COUP WATCH: Stealing Democracy--Everybody Did Their Part

By Paul Rosenberg

Yeah, this has been a disastrous election... and if it proceeds to congress with two sets of florida electors, eventually ending up in the senate where supposedly Gore would cast the winning vote. Then yet another challege to the US Supreme Court- the winner will be forever chastised regradless of who it is. Of course the Republicans have more of a media spin squad in place since the impeachment hearings. So if Gore won he would take a lot more heat (in the national media) than if Bush were the victor. But either way it'll be a joke.

Lets avoid this by suggesting a National re-vote. Why not, a standardized simple little ballot with only two choices, we could all vote again and see what the true will of the people is. I think the voter turnout would be huge, probably giving the victor a greater 'mandate' with a substantial margin of victory. I think we could even hand count the ballots nationwide if we desired- Canada did it, why can't we? We just need a to have better staffed polling places and a system which prevents tampering with the results. My thought re: this- have the results from each precinct be recorded, then travel to the state capitol via several different paths and rechecked upon arrival. If the Dems and Repubs each take their own vote total to the capitol, any tampering would be easily recognized and remedied.

I think this is the only way the next president can take the helm with any sense of public support.

It's over. The Surpreme Court will rule against Gore on Monday. Even if they don't, they have stopped any recount from mattering before the artificially inflated December 12 deadline.

What have we learned?

The most surprising thing, perhaps, is that Al Gore is a man of restraint and persistence. He had his purpose ever uppermost in mind, he crafted a plan to win legally and continuously acted upon it, he resolutely ignored the negative assaults on his character orchestrated by Karl Rove for the Republicans (before Cheney diminished Rove's excessive hysteria), and he surrounded himself with a party that served to only grow in loyalty to him as he pushed ahead. He showed that he isn't an insubstantial chameleon, as the insipid media painted him for months at the behest of the GOP, but a stalwart, principled guy. Al Gore is a leader with tremendous grit, and the depth and subtlety of his intellect is now lost to us as a nation.

Even anyone who hadn't been following this very carefully could see that the GOP tried to stop the count as soon as it favored them. What could be more obvious? They did everything in their power to block the will of the people. The fact that the election was rigged starting on election night, when Bush's first cousin John Ellis called Florida for Bush at Fox News, was washed over in the media, but that fact will resurface. Many so-called "irregularties" of the Florida election will be exposed in the future as deliberate violations of voters' rights, and this will serve to keep reminding the greater public of what occurred long after inaugeration.

So many have become involved in watching this, and the stakes are so high in the long term, that this cannot help but serve the nation for the better. People will begin to demand that the electoral college be abolished, and that a popular vote be instated. The antiquidated modes of Federalism and property rights will be usurped by the demand that the public at large be allowed to express their will in deciding elections.

I disagree with the author above that we are on the verge of a very dark Republican era that will plunge us into a 19th century of unbridled industrial and commercial exploitation. We are all too connected and too organized to allow that to happen, and too Wise now as a nation to the crooked ways of the GOP.

The people of America will not forget the spectacle of "democracy" the Bush Brothers put on in Florida, nor will they forget that the votes were never fairly counted. Of course, eventually all the votes will be counted, and we shall know the result. Whether the result is a win for Gore or for Bush is immaterial -- all that matters, all that will be remembered, is that the GOP used every possible means at their disposal to block the will of the people from being expressed.

Even after Bush goes to office (and it's clear that he will go to office now that Justice Scalia and his henchmen have exposed their baldly partisan bias against popular democracy), the national memory of a grave injustice nearly unbelievable in its scope will persist.

The fact that Bush gained office ONLY because he blocked the counting of legal votes will be viewed as contemptible by the majority of Americans for years to come. This will translate to a significant victory for Democrats in 2002 and 2004.

Democratic victories in 2002 & 2004? I can think of one thing that would guarantee that.

We've heard a lot of "America is a republic, not a democracy" stuff from the repubs and their apologists (and just like your old schoolteacher, they don't dare explain what they mean by that), and we've lately heard (from a Supreme Court justice AND one of the repub's lawyers) that "there is no right to vote for President"

I just wonder- has any one of these political geniuses been stupid enough to say that on camera?

Lordy, just imagine the TV ads for the next election if you've got THAT on tape.