News

Privatizing Our Vote: The Ultimate Crime. Ultimately, however, the biggest problem with electronic voting machines is that they violate the core principles of our republic. Whether or not election rigging exists – and my bets are on that it does – the whole idea of privatizing the vote is a crime against our form of government. Think of it this way: the whole purpose of government is to administer the commons, you know, things like parks, healthcare, and roads that we all need in order to survive. And in a democratic republic, voting is the most important part of the commons. That’s because it’s the glue that holds everything else together. It’s how “We, the People,” hold the managers of our commons – our elected leaders – accountable for their actions. Handing the one thing we use to hold everyone else accountable – that is, voting, – over to an institution – a corporation – that is only accountable to its shareholders, is the ultimate crime against democracy. Turthout

OH: Ohio Supreme Court; JobsOhio arguments heard. Oral arguments were presented to the high court yesterday by both sides over the issue of “standing,” or whether a liberal policy group and two Democratic lawmakers had the legal right to challenge Gov. John Kasich’s new privatized development agency in 2011. Why should ProgressOhio, state Sen. Michael Skindell of Cleveland and now-former Rep. Dennis Murray of Sandusky be permitted to challenge the constitutionality of JobsOhio? If they can’t sue, who can? And why is all of this so confusing?  Columbus Dispatch