[thechat] Re: Re: war phase 2

Dave Fitch lists at dere-street.com
Mon Dec 3 15:22:11 CST 2001


Ben Henick <persist1 at io.com> said:

>The fact remains that the rights are there, and that people make the
>willful and informed choice not to exercise those rights.  (A choice about
>which I rant on my site, no less...)

The fact remains that the rights aren't there: I have friends who 
have worked on political campaigns in the South and, well, let's just 
say that many of the 'rights' of voters were more hypothetical than 
anything else. The reality, however unpalatable it is to many, and it 
*is* unpalatable to many, is that the rhetoric about people 
'choosing' not to exercise rights is very different from the question 
about whether people actually have access to the 'rights' they are 
denied.

I didn't vote in the last UK election, not because I wasn't 
registered [I was, mostly because if you're not registered to vote 
it's damn difficult to get a mortgage in this country, which is 
bizarre but hey, local government sells your addresses...] but 
because I found it far more useful to send the evening in the pub. 
Lots of people aren't registered though: many people lack the 
literacy and social skills [including the time and the money] 
necessary to register/vote. If/when the system makes it difficult to 
register [and remember that lots of people in the US were vehemently 
against the various Motor-Voter laws...], you're seeing structural 
attempts to restrict the franchise.
Dave
-- 
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Dave Fitch, lists at dere-street.com  <http://www.dere-street.com/>
web design : stock photography : writing : research




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