An Open Letter to Howard Dean
I received the following encouraging message in my Inbox today:
Dear Karl,
If you can’t win, cheat.
Apparently that’s the Republicans’ answer to our work in California. If they have their way, this reliably “blue” state won’t be so blue in 2008.
Faced with a strong Democratic presence, Republicans are campaigning for a new election system instead of their own candidates.
If they get what they’re after, it could cost us the White House.
In California, Republican operatives — including some of the 2004 Swift Boaters — are working on a proposition for the June ballot that would essentially hand over 20 of the state’s electoral votes before the elections even begin next November.
Electoral reform is a good thing — but this proposition doesn’t even come close to an honest effort. It’s designed for just one thing: to make California the only big state in the country to break up its electoral votes, handing the White House back over to the Republicans. We need election reform, but let’s do it for real — and let’s not pick and choose which states we do it in.
We can’t let this proposition get on the ballot. Reject the Republican power grab in California:
[Link to Democrats.org removed - you’ll have to type it in yourself if you’re interested]
California, like 47 other states, awards all of its electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes. In the last four elections, all of California’s electoral votes have gone to the Democratic nominee.
Republicans want to change the rules to award one electoral vote for each Congressional district a presidential candidate wins. In 2004, that would have given George Bush 20 of John Kerry’s 55 votes.
These so-called “reformers” aren’t proposing to do this in Texas, or Florida, or Ohio, or any other large state that the Republicans won in 2004.
Only California.
This isn’t electoral reform — it’s a blatant power grab. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger is against the proposal, saying:
“I feel like, if you’re all of a sudden in the middle of the game start changing the rules, it’s kind of odd… It almost feels like a loser’s mentality, saying, ‘I cannot win with those rules. So let me change the rules.’”
Don’t let the Republicans cheat to win the election. Make your voice heard now:
[Link to Democrats.org removed - you’ll have to type it in yourself if you’re interested]
For Republicans, it’s not Iowa or New Hampshire that matters most in 2008 — it’s California.
Tell them to play by the rules.
Sincerely,
Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
I will admit up front that I voluntarily signed up to receive propaganda from the Democratic party. However, I swear that it is only for entertainment purposes and, of course, every now and then it provides a topic upon which to write a post.
Dear Dr. Dean:
Cheating is signing up illegal immigrants to vote in an election (like the Democrats have done repeatedly in California). That practice is against the law. Changing the law, however, is not cheating; it is the essence of representative government. The law is there to serve the interests of the citizens as opposed to the citizens being subservient to the law. As such, the fact that a sizable minority of the citizens of California have no voice in national elections due to the winner-take-all electoral rules flies in the face of democratic rule.
You (Dr. Dean) decry the fact that “Republicans” are doing this only in California and not in such places as Texas, Florida, or Ohio. In fact, California has long been known as state filled with activist voters, with a robust proposition system, that allows the citizens a more direct say in the politics of the state. Florida, Texas and Ohio lack such a system. Citizens of these states, if they desire to do something along the lines of that proposed in California, should think about adopting a proposition system and amending their state constitutions.
It has long bothered me that many Americans do not have any say in national elections. If you live as a minority in a state that is reliably Red or Blue, your vote will never count in national elections due to the electoral system. I have never liked the winner-take-all rules. But, to adopt a different set of rules is far from “cheating;” it is the direct expression of voters whose voices have been silenced for so long.
I would point out that your solution to the “Republican power grab” is to deny voters a voice. You say, “We can’t let this proposition get on the ballot.” Why not? What are you so afraid of? That the voters might actually prefer to have a voice in how they are ruled? Better to not allow them to vote — to tell them how things are going to be from on high. As you know, the Left has a term for this: “jack-booted, heavy-handedness.” Let the voters have their say. Heck, they might even vote against the measure.
Besides, I wouldn’t worry about it over-much. The Ninth circuit strikes down virtually every ballot initiative passed by Californians that makes any sense. You have reliable friends on the Ninth Circuit. Liberty has reliable friends in California.
Your pal,
Karl
Posted: September 25th, 2007 under Dems Run-a-muck, National Interest, General Political Philosophy.
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