2006 Interim (Essay #8)
November 12, 2006

"Reflections on Elections"

Several are wondering about Nebraska results which are not publicized. Will add my thoughts about a remarkable election season.

The good news: a majority voted for four of my six yard signs. Smart people.

The really good news: we have re-established the two party system in Nebraska and in the nation. We were sliding into a morass of arrogant opinions, which turn off dialog, listening, and creative thinking.

The bad news: partisanship is rampant. The Repub congress has done a terrible job on deficits, taxes, Social Security, pork barrel $$$, and has shown lack of defense for our rights and freedom, plus protection of corruption all over the place -- all as they focus on how to do in the Demos. They learned this from the Demos, who did the same with great imagination pre-1994.

Now will the Demos do the same thing again? Can we hope for bipartisan effort to actually improve our lives and our country? The new head of the house says so -- that she will drain the swamp and seek to more us forward. The president says this is good. I will not believe until I see it. This is not directed to any of these leaders. I have the sinking feeling that we citizens give up. We do not expect necessary changes, such as to protect Social Security. I do assume we will soon agree that any politician who weakens Soc. Sec. will be taken out and shot. With ballot-bullets.

More bad news: we do not know how to conduct fair elections. In Iraq they have ink-stained fingers. We could learn from them. They also have goons threatening timid souls who want to vote. They learned that from us.

We hear of more than one place where letters were sent to registered minority voters, threatening them with investigation and the possibility of arrest if they came to vote. Or that it is illegal to try to vote if you have changed address, or have an unresolved police ticket. Or citizens facing persons with cameras, filming those who come to vote in a low income neighborhood. Or guns strapped on the hips of a couple fellows nearby. Intimidation, decades old. It must be stopped.

I witnessed intimidation. I attended a rally in South Omaha, with a focus on helping Hispanic persons register to vote. We had a Mariachi band and lots of smiles. Fun. Across the street was an organized protest, with burly types waving huge flags and calling out complaints. (In English. Hmmm.) We sent two fellows across the street to find out what the beef was. We were ‘supporting illegals.’ Our delegates said these are citizens. Well, you cannot be sure of that -- they look Hispanic. We were taking strict documentation, as required for registering. More flag waving protest. We discovered Hispanics in the crowd who had a birth certificate from Nebraska and were afraid to approach our table. That affects elections, which was their purpose.

Public outrage could help us get rid of the dirty tricks. Again in Nebraska, both parties (not the candidates) sent defamatory mailings about a legislative opponent. A few days before the election, so it cannot be answered. Both parties had ads with outright lies about the opponent. When I challenged a few, the response was something like ‘we have to overstate in order to be understood.’ Baloney. ‘Misunderstood’ is the word.

Our publicized candidate who has so much money he does not care about money -- lost, big time. He spent $61 per vote. The public is smarter than we think.

There were similar cleverly deceptive robo-calls around the country, so someone is thinking this up. Again, we had it in Nebraska, western congressional district. The phone calls had a poorly recorded message from the Demo candidate, to supporters, at times like 2 a.m. If the citizen hung up the robo machine was programmed to call back. We had supporters who reported they would no longer vote for someone so annoying.

I would not claim any of these changed elections -- though who knows? -- but they sure hold down voter spirit and participation. We should reject negative ads so strongly they would no longer be considered effective. Forlorn hope?

The AP reported one county where four times as many people were registered as there are residents. We could stop that too if we insisted.

I was dismayed with voter response to the legislature's six small amendments, needed to manage our public funds in a better way. Only two passed. There is obviously a distrust of public officials, which I feel is created and enhanced by some of the above. The small schools bill was repealed, so we have to go back and try again. Which is o.k. The Video Keno went down in smoke, which surprised me. We get $11 revenue for every $100 bet, with $13 spent to collect it. This looks like free money to some folks. How, I do not know. They would not be thrilled if we were that inefficient collecting other tax $$$.

Finally, the really, really good news: "New York City" money does not buy support in Nebraska. We buried the Budget Cap Initiative over 2 to 1. They had lots of attractive ads and mailings, promising extra money, (a chicken in every pot?), lower taxes, and sending a message to lazy politicians. Sixty organizations and nearly every paper in the state opposed it. So three cheers for that rich real estate mogul in NYC: he brought us together.

Let's get our act together more often, but in some easier way.

Lowen