Your Vote is Your Voice: Make 2008 Election a Giant Step Toward Restoring Our Constitution

Posted by wvGin on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 8:15pm in

Elections

October 15, 2008 at 3:42 pm by BORDC Staff

Those we elect on November 4 will determine whether or not we reverse seven years of affronts to our Constitution. We urge you to vote, and to make constitutional issues a priority in your choice of candidates. Although few of us are ever fully satisfied with the candidates available to us, not voting at all presents the greatest danger of preserving the status quo.

The major party presidential candidates have said little thus far about the Constitution. However, thanks to many of you, candidates for congressional seats across the country have been questioned repeatedly about their positions on civil liberties and human rights issues.

It is not too late to question candidates running for House or Senate seats in your area. Now that Congress has recessed until after the election, your chances of meeting incumbents running for reelection are greatly increased. Watch for public events, round up your friends and allies, and work out a strategy for getting your questions answered. For example, if the candidate(s) take questions from the audience, you can boost your chances of posing your questions if you agree on your top two or three questions in advance and sit in different parts of the hall.
Raise your hands high! And make use of the resources BORDC provides:

* “Defending the Constitution: A 2008 Election Issue,” a compact, easy-to-use, tri-fold brochure pairing concise questions for candidates on six key constitutional issues with brief summaries of BORDC’s positions on those issues.

* Accountability Role Plays: Politicians are well versed in strategies to respond to difficult questions. They spin their voting records to make it sound like they’re on the right side of an issue, and they answer the question they wanted to be asked rather than the one you asked them. Use our Accountability Role Plays to practice strategies for overcoming politicians’ common tricks.

* Toolkit for the People’s Campaign for the Constitution, revised and streamlined, is now available on our website in both printable form (PDF) and as web pages with clickable links to resources for each step.

* A list of sample questions for candidates on a variety of constitutional issues.

* Records of how congressional incumbents voted on key legislation.

* Flier on Presidential candidates’ positions on torture, rendition, habeas corpus, and domestic wiretapping.

We must reverse the damage done to our Constitution since 9/11 by restoring our civil liberties and reinstating checks on executive power. It is time to take America back.

DIGG iT: http://digg. com/political_opinion/Your_Vote_is_Your_Voice_Make_2008_Election_a_Giant_Step

http://www. constitutioncampaign. org/blog/?p=21

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