Gripe as he may about the pernicious influence of 527s (And Nick, the McCain Feingold Act didn't create 527s, it just closed another loophole that made them more attractive. Little Hint: The reason that most Republicans worry about the influence of 527s? Because they tend to use their influence for Democrats. No complaints about K Street, right? which benefits Republicans exclusively. But I digress), The real influence, Nick, is seen where there's money to be made.
And there's money to be made off of slot machines. Therefore, it is essential that they be regulated to within an inch of their lives. If the marks - er, patrons- don't have confidence that the machines are properly regulated, they won't play.
Of course, that doesn't matter as much to the powers that be when it comes to voting machines. There's more regulation on a slot machine than a Diebold voting machine.
Not that there would be any incentive for the People Who Hold The Strings to have easily hacked voting machines, would there? especially given that in areas where Diebold machines are used, voting patterns appear that are at odds with voting history, polls, and trends? And that the software itself is a trade secret, so any back doors or external accesses are unknown to the Voting Authorities?
Naahhh. It's just much more important to America that we have functional slot machines than a functional democracy. It is consistent- in both cases, there are rubes to be fleeced.
Or am I being cynical?
There is A Method To His Madness
28 minutes ago
I am aware that McCain-Feingold didn't create 527s, but it did make them a LOT more appealing. Much of my disgust for the MFA is not directly related to 527s-- that was merely the subject that brought up the rant-- but rather toward all of the restrictions it leveled on political free speech in general.
ReplyDeleteWhich is something that folks from Captain's Quarters to DailyKOS have decried in relatively equal measures. Which may be why the piece of crap legislation passed-- it screws the little guy equally and bipartisanally, while doing little to actually influence big $ in politics except to redirect that $ to other places.
Oh, and the fact that you are, quite clearly, being cynical does not necessarily mean you are wrong. As a professional wrestling with the logistics and quagmires of attempting to preserve electronic data, I will attest that electronic voting makes me very uneasy. Electronic media is far, far too transitory and fragile to be trusted with something as vital as our elections.
If the "People Who Hold the Strings" haven't actually hacked the machines yet, it may only be a matter of time. Or perhaps some outside agency/individual with a completely different agenda will do so (or has done so). Regardless, in this-- of all things-- there should be a literal paper trail, and as much transparency as is manageable for a process that must inherently be secret.