home" for the home stretch. It has been before...and I suspect it will be on election night...but in the meantime I personally do have more mixed feelings. Unfounded worrying has been prevelant here of late and will be till election day. It just sets a bad tone even though it's a natural and understandable consequence of:
- being worried
- feeling powerless
- engaging in a passive activity
It's a free speech democracy. I don't debate anyone's right to their views here or elsewhere. But this is also a community....and the rumors and worrying are counter productive. They also reach out to our broader readership. Some of whom, I am sure, quite naturally want to worry too, but some of whom, if this is their first dose of Kos, might be left scratching their heads.
For the record:
I remain confident and optimistic that George Bush is Toast and that we will be making history come eleven two. I am convinced that if we work together that we will win. I am hungry and eager to keep doing GOTV to help us win. And I know that there are thousands of you out there who feel exactly the same way. I am proud to be a member of this community. And proud to say that we are the October surprise.
Sometimes, however, some of the trends here just frustrate the hell out of me.
Stop the rumors, please. Let's GOTV.