It would take critical thinking to connect Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign for the White House with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plutocratic campaign for a third term in Gracie Mansion. There is a common thread. It is Bush v. Gore. The will of the people is meaningless. Citizens of the United States have no constitutional right to vote. In fact, the definition of citizenship is beyond the “four corners” of the Constitution. It took the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to overthrow Dred Scott and give citizenship a definition. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that since Dred Scott was not a citizen, he had no right to redress his grievances in a federal court. Thus, reparations is still an illusion. For every wrong, there must be a right. This legal axiom fails to apply to the plight of Blacks. “Forty acres and a mule” is a fantasy.

Since citizens of the United States enjoy no constitutional right to vote,the constitutional principle of which was reiterated in Bush v. Gore, the value of the presidential vote on Election Day 2008 will have as much value as Little Richard’s picture on a $3 bill. The same political calculations apply to the two municipal referendums in 1993 and 1996 facially approving term limits in New York City. Bloomberg introduced the trickle-down theory of politics on October 23.Referendums in New York are beauty contests. Choosing between the doctrine of jus soli–“right of land or ground”–and the doctrine of jus sanquinis–“right of blood”–this county chose the doctrine of jus soli. Birthplace is the key to citizenship. One flaw of the Fourteenth Amendment was its continued exclusion of Indians. Article 2 of the Constitution requires the president of the United States to be a “natural born” citizen. This excludes McCain, who was born in Panama, which was not even a territory of the United States. It was carved out of Colombia. Congress addressed the McCain problem in 1937.McCain was born in 1936.

The remedial legislation was not retroactive. McCain is not a “natural born” citizen of the United States. So far, he has not broken the law. It is not Election Day. The citizenship standard for a president exceeds the standard for a senator or representative. The Electoral College would have a difficult time justifying a McCain presidency. Election Day is a beauty contest. The real action is in December in the Electoral College. Bush v. Gore made it clear that citizens have no constitutional right to elect a president. Voters only enjoy the constitutional rights to be free of racial,gender and age discrimination in addition to being free of the burdens of poll taxes. This is a constitutional anomaly. The “Founding Fathers” were unable to trust the people to elect the head of the executive branch of government. Thus, they chose a top-to-bottom governmental structure instead of a bottom-to-top structure, as suggested by Obama. The Electoral College would choose the president and state legislatures would choose senators until the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. Bloomberg has superimposed an Electoral College on New York City. The New York State Constitution fails to support this position, however. This was a concern of the New York State Constitutional Convention. The South demanded the establishment of an Electoral College to protect the institution of slavery. This demand, teamed up with the three-fifth provision of the Constitution, ensured continued African enslavement. After the Civil War, the Electoral College has continued to violate the “one man, one vote” rule. Black people constitute nearly a majority of the city’s electorate in the Democratic Party, even though many Blacks remain unregistered. This Black potential for political power is a threat to white, minority rule in New York City. Until Blacks are hauled out of New York en masse, the repeal of term limits provides short-term relief. Although whites constitute one-third of the city’s population, they have twenty-six of the fifty-one seats in the City Council. Blacks have only 13 seats.

A white mayor is in Gracie Mansion. Bloomberg intends to stop Blacks in their political tracks. Incumbency ensures the maintenance of the status quo. In 1988,only one state legislator in New York lost a political race–Arnaldo A.Ferraro. Ninety-four percent of House incumbents won in 2006.Similarly, 79 percent of U.S. senators also won. If left unchecked, Bloomberg will kill two birds with one stone. He will continue white, minority rule despite the Voting Rights Act of 1965.Bloomberg timed the vote so that a Bush Justice Department will give him the green light. Bush’s Justice Department is comprised of KKK sympathizers. In 2001,Bloomberg’s net worth was approximately $4 billion. Today, it is $20 billion. Deregulation and influence-peddling account for his good fortune. It should be illegal for Bloomberg to wear two hats and to profit from this conflict of interest. Something is wrong with this picture. Bloomberg saw the display of “for sale” signs in the City Council, and he knew that history could repeat itself. Bush 43 stole the White House in 2000 with five justices of the Supreme Court acting as accomplices to his design. The Supreme Court refused to consider the claim of disenfranchisement of Black voters in Florida. We now know that 29 political prostitutes are strutting through the halls of the City Council. Ten of these whores are Black. It would have taken only four additional votes this past Thursday to have killed this measure. This is the worst example of Black-on-Black crime. Councilmen Charles Barron and Matheiu Eugene are “profiles in courage.” They had to bite the hand that feeds them–the Democratic Party. This is not unusual for Barron, who should exercise the option of running again for the 42nd Councilmatic District in 2009 before he throws his hat in the ring in 2010 for the Tenth Congressional District. The incumbent is the “Marlboro Man,” Cong. Ed Towns. The councilmatic seat of Letitia James should be of considerable interest to Black people. It shows the independence and leverage of a political officeholder who is a member of a third party. Unions back the Working Families Party. Success in politics depends on political leverage. Blacks have none. If the repeal of term limits is not reversed, it means that a plutocracy will continue to rule the “financial capital of the world.” Money will con-value of the Black vote has gone from three-fifths to zero. Devaluation is always bad news for the oppressed. Those 10 Black prostitutes in the City Council must be given pink slips in 2009. Nov. 5–UAM weekly forum at the Elks Plaza, 1068 Harriet Tubman Avenue (Fulton Street) near Classon p.m. A political analysis of the Obama campaign and its meaning for Blacks.” Admission is free. See: www.reinstatealtonmaddox.net for “A Political Guide to Election Day 2008,” “Election Day: A Family Affair in New York” and “Emergency Plan for Election Day 2008.”