Let Justice roll down, just not to them

In the Amos text for this week we are asked to let justice roll down like an ever flowing stream. Good words, but it is quite another thing to talk about how the irragation system is designed. Does it flow down in such a way only those who can afford it, thereby flowing right past the ones who need it? Do we find new and inventive ways to look good while playing the same old game of disinfranchising the least, lost and lonely? Please read the following article and click on the link at the end to hear the commentary by Rachel Maddow.

Maddow rightly notes the long wait times at early voting stations — and worries not only about what that bodes for election day, but about who is getting disenfranchised because of it:
This is a poll tax.

How much do you get paid for an hour of work? Do you have the kind of job that would be delighted to give you an hour, a half-day, a whole day off work because you were waiting in line at your precinct? Even if it won't cost you your job, can you afford to not work those hours? Are you elderly or disabled, do you not have the physical stamina for this kind of exertion? This is a poll tax... Who is not in those lines — because they can't afford to be?

"What does it cost you to wait eight hours? Is this the way our democracy works now? We're a country where only people who can afford to give up 20 percent of a week's pay are allowed to vote?"

Never mind that there are forces at work trying to deliberately disenfranchise voters — "Democrats vote on November 5th" anyone? — but the fact that this is still going on after the horror shows of 2000 and 2004 says a lot about just how far the election-day process in this country hasn't come. Check out here smart — and important — video commentary at the following link : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/03/rachel-maddow-decries-lon_n_140455.html