A Message from Allen West, Spokesman: Count US In
Greetings to all of our outstanding service men and women who stand guard on Freedom’s ramparts protecting our American way of life. I am truly honored to have been selected as the National spokesman for Count US In, a non-profit, non-partisan organization formed to help YOU vote and make your voice heard in Washington (www.countusin.us).
I cannot stress enough the importance for those who support and defend our Constitution to be involved in electing representatives to uphold our Constitution. We as current service members and Veterans must remain engaged in our American political process. Our America is a Republic which means the elected officials are responsible to the people, who should determine the role of its government.
All of us, current and former members of our Armed Forces, must know the issues and ensure our voices are heard. Below are a few items currently on the Hill in which you may have interest. If you have other issues or concerns to discuss, please let us know so we can help provide information about them.
Defense Spending:
see http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/17/gates_readies_big_cuts_in_weapons
The Blair-Holt Firearms Bill which affects current and future gun owners.
See http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-45
A very crucial situation was just presented regarding health insurance and coverage for the military and shows the power of the veterans’ voice. The American Legion made a statement on this item as did other veterans’ organizations like the DAV, and the White House tabled the proposal in response to this strong stand. This just shows IF you make your voice heard--directly to your President: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and to Your elected representatives, you too can be the agent for change. (see http://ourvoice.legion.org/story/1448/legion-white-house-dont-bill-our-heroes and http://www.dav.org/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=117)
We entreat you to please pay attention to these issues—and all issues that affect your life and livelihood and contact your representative in the US Congress and Senator to let your insights be known. If you don’t know who your reps are, visit http://www.countusin.us/index_files/Election_resources.htm or http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/. We’ll try to keep you informed on pressing issues.
Your vote is your voice—the elections may take place in 2010, but now is the time to let your elected officials know where you stand and how you want them to represent you—if they don’t, then you vote them OUT!
Again, it is an honor and one I take very seriously to "stay on the wall" and provide over-watch for all of you deployed and retired. I will send out these occasional notes as necessary.
Steadfast and Loyal
LTC(R) Allen B West
Join Count US In in their fight for democracy here at home.
Showing posts with label absentee ballots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label absentee ballots. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2009
Preparing for the 2010 Vote
March, 2009
I just got an email from one of our volunteers. She’s going to start organizing to support military voting at a military base. Her question was basically “Where do I start?” It so happens that she is a member of one of the local political parties, and volunteers there often. She’s politically active, in other words. You’d expect that from someone who is volunteering to help military personnel become informed on voting issues (both local and national), and also to help them cast their votes. This is downright Jeffersonian, and altogether commendable.
So, our incipient volunteer went to her local political party headquarters to find out where to get started in getting military people into the voting process. Why? Because she naively thought political parties are supposed to care – about the process, and about our servicemen. Here’s an excerpt from her email to me:
The (party) chair did not have any suggestions as it is so hard to keep track of military coming and going from different states and cities….
This illustrates a great truth, in just one phrase – And it doesn’t matter which political party our volunteer is affiliated with. It is this – None of our political parties give a flying f#@% about military voters. (Politically Correct Caveat - My comments are not meant to demean “flying f#@%s” as a group. Most “flying f#@%s” are loyal, hardworking Americans. I myself, have several friends who are “flying f#@%s”, and one who is a flaming “flying f#@%”).
“But Don”, you say, “Surely the conservatives love our soldiers.” In truth, I really think every red-blooded American loves our servicemen. But here’s where I make you face the cold hard facts – the real truth of the matter is – if you don’t vote, you are invisible to any of the political parties – military personnel don’t vote, so the parties don’t care – at all.
Let me repeat that – there is no military vote. Right now, today, our soldiers can’t vote. According to a recent Pew study, over half the States have what amount to impenetrable barriers to voting by our servicemen and women. Since they can’t vote, they have no voice. No voice means our servicemen and women are politically useless to the parties and politicians (except for the photo every one of them has in their election brochure and in their office). Since there is no military vote, the politicians devote their efforts to groups that do vote, however poor that voting record is – since it is sure to be better than the military voting record.
It’s a conundrum. Our fighting force can’t vote, so they have no clout, so the politicians feel no obligation to pass meaningful voting legislation to help them vote.
But, there is a way out. You just have to get enough votes turned in, regardless of the obstacles, to show you are a force. It doesn’t matter what you vote for, or what candidate you support. If military ballots show up at the polls in any numbers at all, every politician worth his earmarks will bend over backwards to pander to you. They just can’t help themselves – they’ll do damn near anything for a vote.
One of the worst voting cohorts in our society is the 18-24 age group. Yet the political parties move mountains to get the “youth vote”. Why aren’t they interested in the same cohort in the military? You guessed it. The military voting record is even worse. It’s only about a third of the horrible voting record of their civilian compatriots. All the civilian youth voter has to do is sober up by Tuesday to vote. For a serviceman to vote, he needs to move the heavens, the earth, ten layers of barnacle encrusted bureaucrats, and the US Snail.
But they can. They must. Count US In wants to help.
Count US In, along with friends, family and veterans organizations, is organizing right now for the 2010 elections. We want to help our servicemen break the code on the ridiculous Civil War technology (US Snail) they’re forced to use to vote today. We want to help bring military votes to the ballot boxes in November 2010, so they become a force to be reckoned with. If they vote, the parties and the politicians will not be able to ignore them. The parties think the military will all vote alike (what the hell do they know), but that doesn’t matter at all. If they see growing numbers of military votes, the military will become a force, and will have a voice. Having a voice means some encrusted bureaucrat at the Dept of Defense may spend an extra minute to get those deployment orders right this time – it means the Armed Services Committees will address soldier’s issues instead of just procurement issues – it means they’ll pay attention at Veteran’s Affairs after a soldier gets out of the service – it means all the parties will beat a path to the serviceman’s door. It means a lot – it means their rightful place at the table.
In our system, a vote means everything. If you don’t vote, you don’t matter. Right now the system is rigged to make our military fail at the ballot box. Let’s change that right now.
The election of 2010 is just around the corner. To influence State legislatures in time to force improved legislation, we need to mobilize NOW! To be represented, our military needs power. To get power, they have to vote. To vote, our military needs a grateful nation’s help.
But wait!!! There’s more!!! We want to Count YOU In! Get off your ass, and kick some politician around a bit. You pay that politician’s salary, so get your money’s worth. We’ll show you how, and it feels great. Then, we need you to support our troops with something besides a bumper sticker. To get all this started, just go to the Count US In website www.countusin.us , and Volunteer, Donate, Call, Write, Tweet (@militaryvote).
Ruck the Vote!!!
Don
Small Print
Don Johnson and Count US In want all our military personnel to exercise their right to vote, and we want their families, friends and other veterans to help motivate and facilitate those votes. We also want everyone to kick around a politician about once a week – especially State politicians who are primarily responsible for voting laws. Your comments, suggestions, donations, and input are welcome at www.countusin.us . If you are unfamiliar with the term Ruck the Vote, then you are a slacker and haven’t read all of Don’s rants – do your homework and read them at the website. Wanna kick my butt? Feel free to try to at the website
I just got an email from one of our volunteers. She’s going to start organizing to support military voting at a military base. Her question was basically “Where do I start?” It so happens that she is a member of one of the local political parties, and volunteers there often. She’s politically active, in other words. You’d expect that from someone who is volunteering to help military personnel become informed on voting issues (both local and national), and also to help them cast their votes. This is downright Jeffersonian, and altogether commendable.
So, our incipient volunteer went to her local political party headquarters to find out where to get started in getting military people into the voting process. Why? Because she naively thought political parties are supposed to care – about the process, and about our servicemen. Here’s an excerpt from her email to me:
The (party) chair did not have any suggestions as it is so hard to keep track of military coming and going from different states and cities….
This illustrates a great truth, in just one phrase – And it doesn’t matter which political party our volunteer is affiliated with. It is this – None of our political parties give a flying f#@% about military voters. (Politically Correct Caveat - My comments are not meant to demean “flying f#@%s” as a group. Most “flying f#@%s” are loyal, hardworking Americans. I myself, have several friends who are “flying f#@%s”, and one who is a flaming “flying f#@%”).
“But Don”, you say, “Surely the conservatives love our soldiers.” In truth, I really think every red-blooded American loves our servicemen. But here’s where I make you face the cold hard facts – the real truth of the matter is – if you don’t vote, you are invisible to any of the political parties – military personnel don’t vote, so the parties don’t care – at all.
Let me repeat that – there is no military vote. Right now, today, our soldiers can’t vote. According to a recent Pew study, over half the States have what amount to impenetrable barriers to voting by our servicemen and women. Since they can’t vote, they have no voice. No voice means our servicemen and women are politically useless to the parties and politicians (except for the photo every one of them has in their election brochure and in their office). Since there is no military vote, the politicians devote their efforts to groups that do vote, however poor that voting record is – since it is sure to be better than the military voting record.
It’s a conundrum. Our fighting force can’t vote, so they have no clout, so the politicians feel no obligation to pass meaningful voting legislation to help them vote.
But, there is a way out. You just have to get enough votes turned in, regardless of the obstacles, to show you are a force. It doesn’t matter what you vote for, or what candidate you support. If military ballots show up at the polls in any numbers at all, every politician worth his earmarks will bend over backwards to pander to you. They just can’t help themselves – they’ll do damn near anything for a vote.
One of the worst voting cohorts in our society is the 18-24 age group. Yet the political parties move mountains to get the “youth vote”. Why aren’t they interested in the same cohort in the military? You guessed it. The military voting record is even worse. It’s only about a third of the horrible voting record of their civilian compatriots. All the civilian youth voter has to do is sober up by Tuesday to vote. For a serviceman to vote, he needs to move the heavens, the earth, ten layers of barnacle encrusted bureaucrats, and the US Snail.
But they can. They must. Count US In wants to help.
Count US In, along with friends, family and veterans organizations, is organizing right now for the 2010 elections. We want to help our servicemen break the code on the ridiculous Civil War technology (US Snail) they’re forced to use to vote today. We want to help bring military votes to the ballot boxes in November 2010, so they become a force to be reckoned with. If they vote, the parties and the politicians will not be able to ignore them. The parties think the military will all vote alike (what the hell do they know), but that doesn’t matter at all. If they see growing numbers of military votes, the military will become a force, and will have a voice. Having a voice means some encrusted bureaucrat at the Dept of Defense may spend an extra minute to get those deployment orders right this time – it means the Armed Services Committees will address soldier’s issues instead of just procurement issues – it means they’ll pay attention at Veteran’s Affairs after a soldier gets out of the service – it means all the parties will beat a path to the serviceman’s door. It means a lot – it means their rightful place at the table.
In our system, a vote means everything. If you don’t vote, you don’t matter. Right now the system is rigged to make our military fail at the ballot box. Let’s change that right now.
The election of 2010 is just around the corner. To influence State legislatures in time to force improved legislation, we need to mobilize NOW! To be represented, our military needs power. To get power, they have to vote. To vote, our military needs a grateful nation’s help.
But wait!!! There’s more!!! We want to Count YOU In! Get off your ass, and kick some politician around a bit. You pay that politician’s salary, so get your money’s worth. We’ll show you how, and it feels great. Then, we need you to support our troops with something besides a bumper sticker. To get all this started, just go to the Count US In website www.countusin.us , and Volunteer, Donate, Call, Write, Tweet (@militaryvote).
Ruck the Vote!!!
Don
Small Print
Don Johnson and Count US In want all our military personnel to exercise their right to vote, and we want their families, friends and other veterans to help motivate and facilitate those votes. We also want everyone to kick around a politician about once a week – especially State politicians who are primarily responsible for voting laws. Your comments, suggestions, donations, and input are welcome at www.countusin.us . If you are unfamiliar with the term Ruck the Vote, then you are a slacker and haven’t read all of Don’s rants – do your homework and read them at the website. Wanna kick my butt? Feel free to try to at the website
He's not just President, He's your next boss
Originally published: August, 2008
OK, I’ll admit, I was drinking beer.
Here’s the setting – B concourse at Reagan Airport in DC, eating fish and chips (with waaaay too much garlic), and drinking some really good 20 oz beers. I’m hard into some people watching and the watching is great. Lots of very inappropriate muffin tops, several weird little pseudo-dogs in foo-foo outfits, and your usual heavyweights (man, are we putting on some weight, or what?)
In the midst of my people watching, I see this older guy stumbling a bit as he comes down the concourse. The old guy is wearing a t-shirt that says USAF, and there is a big guy with him who is obviously his son. The son looks like a slacker. I watch them go up to California Tortilla and order. The son pays, then does some of the condiment things for his dad. I reserve judgment on slacker-boy for the moment.
Now, getting off a flight and moving up the concourse, is a group of four real low-lifes. They have those goofy Capri pants on, flip flops, and buzz cuts. I pick them as some sort of counter-culture guys right away. Then, to my total amazement – right in front of me, they fall into a rank, and they all do a “pass-in-review” high five for some kid being wheeled down the concourse in a wheelchair. Apparently the kid can’t talk, but he sure can high five, and he smacks every hand the slackers hold out – all the while smiling like he was gonna bust his face. Then, the slackers turn and walk up the concourse and I notice they are all wearing digital camouflage day packs with name tapes on them. They are clearly soldiers, and I hastily and humbly revise my assessment.
So I get on my plane to Ft Lauderdale. I was a bit late because I was trying to brush the garlic out of my mouth (total waste of time). I get to my seat, and find I’m sitting next to USAF and his slacker son. Slacker son doesn’t waste any time and asks if I know anything about Ft Lauderdale – to which I respond in the affirmative. By the time we’re at cruising altitude, I learn that slacker kid paints cars in Maryland, and his dad hasn’t been doing too well since a mild stroke. So, slacker kid is taking his dad on a cruise – something USAF dad has wanted to do all his life. Seems slacker kid grew up all over the world like a typical military brat of his day, and thought he owed his dad something now that he was doing so well painting cars. Seems like the kid inherited a good bit of sense for what is right from his career USAF dad.
So what’s my point?
Simple.
Military folks do the right thing.
Yes, there are guys in the military who cheat on their wives. There are unhappy families and unhappy kids. Some guys get in trouble, and we’ve all done things we aren’t so damn proud of at some time or another.
But in general, military people are spring-loaded to do the right thing. Their moral compass points to within a few degrees either side of magnetic north, and they know which end of the pointer is the one that counts. Sure, we don’t always follow the arrow, but military folks get it right most of the time.
Because of that, I trust your judgment – and so do the overwhelming majority of your fellow Americans. But you are doing me, yourself, and all those admirers a huge disservice if you don’t express that judgment by voting. Your country wants you to exercise that higher level of judgment they credit you for, and express your opinion on the candidates that are running for elective office this year and every year. Historically, you do poorly in that regard (and yes, in my time, I admit I was a huge slacker on voting). But you are a new breed of military – as professional and upright as any the world has ever known – and much better informed and connected. And you need to do the right thing now. I challenge you to get informed about candidates and issues, and cast an informed vote.
Count US In is dedicated to finding out the information you need to get you to cast an informed vote. We’ll call on the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and even Veteran’s motorcycle clubs. We’ll use the vast resources of the League of Women’s Voters. We’ll enlist the aid of your local elections supervisor, who in most cases is looking for some way to contact you anyhow.
Yes, literally thousands of volunteers are standing by to help you find out about the race for School Board in the district where you are registered, but haven’t set foot in for the last 18 months. Don’t smirk – that School Board position is very important to the future or your kids. So is the position of Commander-in-Chief, and if you’ve been paying attention to AFRTS, you probably know that seat if up for grabs in November as well.
Other people in the US are electing a President.
You’re electing your next boss.
But the process is confusing and you have other priorities. I understand that. But there is no shame in asking for a bit of help when you’re otherwise occupied with issues of equal or higher priority (such as survival). Come on. You wouldn’t fly an airplane without a checklist. You wouldn’t go on patrol without checking you buddy’s gear for him. You wouldn’t strap on a parachute without a JMPI. Hell, you don’t take a dump without someone covering your shiny fourth point of contact. So why the hell are you trying to do this voting thing on your own?
Let Count US In help. Send us a note, drop us a Tweet (@militaryvote). Tell us where you vote, and we’ll get some folks to push you info and run things down for you. We’ve got you covered on this side.
Your vote is your voice. Speak up.
Ruck the Vote!!!
Don
Making Every Vote Count
Originally written: December, 2007
Making Every Vote Count
I got an appointment with my local elections supervisor here in Ft Lauderdale Florida, Dr. Brenda C Snipes. The purpose of my visit (a month or so ago), was to tell her about Count US In, and to elicit some information from her on how Broward County handled absentee balloting. In a nutshell, I was impressed.
Broward County was one of the Florida counties that didn’t do right by our military voters in the 2000 national election. I’ve posted some links below that explain what happened for those of you who want a bit more info. The info comes from a guy named Capt. Samuel F. Wright, JAGC, USNR. . I’ve spoken to him, and read some of his work. I found him most credible—a retired military attorney who still practices law and still carries on the work of counting the military vote.
But I don’t think we still have the problem of votes not being counted, at least not here in Broward County--at least not on Dr Snipes’ watch. Dr Snipes runs a tight ship even though she is pretty new to the election front. She was appointed to replace a supervisor who was fired, then was elected in her own right in 2004?. Taking point on absentee voting in Broward County is Mary Hall. Mary is a military spouse, and has relatives in the Navy now, so she has more than a little understanding of the problems the military faces in getting their votes in, and getting them counted--quite a respectable showing for our team here in this little part of the world.
Everything the two said during our visit was spot on. They want your votes. They take extraordinary care to ensure it gets processed properly, and they want to facilitate the exercise of your civic duty. I don’t know if other local election commissions have the same level of professionalism—and if they do, we want to hear about it. If they don’t, we’d like to help them.. But, for those of you who sent your votes in to Broward County, either by mail or fax (Broward doesn’t use email yet—only a handful of states do and only 25 use fax), you can be sure its going to be counted.
Now a word or two for those of you who didn’t vote: What the hell were you thinking?
America wants to know where you stand while you’re standing out there in the trenches, defending this, and other countries’ right to vote.
Don’t let us down on this. Count US In is dedicated to making sure your vote counts, and in the case of Broward County Florida, it does. We are developing an organization to check up on all the election commissions in the country, and we will keep after them.
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