It is said that all politics is local. Those who serve in public office nationally emerge first on the local level. It would seem, then, that vigilence at the local level is our first line of defense against corruption and criminal activity by those who aspire to "serve the people" at the national level. After all, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilence," warned Thomas Jefferson.
Suppose, however, that our most vigilant efforts to promote, financially support, and elect the best possible candidates simply aren't enough. Josef Stalin, early dictator of the Soviet Union, informs us that, "It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes."
This cynical observation puts a whole new spin on the electoral process. Let us inquire, then, into who counts those votes. Following a nagging hunch, this sleuth conducted a quick check of the net using the search terms "poll workers" and "Eastern Star," which yielded a mother lode of data:
• Janice I. Mansell, 1933-2010, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Schuylkill County election poll worker and member of the "former Saint Clair Order of the Eastern Star; in death Mansell remains connected to her fellow craft—her body lies at rest in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Saint Clair, PA. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/schuylkill/obituary.aspx?n=janice-i-mansell&pid=143620169
• Clara Seward Gale, 1899-2002, Hampton, New Hampshire, ballot clerk at the Hampton polls working every election for 72 years and member of the Orient Chapter and Tide Mill Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star and the White Shrine; Gale served as grand organist of the Grand Chapter of New Hampshire, and was a member of Oceanside Grange No. 260 and East Rockingham Pomona Grange No. 11. A tree was planted on the premises of St. James Lodge F&AM of Hampton in honor of her 100th birthday. One oddity is this item concerning Gale's wartime service "as a member of the Police Auxilliary, making certain that residents in her patrol district observed the 'black-out' rules imposed during WWII." http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/obits/galeclara.htm
• Sylvia Schwartz Brown, 1903-1996, Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford poll worker for more than 50 years and served as past noble grand of the Princess Rebeka Lodge No. 68 as well as service to the Order of the Eastern Star. Scwartz also served for more than 20 years as the secretary of the Hartford branch of the Salvation Army. http://articles.courant.com/1996-05-21/news/9605210258_1_salvation-army-hartford-woman-magazine-west-hartford
• Olive Harriet Ramsay, 1915-2011, Jacobsburg, Ohio, Belmont County poll worker and member of Weyer Chapter #515 Order of Eastern Star; http://www.toothmanfuneralhome.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1341530&fh_id=13792
• Mary Alice Hamilton, 1917-2008, Ashland, Ohio, poll worker for the Ashland County Board of Elections and member of Eastern Star Ashland #92 in addition to volunteer service with the Ashland Red Cross and Gray Ladies; http://www.heylfuneralhome.com/obits/obituary.php?id=112207
• Marie Fuente, 1913-2001, Plant City, Florida, poll worker at the election booth in Dover and a member of Eastern Star of Turkey Creek; http://www.sptimes.com/Archive/101801/Obits.shtml
• Ida Wheeler Ervin, 1917-2002, Andrews, South Carolina, assisted the community with voter registration and served as a poll worker for the Bloomingvale Precinct of Williamsburg County; Ervin was a member of Ester Chapter No. 289, Order of the Eastern Star where she served as Past Worthy Matron, Worthy Matron and secretary. http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Ervin_Ida_245857266.aspx
• Mary Lou Norton, 1928-2011, Franklin, Indiana, a longtime election poll worker and member of Order of the Eastern Star and Ladies Elks; http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/obit/4019/
• Margaret Elizabeth Hawkins, 1917-2012, Mannington, West Virginia, served as a poll worker in Precinct 66 and was an active member of the Augusta Chapter No. 6, Order of the Eastern Star; http://www.hutsonfuneralhomes.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1403289&fh_id=12310
• Lucille Glisson, 1929-2012, Benton, Kentucky, an election worker at the Hardin voting poll and a member of the Eastern Star, Hardin chapter; http://paducahsun.com/pages/full_story_free/push?article-Lucille+Glisson%20&id=18733250&instance=obituaries
• Alma Louise Nichols Jolly, 1926-2011, Lawrenceville, Kansas, served as poll worker for the Mercer County Board of Elections and was a member of Sunflower Chapter 58 of Order of Eastern Star for over 50 years; http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/trenton/obituary.aspx?pid=150184962
• Katharine Piester Bauer Mathison, 1914-2009, Boulder, Colorado, an election poll worker and "Life" member of Eastern Star No. 9, Elks Ladies, and Mother Advisor for Rainbow Girls; http://www.dailycamera.com/obits/ci_13734309
• Eloise L. Lowther, 1921-2010, Wooster, Ohio, 30 years of service as a poll worker and was a member of Wooster Chapter of Order of Eastern Star; http://www.the-daily-record.com/obituaries/2010/06/22/eloise-lowther
• Georgia Mae Kyle Winton, 1924-2007, Lacey's Spring, Alabama, voter registrar, voting poll worker, and a dedicated member of the Eastern Star; http://www.currentobituary.com/Memory.aspx?Memory_ObitdID=43915
• Jeannette Elizabeth Duclos Heidenreich, 1921-211, Poteet, Texas, Republican poll worker in Atascosa County and member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Knights Templar Social Order of the Beauceant; http://www.hurleyfuneralhome.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=1514&locid=
• Martha Dowdell Golden, 1929-2010, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, poll worker for Anderson County Election Commission and member of the Excelsior Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star; http://obit.weatherfordmortuary.com/obitdisplay.html?task=Print&id=763754
• Helen Marie Rumsey, 1919-2011, Carrollton, Georgia, voting poll worker and member of the Eastern Star; http://www.times-georgian.com/view/full_story/11127780/article-Helen-Rumsey?instance=obits_leadstory
• Margey Meyer, 1925-2012, Swanton, Ohio, poll worker for more than 50 years for the Lucas County Board of Elections and a 59-year member of the Order of the Eastern Star in Wauseon; http://www.toledoblade.com/Deaths/2012/08/27/Margey-Meyer-1925-2012-Ex-poll-worker-took-joy-in-family-friends.html
Among the living, we find:
• Vivian Beech, Chatom, Alabama, honored for her service in the Washington County, Alabama online Hall of Fame, April 19, 2002; Beech worked many years as a certified Poll Worker in Chatom and is a member of Order of Eastern Star Santa Fe Chapter No. 505, Jackson, AL, a member of Daughters of the Nile Naiad Temple No. 109, and a member of Scottish Rite Foundation of Alabama; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alwchgs/connections/hall_of_fame/2002/beech_sv_2002.htm
• Ashley Baker, Cumberland, Maryland, served as Chief Book Judge for the Allegany County Elections Board from 2008-2010, with duties that included contacting election poll workers prior to Election Day to verify and confirm arrival and daily duties; Baker was also accountable for pickup and return of polling books, as well as all voting materials for Election Day and is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, International Order of Rainbow for Girls, and contributes to Masonic charities.
http://www.indeed.com/r/Ashley-Baker/0cb945aa21f5384a
• Irma Bowles, Livermore, Maine, receipient of the National Association of Secretaries of State Medallion Award, poll worker and Registrar of Voters for the Town of Livermore for 29 years and member of the Eastern Star, as well as volunteer work for years with the Grange, 4-H, and other organizations.
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By no means does the above constitute a scientific study of the distribution of Eastern Star members among the general population of poll workers. The examples are offered only to illustrate the strong connection between Order of the Eastern Star and the voting process that was found so easily through a keyword search of the internet. Are we beginning to see a pattern here?
Surely we can all appreciate these fine ladies for their extended civic service to their communities. They all appear to be or have been devoted wives and mothers and true exemplars of the volunteerism that so typified the American heart, mind, and spirit when we were a more noble people. My concern, therefore, is not with these extraordinary women, but with an organization that appears to have captured a considerable amount of control over our electoral process at the local level and for extended tenures of service. Truly, it is remarkable!
One might argue, plausibly, that Eastern Star is a civic organization, after all. Once appointed to the position of poll worker, perhaps they recruit and recommend their friends to staff the polls. While it is true that Eastern Star is a visible presence in civic affairs, it is equally true that poll workers in general are a tight-knit bunch who remain in their positions for decades, as many of the obituaries of these Eastern Star members testify.
The Order of the Eastern Star: A Civic Organization?
The Eastern Star originated in order to introduce the daughters, wives, and other relatives of Master Masons to a basic Masonic world view with the understanding that the Master Mason himself as head of the household will fill any remaining gaps. In other words, Masonic appendant organizations ensure that the personal environment of the Mason (mothers, wives, children) becomes a support and encouragement for his own involvement in Masonry.
The Order exists to give practical effect to one of the beneficent purposes of Freemasonry, i.e., to provide for the welfare of the wives, daughters, mothers, widows, and Master Masons. In the initiation ceremony, the ritual is stated thus: "Here we may share with the Masonic brother in promulgating the principles of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. Here we may aid, comfort and protect each other in our journey through the labyrinth of human life, and by cheerful companionship and social enjoyments, lighten the burdens of active duty."
The Order has a religious patina and uses the Christian Bible in its ceremony. But is it Christian? Not according to Rev. Phillip Lochhaas, who points out that the Order of the Eastern Star is, as it claims, a religious institution, but it is not the religion of Holy Scripture to which this “religious” refers. Omitting the central doctrines of Scripture—sin, redemption, grace—it offers religious instruction to men and women of all creeds, promoting “faith in Divinity” and “brotherly love." In spite of obvious good that may be done by its moral standards and demands for purity, the Order’s distortion of the central message of the Bible cannot be approved. All men are not brothers, they are widely divided from one another and separated from God by sin. Non-Christians cannot stand before God proud of their moral achievements, for without Christ these “profit nothing” I Cor. 13:3. The convinced Christian man and woman, constrained to testify to the unique redemption in Jesus Christ, cannot participate in the ideals, purposes and programs of the Order without compromise of faith and public denial of Christ.
Emblem, Ritual, and Oath
The inverted, five-pointed star or Pentagram, is the emblem of the Order of the Eastern Star. This particular signet is known by many other names in occult circles, such as Sirus, the Blazing Star, and the Pentalpha. This star is not the star of Bethlehem, as one might expect, given the name of the order in question, but is commonly used in ritual magic. It's prince is not Jesus Christ, but the prince of darkness. It is the symbol of Baphomet of Mendes, (the Satanic Goat), created by occultist Eliphas Lévi in 1854. This inverted star also represents the Egyptian god-king Osiris. As the centerpiece of the Order of the Eastern Star, we may well ask why this organization chooses to use an emblem with such obvious associations not to the Light, but to the Darkness.
To the Mason and Eastern Star, the East has special importance, not as the Star of Bethlehem, but as a guiding star or deity that leads the initiate towards advanced understanding or an arcane and hidden wisdom. Being the direction of sunrise and a Cardinal point as well, the East symbolizes the majestic light of the sun that represents Power and Knowledge in the Hermetic Tradition.
In Eastern Star ritual, the Woman in the East represents Knowledge, while the Man in the East symbolizes Justice. (Shirley Plessner, Symbolism of the Eastern Star, Chicago: The Charles T. Powner Co., 1956, pp. 50-51).
What of the oath taken to protect and succor one another? Some researchers interpret the oath to "protect and succor" to mean "protect and cover" for one another, and there is credible evidence from numerous sources to substantiate this conclusion.
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee
Precisely because secret societies such as Order of the Eastern Star, no less than the churches, are firmly fixed in the public mind as do-gooder organizations, membership therein provides an opportune niche from which to work one's way into positions of leadership, both within the organization and externally, within the community at large. What may not be so apparent at a passing glance, however, is that they provide a perfect front, as well, for subversive activities. The potential for abuse in the absence of failsafe mechanisms to detect and control abuse of the system is more than a little troubling.
System Dynamics: All Power Rises to the Top
The hierarchical, pyramid organizational structure of secret societies is the ideal construct to shield the inner workings of the magisterium at the top of the heap from the pedestrian masses at the bottom who are no doubt sincere devotees who believe fervently in the work and who trust, believe in, and support the stated goals and ideals of the organization. In Behold a Pale Horse, William Cooper warned us in no uncertain terms of these secret societies, however: "I tell you now that Freemasonry is one of the most wicked and terrible organizations upon this earth. The Masons are major players in the struggle for world domination. The 33rd Degree is split into two. One split contains the core of the Luciferian Illuminati and the other contains those who have no knowledge of it whatsoever." (page 78) It should be clear at the very least that the top-down hierarchical structure of the secret societies assures that those in the lower tiers remain ignorant of what transpires at the lofty summit.
Interlocking Networks, A Force Multiplier
Of great concern, too, is the interlocking nature of these pollworkers' affiliations with multiple secret societies and their auxiliaries. For example, among these individuals listed above we find multiple associations with lodges, sister fraternal and charitable and relief organizations connected with health, aging, and child development and welfare. Taken together, these form a vast interconnected network of which most of us are unaware, with the same individuals performing multiple roles in our civic, social, and charitable organizations. Is this not troubling?
Not one given to Pollyanna Politics, I question the wisdom of vesting such enormous power as the election process in the hands of secret society poll workers serving in multiple secret organizations simultaneously, who swear a mutual and binding oath to protect and succor each other and to advance the stated goals of their organizations without question, no matter how squeaky clean they may appear on the surface. As if in mockery of the "great unwashed," the Fabian Society socialists went so far as to adopt the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing as their emblem!
We know from recent political experience that neither Presidents Bush nor Obama nor their immediate predecessors, for that matter, were who they held themselves to be. We know now, all too well, that appearances deceive and that foxes do indeed guard hen houses. Let us not be blind to the lessons of history!
