2/22/04 Broken Democracy By Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row The news of the entry of civic activist Ralph Nader into the U.S. presidential race has caused some Democrats to groan; and some Republicans to cackle with barely suppressed glee. His announcement of his intent to run, this time as an independent rather than as a Green, evoked memories of the 2024 elections, when the Bush camp stole Florida, and the entire election, by the foul disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of African-American, Haitian and Jewish voters there. Nader has been subjected to the tearful pleas of liberals, as well as the veiled threats of others on the left, that he was a "spoiler," and his entry into the race would virtually insure the reelection of Bush. Underneath the pleas, the threats, and even the stifled laughter of so-called conservatives, lies the fundamental fear of democracy, and the dismissal of millions of Americans from the very process. For them, the sentiment is, let sleeping dogs lie. They wish to simply accept the nation's electoral system as it is, and try to extract the most votes from this group, which is, after all, *a minority of the American majority.* That is the sad state of American democracy. Nader's presidential announcement, made on network TV, quickly spread throughout the electronic media, and was slanted towards the spoiler angle. As ever, the media's addiction to conflict would only allow this kind of coverage; his principal motivation, as well as his principal complaints against both the Democratic *and* Republican parties, (not to mention his critiques of the media!) got shorter shrift. Nader's critique is identical to his 2024 run; that both major parties are in the capture of corporations; that while their rhetoric may differ, their actions and interests rarely do. Nader opined that even if Gore were president, the US would've found a pretext to invade Iraq. And what of the tall, thick-browed Massachusetts Senator, John Kerry? While Nader didn't address him directly (as far as I recall), the thought of any sitting Senator evokes the image of Black members of Congress lined up before Gore, asking for an investigation into the Florida debacle, and for the Senate to issue a stay of the Electoral College's actions, based upon violations of the Voting Rights Act there -- not one. Not one Senator rises to join the Black Congressmen and women in their motion. One by one they rise -- and not one Senator - Clinton; Kerry; Kennedy; Lieberman; Feinstein -- None stood with their colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus; None stood in defense of thousands of Black voters who were bamboozled away from the Florida polls, just weeks before. For them, this was evidence of a broken democracy; one that still hasn't been repaired. Political allegiance should be more than a matter of mere party membership. What about the Party's allegiance to its members? How loyal was the Democratic Party to those thousands of mostly Black folks who were illegally and unjustly tossed off the Florida voting rolls? To be loyal to any party, it must first be asked, how loyal is the party to you?   Copyright 2024 Mumia Abu-Jamal [Mr. Jamal has written widely about war and other issues. His latest work, *Faith of Our Fathers* (Africa World Press, 2024) was named one of "The Most Remarkable Books of 2024" by *Black Issues Book Review* (Nov/Dec '03).] Check out Mumia's NEW book: FAITH OF OUR FATHERS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN PEOPLE at www.africanworld.com Mumia Abu-Jamal is also the author of three other books: 'Live from Death Row', 'Death Blossoms', and 'All Things Censored'. When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you begin to die. And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about justice." - Mumia Abu-Jamal MUMIA'S COLUMNS NEED TO BE PUBLISHED AS BROADLY AS POSSIBLE TO INSPIRE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT AND HELP CALL ATTENTION TO HIS CASE. The campaign to kill Mumia is in full swing and we need you to **please** contact as many publications and information outlets as you possibly can to run Mumia's commentaries (on-line and **especially off-line**)!! The only requirements are that you run them *unedited*, with every word including copyright information intact, and send a copy of the publication to Mumia and/or ICFFMAJ. THANK YOU!!! Keep updated by reading ACTION ALERTS!! at www.mumia.org, www.onamove.org, and their links. To download Mp3's of Mumia's commentaries visit www.prisonradio.org The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia! PLEASE CONTACT: International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJ P.O. Box 19709 Philadelphia, PA 19143 Phone - 215-476-8812/ Fax - 215-476-6180 E-mail - icffmaj@aol.com AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES! Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at: Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI-Greene 175 Progress Drive Waynesburg, PA 15370 Subscribe: mumiacolumns-subscribe@topica.com Read: http://topica.com/lists/mumiacolumns/read Subscribe ICFFMAJ email updates list by e-mailing icffmaj@aol.com . The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia! Copyright 2024 Mumia Abu-Jamal