Dear Friends, Once More!

I did not write the following, but I think that it expresses precisely what Democrats, Progressives, and all Americans that believe in Hope over Fear and, too, that Tolerance is a Family Value, need to keep in mind as We take the fight to the next stage:

“In 1964, Lyndon Johnson (Democrat) beat Barry Goldwater (Republican) by 23% points. Goldwater managed to carry just 6 states and Johnson won the electoral college 486-52. But the conservatives didn’t give up. They didn’t spend a lot of time wringing their hands. They regrouped and fought back. By 1968, Nixon (Republican) crushed Humphrey (Democrat) in the electoral college 301-191 and won the popular vote by a million votes. If you oppose Bush, now isn’t the time to feel sorry for yourself. Now is the time to get to work.”

Now, our democracy is bigger than one election or one candidate; there’s a lot that’s still at stake, and there’ll be plenty of opportunities to get involved. So, while the final results of the 2004 presidential election may be disappointing, don’t be dishearten; because, We did do a lot of good, and this is not the time to give the Right any quarter nor any satisfaction.

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“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!”
- William Shakespeare, Henry V

What Would Bush Have Done?

Recently I’ve come across the un-critical and reflexive remark, “Oh, just get over it, Gore lost the election. Period.” After coming across this on a message board, I was reminded of isolated news reports at the time that raised the opposite scenario. That is, in some late polls in 2000 it appeared that Bush would win the popular vote and Gore would go on to carry the electoral college vote. Well, we all know what happened. What’s not well remembered, is that Bush and his campaign had decided that if Gore won the electoral college vote, but not the popular vote, that Bush would contest the election on popular grounds:

The most intriguing scenario has Bush winning with voters while Gore squeaks to victory in the Electoral College.

Such an ambiguous finish to the closest, most hotly contested White House race in decades, would give Gore a legal claim to the presidency - and likely plunge the nation into a messy political crisis.

The Bush camp, sources said, would likely challenge the legitimacy of a Gore win, casting it as an affront to the people’s will and branding the Electoral College as an antiquated relic.

McGovern, however, warned that any Bush legal challenge could tear apart the nation and undermine the presidency.

“If there’s no legal basis for Bush’s case, it would be destructive,” said McGovern.

One informal Bush adviser, who declined to be named, predicted Republicans would likely benefit from a storm of public outrage if Bush won the popular vote but was denied the presidency.

“That’s what America is all about, isn’t it,” said the Bush source. “I’m sure we would make a strong case.”
Boston Herald, Nov 3. 2000 [ Link via EVote.com ]

Now, I’ll grant you this, reports like the one I cited are scattered and hard to find; however, I think that Republicans would’ve been far more rabid if the above scenario had played out, as opposed to what occurred. Perhaps the Democrats and Gore would’ve mounted a far more strenuous challenge, if the Democratic party had controlled the Senate, House and, for all practical purposes, the Judiciary — as the Republican party did then, and does now.

My Wish List

There are a lot of reforms that our electoral process could stand for. My wish-list of reforms would include:

1. Media reform so that Federal election candidates get free and reasonable access to the public air-ways — they are our public air-ways, after all.

2. Dump the electoral college — it’s undemocratic, and unnecessary in the 21st century.

3. Campaign reform to get us closer to 100% public financing for Federal elections (or, at the very least, the presidency).

4. Viable and true multiparty representation, so that we’re not limited to only two parties, giving us more choice — it’s the American way. Lord knows I like a Sprite every now and then, and not just Coke vs. Pepsi.

5. And, in the immediate future, more debates between presidential candidates where issues are debated; and where the media-talking-heads do their job (for once), stick to the issues and avoid the “he-said vs. he-said” scenario we all detest.

This is my wish-list. Of course, it’s not very likely to happen any time soon. However, Mr. Kerry’s proposal of conducting weekly debates between now and Nov. 2nd is certainly a good thing, if one is interested in hearing about the issues from the candidates themselves. I say let’s let them go one-on-one, Mr. Kerry has already volunteered (like he did when he chose to go to Vietnam); Mr. Bush in the other hand… well, let’s just say that Mr. Bush is AWOL, and has sent others to rebuff Mr. Kerry’s proposal.