Opinion: Preventing Voter Fraud Abroad and in the United States

We better defend our own freedom, or we are going to lose it

It is deeply offensive to see our system of government become corrupted while we fight for the freedom of people in other parts of the world. While it is right for us to help our international neighbors, we better defend our own freedom, or we are going to lose it.We have the privilege of voting on November 2, 2010. If we wonder what the value of our vote is, we should recall the brave Iraqis who risked life and limb in order to cast their vote for the hope that they could have a representative government and live in freedom and dignity.  

P>KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - As we approach this year's national midterm elections, the fear of voter fraud is in the air. According to reports, confidence in the integrity of the system is breaking down. Throughout its history, the United States has defended freedom around the world. In 2005, we brought the first free elections into Iraq in over fifty years at the cost of our blood. I remember it well. The Iraqis were so proud and happy. Yet, we have allowed our own election process to become compromised by corrupt, third-world style politicians.

Ever since Al Gore dragged out the 2000 presidential election while teams of lawyers split hairs over hanging chads in Florida, our election process has become visibly corrupt. This fiasco opened Pandora's box. Recounts have become standard practice when elections are close. Unfortunately, the outcome of these recounts is not reliable in many cases because they have made it easier for liars and cheats to steal elections. I believe the controversial, months-long recount in 2009 that gave a Minnesota senate seat to the comedian Al Franken may be a good example.

Remember all the headlines in the news about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now? We know them as ACORN. It has been reported that they were involved in numerous incidents of voter fraud in swing states. They were even under investigation by the FBI. At one point, Barack Obama apparently worked with them as a community organizer. He trained recruits and helped them secure motor-voter laws in the state of Illinois. In turn, they helped him in his political campaigns. According to reports, this nefarious organization even helped him during the 2008 presidential election. We can assume that they will be up to their old tricks this election, in part, because the democrat-controlled government apparently promised to give ACORN billions of dollars in stimulus money.

Now I understand that the Justice Department intends to post federal monitors at polling centers throughout the country. And they have organized teams of prosecutors, civil-rights attorneys and the FBI in order to handle any problems that arise. Well, at least some problems. Isn't this the same Justice Department where, according to J. Christian Adams, attorneys were instructed to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims? I am referring to his testimony before the Commission on Civil Rights in July.

Adams was an attorney working for the Justice Department. Before he quit, he was handling a case against some members of the New Black Panthers who were brandishing a night stick and allegedly making racial slurs at a polling place located in Philadelphia during the 2008 elections. The Justice Department brought the case against them, but according to Adams, after Obama took office things changed. He believes that he was forced to drop the case because it involved black defendants and white victims.

David Goldstein of the McClatchy Newspapers gives us a birds eye view of the poisonous environment that candidates are stepping into this year. He writes that some candidates are setting up '"legal war rooms,' roving teams of lawyers, hot lines, and poll challengers." Republican candidates are taking precautions against voter fraud to an unprecedented degree. Ed Martin, who is running for congress on the Republican ticket in Missouri has set up a "Count Every Vote Unit." Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, who's running for the Senate in Illinois, has also established a program. He calls it the "voter integrity program."

Tea party groups also plan to get in the act. According to Goldstein, some are setting up '"surveillance squads' at polling places to record possible voting misbehavior," and a group in Minnesota has offered a reward of up to $500 for anyone who turns in someone who is successfully prosecuted for voter fraud. God bless them. This is just the kind of thing that we need in order to protect our freedom.

Apparently, many Democrats are threatened by anyone taking steps to ensure that everyone plays by the rules. They apparently see such efforts as an attempt to suppress their vote. But that does not seem to be the problem today. I believe the problem today is corruption and voter fraud being perpetrated by contemporary liberals and Marxists within the Democratic party.

It is deeply offensive to see our system of government become corrupted while we fight for the freedom of people in other parts of the world. While it is right for us to help our international neighbors, we better defend our own freedom, or we are going to lose it. How we defend our freedom depends on the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Right now, our circumstances call for our vote on November 2, 2010. If we have ever wondered what the value of our vote is, perhaps we should recall the brave Iraqis who risked life and limb in order to cast their vote just for the hope that they could have a representative government and live in freedom and dignity.  

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Michael Terheyden was born into a Catholic family, but that is not why he is a Catholic. He is a Catholic because he believes that truth is real, that it is beautiful and good, and that the fullness of truth is in the Catholic Church. However, he knows that God's grace operating throughout his life is the main reason he is a Catholic. He is greatly blessed to share his faith and his life with his beautiful wife, Dorothy. They have four grown children and three grandchildren.

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