Wow ...
Chalk this one up to the Safe As Houses tip line, but I received this bizarre email featuring a backhanded endorsement of Charlie Maddox's mayoral campaign that is absolutely overflowing with grammatical errors and ill-informed political strategy. It's almost too weird to comment on, though I will note the use of the phrase 'Do you feel me?'
YOU+ME=US
JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
REGISTER TO VOTE!
HELP BLACK PEOPLE REALIZE OUR POLITICAL STENGTH
DISCUSSION:Statistics say that there are approximately 102,000 people that live in Athens. Those same stats say 60% of the population is white while 40% is Black. However, public schools say that its population consists of 60% Blacks and 40% whites. We want to know the true strength of our numbers. The mayor”s race presents us with the opportunity to find that out. Charlie Maddox is a Black man running for mayor. To be honest, people have expressed mixed feelings about Charlie. This movement says no matter how you feel about Charlie he can be a tool we can use to determine Black political strength in Athens. Here are the steps:
STEP 1: GET REGISTERED TO VOTE
STEP 2: VOTE FOR CHARLIE MADDOX ON NOVEMBER 7, 2006
When our numbers put Charlie in office we will be assured by our voting strength that there is not an office in Athens that Black people cannot control.
STEP 3: Determine the political offices in Athens such as, Mayor, School Board, Sheriff, Prosecutor, Solicitor General, just to name a few.
STEP 4: Identify people of our people who are willing to run for the offices.
Right now we do not choose the people who run for office. The people that run are chosen by someone else. We did not choose Charlie to run for Mayor. However, Charlie can be a tool that we use to determine our voting strength so we can choose who we want to occupy which office. Do you feel me?
STEP 5: Vote in the people that were chosen by us.
BENEFIT: In working for Cynthia Mckinney's campaign I found out that a U.S. congress person gets $1.3 million dollars a year to run their congressional office. Out of this money they can hire 22 staff people. Most elected offices are given money to hire staff people. If we are responsible for electing people then these staff positions can be filled by you or me. Likewise, we could take over the school board. The school board awards contracts. We will set up people, for example, to sell toilet paper to the Athens Clarke County School District. Do you realize how much toilet paper the school district uses? Because we control the school board we can determine who gets what contracts. We can start using the taxes we pay to the school system to start making our people wealthy. That means there will be jobs that pay a living wage that are controlled by us just because we use our vote intelligently.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
OUR VOTE CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!
TOMS: We must realize that Uncle Tom is still with us. There will be Black people you know who will try to stop us from realizing our voting strength by saying Charlie can”t win. He is inexperienced. He is an uncover Republican. Don”t throw your vote away. Vote for the white folks. Don't let Tom get you.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
YOU+ME=US
JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
REGISTER TO VOTE!
HELP BLACK PEOPLE REALIZE OUR POLITICAL STENGTH
DISCUSSION:Statistics say that there are approximately 102,000 people that live in Athens. Those same stats say 60% of the population is white while 40% is Black. However, public schools say that its population consists of 60% Blacks and 40% whites. We want to know the true strength of our numbers. The mayor”s race presents us with the opportunity to find that out. Charlie Maddox is a Black man running for mayor. To be honest, people have expressed mixed feelings about Charlie. This movement says no matter how you feel about Charlie he can be a tool we can use to determine Black political strength in Athens. Here are the steps:
STEP 1: GET REGISTERED TO VOTE
STEP 2: VOTE FOR CHARLIE MADDOX ON NOVEMBER 7, 2006
When our numbers put Charlie in office we will be assured by our voting strength that there is not an office in Athens that Black people cannot control.
STEP 3: Determine the political offices in Athens such as, Mayor, School Board, Sheriff, Prosecutor, Solicitor General, just to name a few.
STEP 4: Identify people of our people who are willing to run for the offices.
Right now we do not choose the people who run for office. The people that run are chosen by someone else. We did not choose Charlie to run for Mayor. However, Charlie can be a tool that we use to determine our voting strength so we can choose who we want to occupy which office. Do you feel me?
STEP 5: Vote in the people that were chosen by us.
BENEFIT: In working for Cynthia Mckinney's campaign I found out that a U.S. congress person gets $1.3 million dollars a year to run their congressional office. Out of this money they can hire 22 staff people. Most elected offices are given money to hire staff people. If we are responsible for electing people then these staff positions can be filled by you or me. Likewise, we could take over the school board. The school board awards contracts. We will set up people, for example, to sell toilet paper to the Athens Clarke County School District. Do you realize how much toilet paper the school district uses? Because we control the school board we can determine who gets what contracts. We can start using the taxes we pay to the school system to start making our people wealthy. That means there will be jobs that pay a living wage that are controlled by us just because we use our vote intelligently.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
OUR VOTE CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!
TOMS: We must realize that Uncle Tom is still with us. There will be Black people you know who will try to stop us from realizing our voting strength by saying Charlie can”t win. He is inexperienced. He is an uncover Republican. Don”t throw your vote away. Vote for the white folks. Don't let Tom get you.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
posted by Jmac at 10:00 PM
3 Comments:
WTF?!
Certainly we can agree that Charlie Maddox will be a tool.
Yeah, the tool comment seems very peculiar. If a genuine email of support, I am not sure that kind of pragmatism is something I would want as a candidate. On the flip side, it seems all-too machiavellian to not use the people who want to use me as their tool as my tools to elect me into office. Those aspects of practical reason interest me.
I do have to say, though, that I don't disagree with the idea that any cultural group can use the state to increase its own wealth and political influence. I think the recognition of this reality is important to quell a bad idealism about government. But, yeah, to think about cornering the toilet paper market while setting up school board contracts for toilet paper so as to maximize one's profit is not too outrageous an idea. It may not be reflective of the nobler idea of having a school board interested in bettering the education and wisdom of the general population, but it is something about the reality of state entanglement with the market one needs to pass through to get to better criticisms of the state.
Sorry, I've read a little too much Spinoza lately.
There are some very serious laws that dictate the procurement processes at all levels of government designed to prevent elected officials from exerting influence in choosing vendors. Even when those who are elected have to approve the choice of vendors, their actions are severly limited.
In other words, what this email suggests about toilet paper and one would presume other vendors to local government is probably illegal. The elected school board certainly cannot award vendor contracts in the way this "writer" suggests without committing a felony.
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