Boxer's Rebellion
an article by Robin

It is ironic that when Senator Barbara Boxer joined with house members from Ohio and the Congressional Black Caucus to focus a Congressional debate on the Presidential Election Results January 6, it was quickly called "Boxer's Rebellion" by Washington "wags." The historical Boxer Rebellion was part of the revolt by the Chinese in the 19th Century against the importation of opium by the Americans and Europeans in order to more effectively addict the people and exploit them.

As you can read in detail in the Internet story filed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Senator Boxer joined with Cleveland Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones to point to evidence that the Ohio vote was not properly counted. This forced a two hour debate in both the House and the Senate.

To quote the Chronicle: "'We have spent our lives fighting for things we believe in,'' Boxer told reporters. 'Now we must add a new fight, the fight for electoral justice. Every citizen should be guaranteed that their vote counts.'' The move was just the first challenge to a state's full slate of electoral votes since 1877."

In the House debate, 31 Representatives joined Boxer and Jones to call for an investigation. In the Senate debate, only two Republicans spoke at all and among the many Democrat speakers, none supported Boxer's call for an investigation.

One wonders if the Chinese rebellion was also led by women?

CPNN readers will know much of the background of this unfolding story from previous articles on Ohio and the Electoral College Vote, Greens and Libertarians File for Ohio Recount, and Fahrenheit 911.

No doubt an important factor in Boxer's courage was the flood of e-mails she received through the Internet campaigns of True Majority, Move-On and others. This underlines how much the Internet has become a force in electoral politics. Another factor was probably the courageous documentary film journalism of Michael Moore whose Fahrenheit 911 showed the failure of one Senator to object to the vote count in the 2000 election. Senator Boxer told reporters that she regrets that she did not raise her voice at that time.

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What would it take for the US Presidential election to be free?


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ELECTORAL POLITICS

Latest reader comment:

Our local paper, the Anniston Star, has carried no articles recently about the debate over challenging the electoral vote being led by John Conyers.  This is discouraging, since it is a liberal publication which has been a moderate voice throughout the election.   I have written several letters to the editor with no response.  I will be wearing my Vote 2004 button tomorrow (January 6) to remind myself and others that the election is not over yet.  I hope that this election will spur the necessary changes in our election system to assure that every one votes and every vote is counted (correctly).

This report was posted on January 16, 2005. The moderator is Danielle.

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