Urban Politicial Corruption

by Ron Russell
Recently the Obama justice department under the leadership of newly appointed attorney general Eric Holder has announced that charges brought by the Bush justice department are being dropped against black panthers who stood in front of a polling place, billy sticks in hand, in Philadelphia during the the presidential election. This was obvious intimidation on the part of these radical goons and a stark reminder that voter intimidation is still a part of the national scene, especially in some larger urban centers. These urban areas are a breeding ground for political bosses, corrupt machine politics, voter intimidation, duplicate voting and voter fraud on a grand scale. By dropping these charges the Obama administration is signaling it will turn a blind eye toward big city political corruption. This is not at all surprising considering Obama's history and his path to the White House via the Chicago political machine under Mayor Daley. In almost every major recount during recent years the demons have managed to win by finding new votes in unlikely places such as car trunks, trash cans, and abandon warehouses. The very foundations of our democratic society are being under-mined by these corrupt practices. Recently, I saw a video on a election in Mexico City. Those entering the polling place had to show a picture ID and that was check against a voter registration book with picture ID's in it. Additionally, after voting the voters got the purple thumb treatment. This is a good and almost fool-proof method in preventing voter fraud, and this in a third world country so-what new to democracy. Can you imagine the uproar from the left if Republicans proposed the installation of such measures in our election system,the howls of voter repression and discrimination could be heard on the International Space Station. Why would this call for a system to help prevent voter fraud be met fierce resistance? Why would such a seemingly fair system be condemned? The answer is simple---POLITICAL POWER. With the corrupt political practices in the big city brought under control the huge pluralities the Democratic party enjoys in every election coming out of the big urban areas would evaporate almost over night. And yet, there is little desire on the part of the MSM, those on the left, and even some on the right to acknowledge this problem exist. Until such time occurs the rampant corrupt in the vast urban areas will continue and grow worse. I'll finish this by acknowledging that voter repression in the south as late as the 1960's was out-of-control and the federal government instituted measures to stop that. These measures are still in effect in many deep south states. Such measures now need to be applied to the sprawling urban centers where recent evidence of voter corruption and intimidation is evident.