tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7061632482582835364.post7598111900382043874..comments2024-01-12T16:18:19.308-05:00Comments on Now This...: An Open Letter to the SixpacksBrian Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13228290862561650691noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7061632482582835364.post-2997076957687951272022-09-07T11:47:55.352-04:002022-09-07T11:47:55.352-04:00The above is an email from an old friend, a profes...The above is an email from an old friend, a professional magician, outside Washington, DCBrian Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13228290862561650691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7061632482582835364.post-17620428278280927852022-09-07T11:46:32.712-04:002022-09-07T11:46:32.712-04:00I listened to your open letter to Mr. and Mrs. Six...I listened to your open letter to Mr. and Mrs. Six-pack. It was very entertaining and made me smile. You write really funny material and I like your delivery.<br />Since you suggested being a “poll watcher,” I want to share my experience doing that. Back when the Brian and Bob Show was in Washington, I thought that I would get involved in politics to try to make things better.<br /><br />I signed up to be a poll watcher. The term “poll watcher” may give voters the impression that someone is on the lookout to make sure that everything is fair. As a poll watcher I only could stand around and watch people vote. Nobody voted twice but that is not how elections are rigged anyway. At the end of the day, when the poll closed, they opened up the back of the machine to look at the odometers. These were the old level style machines before computer touch screens. As the numbers were called off to an election official, I watched to make sure that they were accurately copied on an official piece of paper. The totals were then called in by telephone so the news media could quickly report the results. <br /><br />That was all that I could do as a poll watcher. But I was wondering about the gears inside of the machine that turned the numbers on the odometer. How’d that work I wondered. <br /><br />Next time I signed up to be an election judge. I thought this would give me more power to make sure that everything was fair. I joined a group of people at the local library and we were all sworn in to be election judges. They showed us a computer touchscreen machine and taught us how to unlock it, turn it on, and turn it off. <br /><br />Then we tried the machine out and people voted for their favorites. I wrote in “Mickey Mouse.” When the machine was turned off a receipt came out like you get from a cash register. It showed the totals for all the candidates and one vote for “Mickey Mouse.” <br /><br />I then announced that I would show up early on election day to test all of the machines at my precinct. “Oh no,” they said, “you can’t do that because once you turn the machine off it will be locked and no longer can be used on election day.” “But I am the judge,” I protested, “It is my job to make sure the machines are working properly.” <br /><br />They told me that I could test the machine that they had brought to the library, but I would not be permitted to test the machines used on election day. It was sort of like, “here, examine this deck of playing cards, and now for my magic trick I will use another deck of cards that I have in my pocket. <br /><br />I did not go ahead as an election judge because I did not want to give my neighbors the false impression that I had made sure everything was fair.<br /><br />I wrote to the Maryland State Board of Elections and complained that as an election judge I could not examine the voting machines. The wrote back and told me that I should have “faith” in the system. Sorry, voting machines are not my religion. <br /><br />I think that 2,500 years ago in ancient Greece, Plato may have said to Socrates, “Hey, I got a great idea, why don’t we let people vote so they can choose their own leader.” Socrates replied, “I have a better idea. Why don’t we choose the leader, and let the people vote so that they’ll think that they are choosing the leader.” This has been going on for a long time. <br /><br />I propose that on election day no one goes to the polls, and if only 10% of voters show up it will be a vote of no confidence in the system. I say we get rid of the voting. I saw a tee-shirt once that said, “Every time I think that things can’t get any worse, they have another election.” <br /><br />Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas have written some good things about monarchy as a form of government. In the Illiad, Home wrote, “The rule of many is not good, the rule of one is best.” I think that Homer may have been right about that. <br /><br />What about King Brian? You would be perfect because you are reasonable.<br /><br />We will give you a palace, a throne, and piles of gold so that you cannot be corrupted. <br /><br />Brian Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13228290862561650691noreply@blogger.com