Issues for D4U: What makes you mad?

*Irresponsible public officials and employees.

*Phony Voting Machines.As Stalin said, "It matters not who votes, it's who counts the votes that is important."

*Republican Agenda - Local; State; Federal and all of their supporters. It has become an evil enterprise set against the lower and middle economic citizens.

*Half-hatched Orrin "I'm sick and tired of -----"(Fill in the blank)

*Non responsive Bennett "The thinking has been done you ignoramuses"

*limp wristed Matheson "Gee whizz, I don't wanna make anyone upset"

*Minimum Wage - a travesty.

*Utah Legislature. - Ye God's what's next?

This is not the America I and my age mates fought and died for in WWII. There was respect for government then. Today, not a single word spoken by any politician or government employee can be believed at its face value. This lack of trust in our leaders and institutions is the sign of the failing community in which we live. How can any patriot take pride in what we, as a society, have become?
There is no vision or plan for the future by which to arouse enthusiasm in the citizenry. That, more than anything else, is what is needed if we are to survive as a free and independent nation.

Narrow minded, divisive, ignoramic stupidity! Outside of that I'm only wishing that real LEADERS would step forward to head the Democratic party. If we had some, the Republicans, (read the first line again) would find or make up something to stop them. They've become so very strong, they simply ignore rules and laws intended to be the "checks and balances" of this great country.

Sorry I don't have a particular issue to put forward. The causes I fight for are on a local level and in the town where I live.

I get mad when I hear people complain about the "government" and "those idiots in the legislature" and then don't get their butts in gear to get active in politics by participating in volunteering, Get Out the Vote, writing letters, showing up at precinct meetings...

I get mad when I read in the media that Utah is the Reddest State (well, we're now #2, but that's still disgusting.)

I get mad that there aren't enough Democrats elected in local government offices...let alone women and people of color...

I get mad when people in control of my tax money waste both my money and my time by attempting to legislate who people can legally love, who can raise children, and what I can do with my flag.

You try year, after year, after year, to inform every state election official and every media outlet, over, and over, and over, of the simplest concept imaginable:

People steal elections!

Buying a machine that can be programmed to steal votes without leaving any evidence whatsoever is a bad idea, even if the federal government pays for it!

They buy them anyway against the warnings of every knowledgeble expert in the nation who wasn't getting paid to show up and tell them that, and only listen to people who WERE getting paid to tell them to buy the machines. Then they don't make any effort to even plan for a problem.

That's about as short and civil as I can make it after spending the last five years of my life writing letters to government officials who spend all their time taking things I love away from me, (including my privacy and freedom) and getting paid for it!

It makes me mad that the Trib employs reporters who have nothing but scathing contempt for the politicans they cover -- well OK, only the politicians with a D after their name. It makes me mad that the Trib was bought by the right-wing MediaNews Group and now its pages are filled with irrelevant national wire stories and corporate puff pieces. It makes me mad that the Deseret News, which has excellent local reporting, also carries op-eds by lying wingnut conservatives like Thomas Sowell and Charles Krauthammer. It makes me mad that neither of the statewide papers in Utah is truly serving its readers.

* A demonstration for peace was interpretted by Mr Hatch as a collection of 'a bunch of loonies' - these loonies are citizens of Utah. We weren't anti-anything, and we were insulted. I don't feel represented, regardless of my representatives' affiliation. I don't feel even basic, civility from them.

* War in Iraq

* Immigration insanity - e.g. the business owner from India who owned the hotel in So. Utah who was deported, with children born in the US and a triving business.

* A living minimum wage

* The reduction of benefits in Utah for people with disabilities

* Teachers' salaries and class size

* The entire "superpower" mentality - we have the ability to spread peace, medical care, food, and freedom while creating a superpower of basic human needs. Why is that so far removed from the political agenda?

* Creationism

* Religion in government, the classroom, etc

I couldn't attend her presentation, but Linda Hilton's comments are well-taken. Given the multitude of important issues we face, it's a challenge to figure out where to start - especially for a group like D4U with its broad mission.

That said, we can take 1) our past successes and 2) similar group's efforts (MoveOn, for instance) as a good place to start.

Based on these things, here are my top 3:

1) Strenghening democracy - a fair process, a fair vote, a secure vote. Efforts include: continuing the struggle for transparent, trustworthy voting equipment; redistricting reform (given all the safe seats, voters have little real choice); campaign finance reform.

Don't forget that a (former) D4U member, working across the aisle with key Republican legislators as well as local technology experts and citizens, won a critical victory in 2005 regarding e-voting - requiring a mandatory paper ballot as the official vote. There are still a myriad of problems with the Diebold DRE system chosen by the state panel, but this legislation provided one additional voter protection.

We should build on this victory and push forward to require random audits of the paper vs. e-records, open-source software, and more. According to recent reports, without random audits and better voter verification procedures, and given that most voters do not actually look at the printed ballot, machines could be programmed to record the wrong vote repeatedly, and this throw an election. If a voter noticed the "mistake" and cancelled the ballot, the machine would be programmed to record her or his actual vote; if not, it would record the wrong vote. Speculative, but according to experts, quite possible. In the recent SLCo recount, only the absentee ballots were hand-counted, not the printed e-voting equipment ballots. This is not an adequate audit. Voters are terribly uniformed, and we've got a lot of work to do to make sure we can trust our elections (people do indeed steal elections, and its getting easier, apparently).

2) A secure energy future, a stable climate, a stable world. We need massive investments in real alternative energy technology, massive efforts at conservation and public education. This is a winning issue, and the public is just barely getting it. Let's build on Rocky's success and Mayor Corroon's commitments to sustainability. At the state level, Utah is racing the wrong direction, investing in dubious and environmentally destructive oil shale, as well as massive oil and gas exploration - all the while cutting solar credits and threatening to eliminate all conservation credits (see #3). See www.dieoff.com

3) Real, fair tax reform. We need to can the flawed flat tax once and for all, and either revive Jones-Mascaro or put forward a new plan. At the very least, income tax brackets need to be adjusted for inflation - we basically have a flat tax structure right now. Who pays, who benefits is always the name of the game in the US (see #1), and unfortunately the top 1% are reaping massive benefits as the rest of us sink further down.

Beyond this - D4U really needs to ramp up membership, participation, and individual volunteer efforts on local campaigns. Thats where relationships are built, and the groundwork is laid for change. I must confess, that's where I've shifted my time right now.

This is a great thread:

I think that our community, in the high desert, with our abundance of sun and wind should be a center for green technologies.

Also, supporting local businesses, with initiatives, collectives and cooperative services will make for a more livable community.

r .... leaving Sandy to retreat from Walmart

get my vote as a theme. This includes...living wage, fight regressive tax policies, reform Corporate Welfare policies, make people as important as businesses and flags, and of course Don't Steal This Election!

Props to Rootstock for a great post on what we need to safeguard elections.