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Content Under Review: All new Local IVA and State IVA Web Pages are under review to Edit content for accuracy and to Assure Compliance with State Ballot Access and Election Law. This review notice will be removed from each individual State IVA Web Page when the content on that individual page is completely accurate within a high degree of reasonable certainty. Initial Date Published: 12-28-10 Latest Update: 12-26-10 |
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Independent Voters Alliance New York State (NYIVA) Political ID Card (A Civics Lesson) Look at your Voter ID Card from your local "board of elections." (The name of the place voters register differs by state.) In every case, the exact address where you maintain your legal residence largely determines who you are politically. Notice that the card is clearly a local card. The card specifies the exact place and address where you and 200 to 900 other voters can vote.My ID card shows my electoral district numbers. "CINCINNATI 20-H" is my voting precinct. "House Dist. 31" is my Ohio House of Representatives district. "Senate Dist. 09" is my Ohio Senate district. "Congress Dist. 1" is my US Congress House of Representatives district.CINCINNATI 20-H is the only physical location where I can legally vote either as a US Citizen or as an Ohio citizen. The exact local polling place address is printed on the card.ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL: We vote in all public office elections on local precinct ballots. We vote to elect two US Senators from our state in offset six-year terms. We vote for the executive and legislative leaders of the governments we live under: local, county, state, and national. We vote for the President of the United States. We also vote on referendum issues and tax levies on local precinct ballots. All politics is local.A voter ID card shows us who we are politically. Each time we change our legal residence our political identity changes. Voter registration information on our card is the key to the power we share with other citizens in voting districts where we live. However, the ID card does not limit what you can do politically. You can help elect non-partisan candidates who are likely to represent a majority of your neighbors who share your political identity, your precinct home. Every public office holder elected by you and other voters in your local precinct affects the quality of life in your community. Chances are if someone said "are you a Democrat or a Republican?" you would be among the 80% who say, "I vote for the person" or that "I am an independent." Since only two choices have been on most ballots for over a century, most people are forced to say, "I usually vote for 'democrats' or 'republicans.'" You probably have a party preference, Democratic or Republican. You may have positive feelings about one party. You probably have negative feelings about one party or both. The feelings may be related to whether you favor "moneyed special interests" or "a democratic republic." We know the conventional wisdom about which side each party represents. However, both major parties now seem to represent only moneyed interests. Are both parties totally controlled from above by special interest money? THE FACT IS, 80% OF REGISTERED VOTERS DO NOT SELF-IDENTIFY WITH EITHER OF THE TWO RECOGNIZED "MAJOR" PARTIES: If the parties are not a "majority" of voters, who are they a "majority" of? They are not a majority anywhere. Voter turnout runs from 12% to 49% with an occasional surge up to 65% when the "majority" parties do not have the only viable candidates on a ballot. The winner can get just half of the turnout votes, 6% to 33%. In the rare election with more than two candidates, elections can be won with a plurality (less than 50%); if the plurality is 40% of the votes cast, the election is won with the votes of less than 20% of the voter age population. Our elections are a very undemocratic bipartisan process. In any election won with a "60% majority" of voter turnout, only 30% of the voter age population voted for the winner. Any election won by a large "majority" has probably been fixed by gerrymandering. Electoral district boundaries are changed to include more "likely voters" for candidates of one party. Almost all elections are "fixed" by the "two-party system." Constant low election turnouts are a loud vote of no confidence in corrupt bipartisan government. Public policy is directed by the corrupt two party system. So the resounding vote of no confidence is actually against the "two-party system," which is identical with "corrupt government." My vote, in the place I live, is my only influence on the way government operates. Public office holders I help elect formulate the laws that are passed. Do current laws make my life better on an equal basis with every other voter? Does every vote count as much as every other vote? Are the "equal protection provisions" of the US Constitution met? We are defined politically only by the elections we vote in and by the people who are elected to public office. Do our corrupt 99% re-elected Career Incumbent public servants (D & R politicians) consider the interests of all voters? Are your interests and my interests represented? Under the monopoly "two-party system," my only possible answers are a resounding "No." We are not represented. You do not have to be bound by or limited to the non-choices presented on the ballot by the monopoly "two-party system." There are other options. You can help create more choices than are allowed in the Career Incumbent bipartisan two-party monopoly voting booth. You can use your right to petition to put more choices on every ballot. Then, we can have good reasons to vote. You can help select people to put on your ballot. You can then vote for candidates you select who do not put a political party first, or do not take money from campaign contributors who expect their interests to come first. You could even stand for public office yourself. You would represent your interests and the common interests of people in the moderate super majority. You can create a more democratic republic for the people in your community. In today's politics, your choices are limited. In stark contrast, the very wealthy are well represented and have better political results. The wealthy simply buy legislation and law that favors their special interests. They buy influence with political contributions, and make the paradoxical claim to be a "good citizen" supporting the "democratic" process. The very wealthy cast their votes with their checkbooks, for both incumbent monopoly parties. They rule. The wealthy have actual power through political access, no matter who wins bipartisan two-party elections. The wealthy always win. Most of us are not wealthy citizens. In fact, people of modest means are a huge super majority. We have no direct access to political power. For 150 years, our votes have been owned by the "two-party system." The current two parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Under them, our freedom is sold to the highest bidder for political campaign cash. Our votes give unlimited power to the two bipartisan monopoly political parties who sell control over our lives. Our Elected Leaders No Longer Honor the Sovereignty of Our People ~ Formally Declared in 1776 ~ While you are at the bottom level of our democratic republic, voting or not voting, the two national monopoly parties, the DNC and the RNC, are at the top buying career politicians with campaign funds. The monopoly bipartisan two-party system owns career politicians, our "public servants." Both monopoly parties have had control for so long that they take our one vote for granted. Few people vote, so they control the people who do vote. Distorted radio and TV ads are used to brainwash "likely voters" to re-elect bipartisan incumbents. Voter turnout declines in each succeeding election. Bipartisan political leaders are concerned that two-party support is nearly non-existent, but they have little reason to fear losing power to non-partisan independents or minor parties. Over 99% of bipartisan career incumbents have been re-elected for many decades. (Top of Page) THE BAD NEWS: Our widespread disgust with politics, our prolonged inactivity, protects the bipartisan "two-party system" from any loss of political power. The Good News: There are 100,000,000 unregistered age-eligible non-voters nationwide. They are nearly equal to 115,000,000 registered voters nationwide, of whom only 12% to 49% are likely to vote. Do the math: 94% to 74% of all age-eligible voters do not vote or actively support any political party. With the truth well known, our silent majority could elect non-partisan independent candidates we choose to every public office. THE GOOD NEWS: Non-partisan unorganized votes and non-votes elected every career incumbent now in public office. We are responsible for the mess in our corrupt bipartisan political system. GOOD NEWS! Organized non-partisan IVA coalition efforts can clean up politics from the bottom up. Up to you! Two thousand years ago, a Roman Senator named Cicero said, "Freedom is participation in power." If we ever want to be free, we must participate in politics more fully than is allowed by our monopoly "two-party system." We must become active citizens. If the two monopoly parties are an obvious poor choice, the only alternatives are non-partisan independent candidates. Representation is available to voters through the growing non-partisan independent political movement and minor parties. Become an active registered voter, and encourage others to register. Use ballot access petitions to make elections competitive. Put more candidates, parties, and referendum issues on every ballot. Become an active part of the non-partisan political process. Do not fight the system, be the system. (Your Voice)Gain power for your life style choices, such as environmental health, fair trade, equal opportunity for all, true entrepreneurial free enterprise, and a more democratic republic. Be an active petition circulator and Election Day participant. Be an Active Citizen in your voting precinct. A Little Effort — A Lot of Liberty Welcome to the non-partisan political movement. Read the USAIVA web pages. Participate: cs2pr.us/kings/usaiva Edit2> BETSY ROSS, Interim Acting Chair, NYIVA, Email <Edit2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NYIVA Pages Guide: (IVA Priority) Certify Petition Circulators (Your Voice) Manage IVA Web Pages (Your Voice) Meet ups, Coffees, and Speakers (Petitions/Web Pages) Non-partisan Candidates on New York Ballots (Initiative/Party) Active Petitions (Non-Partisan Candidate) Can You Stand for Public Office? (Qualify at 18 yrs.) (Gen X, Y Issues) (Your Privilege) Active Citizenship (Directory) New York Local IVA Home Pages (Directory) New York IVA Central Committee (Members Needed — Your Voice?) (Download, Print) New York IVA Documents (A Civics Lesson) THIS PAGE Political ID Card (Links to Learning) Study Hall, Today's Politics (Positive, Creative Blogs) Sounding Board (Improve the Politics We Live With) (Referenda) New York Ballot Initiative Ideas Page (Ohio Income Tax Credit) $50 for your Political Use ( NYIVA at cs2pr.us) NYIVA Email--------------------------------------------------------------------- IVA Page Guide | Top of Page Content Notice
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Initial
Publication: 12-28-10 Latest Revision:
03-07-11 rls