April 18th, 2008
During the last few weeks a storm has been growing in Florida. What started as a small group of disenfranchised voters has grown into a full scale statewide grassroots movement. Even though the group is not made up of Hillary supporters, I believe we should fully support their efforts to count the will of the Florida voters expressed on January 29th! This issue transcends political party or candidate. This is about basic American values and our belief that every vote matters. Below is the groups position statement
Florida Demands Representation (FDR)
www.fldeservesrecognition.com
For immediate release
April 4, 2008
As Americans and voters in the great democracy we have become socially conditioned that when called upon to vote, we do. We regard this right and the resulting outcome as sacred - that it counts! How often we hear public service announcements re-enforcing the idea that every vote counts.
Instead, we are subject to autocratic rules and insolence by Democratic Party leaders that borders on the absurd. These leaders continue to espouse their rules are more important than the voices of millions of voters. It is beyond comprehension that, after spending more than $20 million in consort with 1.7 million voters who exercised their constitutional right to vote, the DNC continues to dig in its heels to the point of alienation and disenfranchisement of the very members it purports to represent.
Florida Demand Representation (FDR) is dedicated to one cause: protecting voters’ rights and civil liberties. We are adamant in our demand for representation. We seek no less than recognition of our votes as valid by the DNC and the Florida delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention based on the results of the January 29, 2008 primary.
We are incensed by the unwillingness of the DNC to understand the plight of Florida Democrats. We are dumbfounded that our party leaders have not moved quickly and resolutely to remedy this situation.
More disconcerting is their lack of strategic forethought. Their continued insistence that rules are more important than the voices of almost two million Democrats are autocratic and a disgusting display of arrogance.
We do understand the need for guidelines to ensure process and structure is brought to nominating a Presidential candidate. Many Floridians, like most voters in other States, are not intimately familiar with the rules, by-laws, credentials, and other aspects that constitute “appropriate” rules of engagement by States in this process.
FDR is the truest of a grassroots movement. We are not funded. We are not tied to any campaign. We do not endorse a specific candidate. Our organization is comprised solely of volunteers each of whom supports their own candidate. That support is a private and personal issue not relevant to the cause and mission of FDR.
As such, our volunteers are from all political persuasions. Whether Democrat, Independent, Republican, or member of a minor party, we share a common set of philosophies that bind us together:
1. When we vote in the United States our votes count
2. We need to protect our Democracy for ourselves and for future generations
3. Honor the generations that came before us that gave their lives to maintain our freedom and our constitutional right to vote
4. Nominating a Presidential candidate without representing the ENTIRE United States is NOT democratic
5. Identify the flaws in our primary system and force elected leaders to address necessary change
Apathy destroys democracy. Autocratic decisions made by the DNC
Leadership are destroying the faith in the electoral process among
millions of voters, not only in Florida but in Michigan, Oklahoma,
California, Tennessee…in fact, across our great nation. Collectively,
we need to put an end to this. We, the people, have an opportunity,
not often afforded us, to effect change.
History shows this possible. We have done it before. We WILL do it
again.
Remember, over 230-years ago, 13 colonies, each with a different charter, goals, and citizens, banded together to fight for the principle of representation. While the odds were against them, their belief in their cause propelled them to victory. Today, their victory is ours to protect!
Our volunteers are motivated to protect our civil liberties. Many of our volunteers are anguished by the demise of the party with whom they have so long been associated: the party of the people. What has happened to the party of the people, for the people, by the people?
The DNC cares neither to understand nor empathize with the sentiment of Florida Democrats and voters in general. They do not take us seriously. WE DO!
We hear the frustration of voters. The woman in Miami, from the Dominican Republic, now a United States citizen, so excited to vote in her first Presidential election, but who is now considering sitting out the November election - unless her vote in the primary counts. We hear it from the 81-year old man in Jacksonville who has cast a Democratic Party vote his entire life but who will not vote in November - unless his primary vote counts. We hear it from the homemaker in Orlando who will vote for McCain in November out of frustration, hoping her vote will count - and in a big way to the DNC. We hear it from the Independent voter in Oldsmar who says, “How can you run a country when you can’t even run your own party?”
These are the voices of Florida voters. This is serious. Our Democratic Party leadership has jeopardized its own Party. Even worse, they may have jeopardized the future of the United States. Why? Because their rules are THAT important. Shame, shame, shame!
We cannot afford to let this continue.
FDR calls upon all voters, nationwide, to stand with use. Help us change our democracy. Go to our website (www.fldeservesrecognition.com) and download our petition. Send the URL to your friends and ask them to do the same.
Attend one of our five statewide rallies on May 31, 2008. Better yet, organize a rally in your state on the same day in support of our effort and help us send a message to Democratic Party leaders.
We need your support and we need it quickly - our democracy is at stake.
In closing, a true leader stands up for the rights of others. For equality. For representation. For inclusion, not exclusion. Who is your leader?
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