Honorable Senators:

I write to you today to plead with you to object to the certification of the vote on January 6th. It is time for you to stand up and be counted. Our country cannot afford for you to be anything less than heroic. I know that many you have counted on in the past have been bribed or threatened into changing their positions. I call on you as the proud and the few who could still halt our destructive path, and who must.

On January 6, 2005, Congress will meet in joint session to certify the 2004 presidential election. On that day, if one member of the House and one member of the Senate object to the certification of the vote, then all members of Congress will finally have discuss the issues. On January 6, 2001, not a single Senator would join with the Representatives who demanded an inquiry into the Florida recount. Please don’t do that again. The President got his “new Pearl Harbor” – and you have not yet done enough to counter the destructive policies of this administration’s key players. Please talk to the American people, please fight for us – please use what you know. Drop the deference. Do your job. It’s time.

There is a certified statement of a programmer who sold the original code for these machines to the republicans. He states that any programmer could see how it was rigged if they were allowed to see the code – demand to see it. A number of such tricks were employed at the Diebold machines. In addition, the CEO of another maker of machines stepped down and ran for office himself – and won – in a district where his own machines were being used; these machines were also used in this election. There are accounts, with which you are familiar, of “computer-repair” people coming in an tampering with machines before a recount. Paper ballots were found thrown away. Much of what happened was deliberate – Kenyon College had one voting machine for the whole liberal campus, but conservative areas of Ohio had more than they needed. You know about the town that had thousands of votes more than there were registered voters, and the groups that threw away democratic registrations and misrepresented themselves, and the Harris-like conflicts of interest and noncooperation in Ohio. And I simply do not believe that thousands of people stood in the rain for hours to vote, and then voted for every office except the Presidential/Vice-Presidential ticket. With the other events that you are aware of, the least we deserve is a public discussion – even if such discussion does not change the outcome.

Stop allowing them to change the rules – stand up, speak concisely and simply, talk about our american traditions. By the numbers, we are the majority. Many of those who do not agree with us are being actively misled, even lied to. As a nation, we are slipping into barbarism – this is worse than Vietnam, this is worse than Watergate, this is worse than McCarthism, this is worse than the Salem witch trials.

I charge you with the task of convincing everyone – read George Lakoff on reframing! Be confident, and assured – and ACCURATE. Simplify but don’t sloganize. Challenge the consciences of the so-called “religious” following – many of them would experience deep cognitive dissonance if they really had the information they should. Not every devout christian is apocalyptic and hate-oriented – God doesn’t belong to either party. But the hypocrisy of these folks claiming to speak for justice and democracy is simply astounding!

Let not this election be certified without a peep again. For the sake of history, be our defenders. I plead with you. I beg you.

Most sincerely,

Heidi N, PhD

cc:
Senator Barbara Boxer
Senator Dick Durbin
Senator Russ Feingold
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Jim Jeffords
Senator Edward Kennedy
Senator Patrick Leahy