Obstructionism and Voting

My little sarcastic posting yesterday about the fear of the Dems to be labelled "obstructionist" made me want to say more about this point.

I don't understand why this is such a bad word, first of all. If you're in the opposition party, isn't your job to oppose, or obstruct the agenda of the dominant party? Weren't you elected to carry out a particular agenda and when that agenda is compromised by the actions of the dominant party, don't you owe it to your constituents to do all you can to obstruct those actions?

Of course, this is the problem: all of this presupposes you have an agenda of your own. Currently, most Democrats do not.

One place to start? Support Jesse Jackson, Jr.'s constitutional amendment guaranteeing all citizens the right to vote. What should the related election reform look like? I like Kos' suggestions:

• Extend election day to at least a week. Keep ALL polls open during that time, not just a few at county HQ.

• Get rid of partisan election officials. A more ridiculous and inherently unfair system can never exist. It is the King of Conflicts of Interests.

• Implement a national standard for voting and fund it.

• Get rid of touch screen voting machines. A paper trail is useless, as a machine could easily be programmed to cast the vote for candidate A, while printing a receipt with candidate B's name on it.

• Select optical scan machines. The technology allows for quick tabulation of the votes, while retaining a paper trail for random audits and full recounts.

• All precincts that reported lines longer than one hour should be required to add voting machines before the next election.

• The pitiful state of voting infrastructure in poor and minority areas is literally criminal, and redress should be sought both in the legislatures and in the courts.

• Ditch the electoral college.