Christian Democrats in the United States

Sunday, August 23, 2009 4:03 PM

indelible ink is mark of beast? but democracy still good...

Many actions by government in recent years - database codes for early computers printed on the Jews killed by the Nazis, for one - could be interpreted as imprinting the "mark of the beast" on the bodies of God's children. A more subtle form of this may be the "indelible ink" for dipping fingers after casting a ballot, to prevent fraud.

In the USA we have a tradition from our early days of representative election, through the plebiscite revolution of suffrage for all citizens, in many states, that the poll officer does not check identification, and largely does not contest a person's right to vote. We do not have to present any card sent to us in the mail. All we have to do is sign on our registration lines after confirming the addresses that we registered.

Certainly the allegations that modern voting machines may be easily manipulated deserve the gravest concern as offenses against the intelligence and character of every free American. We can solve our own problems - and we're going to. But we will never get away from the possibility of fraud, no matter how much we escalate the infrastructure that we say will combat fraud. And, we don't need to.

The only community that can wield the power of democracy is one in which everyone believes that everyone will do the right thing. All for one and one for all, regardless of race, vendetta, or heritage. This is why they try to divide Anglo Americans from ciudadanos latinos, Latinos from African Americans, Americans from Americans from Americans. We're all in this together. Either it works or it doesn't. "In God We Trust" is a good metaphor, because we have to trust each other when casting ballots, or there is no point to the exercise. We have to trust that even though we have some bad eggs, people are generally going to do the right thing as best they can figure it out, as long as we're working together.

If the government distrusts people to the point they must be marked with ink, however impermanent, the voting citizens are dehumanizing themselves in the same way nightclubs dehumanize, tokenize and exploit naive young people by pumping their senses like machines, into throwing away their lives and dignity, so those on the fringes may be preyed upon by wolves - with a stamp on the wrist to say that you are better, for a night, than the people shut out of the club. The government is not as much the People as it could be, if the People would snap out of their shock, stand up, take charge and do the right thing.

Democracy only works as long as everyone wants democracy to work, and is willing to give a little to get a little, and to treat everyone with respect. Now, Afghanistan's problems with the recent election will be used as an excuse to say that the Afghan people cannot handle democracy, that the Taleban cannot put aside their anger and their weapons and get along with the rest of the world, and therefore the only solution is a dictatorship of sexual exploitation clothed in garments of priests. Well, to hell with such priests - we are doomed if we are not each and every one a prophet.

Maybe Afghanistan's constitution should enable elections to be contested on legitimate grounds of fraud, who knows. That's for them to work out. I pray that the challengers will not protest simply to throw the country backward into even more chaos and bloodshed. I hope they can see it that way too. It will only work if they want it to work. You Afghans either try to work toward it, all together, or you submit yourselves to slavery, whether you end up as a slave or master. Dipping your finger in ink is not going to help you.

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