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Hail to the Thieves - The Florida Heist Looking Between the Lines By Robert E. Martin Cartoon used with permission The controversy over the Florida Primary and the way we in America elect our President is, if nothing else, providing a litmus test of how we shape our Democracy. Specifically, does each and every vote in America truly count, or are we to place our faith in 'machines' that have a proven history of marginal inaccuracy and unreliability? The division that separates the candidacies of George W. Bush and Al Gore has not only mirrored the philosophical division of the electorate in this country, but it has brought to the forefront the issue of how we actually elect our President. The Bush campaign acts as if they have won the election, yet they dismiss the overriding reality that Al Gore received the majority of the popular vote. In my opinion, the first thing we need to do is get rid of the Electoral College. It's only been used 4 times in our history and was basically written by the constitutional framers so all the uninformed & derelict colonists couldn't corrupt the financial interests of the country (hence the reason why heavy industrial cities & centers like Michigan, New York, and California have so many electoral votes compared to less populated regions. Supporters of the Electoral College claim that it works because it prevents a minority of heavy electoral states from dominating the choice of the rest of the country, but if we switched to a popular vote this electoral 'weight' would still be factored by virtue of the fact that the number of voters in those high electoral states would still make them the key determining factor in any given election. Moreover, the Electoral College is anachronistic. Another rule our forefathers wrote into the Electoral College was that to become a voting member you had to be basically a white guy that owned property and a paid taxes. So much in our country has changed since then that it truly should be eliminated. Indeed, the college was designed at the founding of the country to help one group of white Southern males and this year it has apparently done just that. The T.V. Eye on You Something that every American, regardless of party lines, tends to agree upon is that the Major Media crossed a dangerous line in this election year by the frenzy with which they all raced to become the first to predict the outcome. Indeed, because Florida operates on two different time zones, a winner was announced before the polls were even closed. When the media reported that Florida initially had went to Al Gore, what was so special about Florida for the Bushes that made them so confident that they could place a phone call to the networks and have the state taken away from Gore? Something the networks are not talking about is that in the wee hours of the morning after the polls had long closed, FOX News Network, without any prompting from the Voter News Service (from whom all the TV networks had received their information) decided to call the election in Florida, and therefore the whole contest to Bush. Where FOX News led the rest of the networks followed and on the strength of these TV broadcasts Al Gore later made his famous concession call to Austin, Texas. But isn't it interesting that it turns out that a leading FOX News editorial manager on that night was none other than George Bush's cousin? Apparently Bush family connections with an inside line on the polling results were everywhere. The Greatest Travesty As this is being written, the Florida State Supreme Court is still deliberating on whether to allow a manual recount of ballots or whether to let the Secretary of State's certification stand. However, the most serious issue that frames this entire election is specifically what happened to those 19,000 votes in Palm Beach? Unfortunately, a Circuit Judge ruled this morning that a re-vote will not be allowed; and distasteful as that may appear on the surface, it truly is the only way to ultimately vindicate the rights of those disenfranchised citizens. Republican critics and right-wing radio pundits malign this notion, casting aspersions on the mental faculty of the voters in Palm Beach that could confuse a ballot. Yet unlike all States in our Union, Florida is a 'voter intent' state, meaning that the overriding consideration is whether or not the will and choice of the voter was carried out or subverted. Republicans claim that both parties were able to approve or reject the ballot prior to the election, but they forget the fact that party hacks exist on all levels of the food chain in local government. Approval or not, what was the intent of those voters? Anybody that watched on television the demonstration in front of the courthouse in Palm Beach County 24-hours prior to Veteran's Day could see for themselves hundreds of elderly Jewish citizens, many in tears, demanding and begging for someone to listen to them. They tried to explain that the ballot they voted on was so confusing they feared that they had actually voted for Pat Buchanan (a man who once said, "Hitler was an individual of great courage") instead the man they wanted for president, Al Gore. Rather than being heard, they have been ridiculed across the country as being a batch of stupid half-wits and sore lowers that probably shouldn't be allowed to get behind the wheel of a car. Isn't it unconscionable that in addition to the thousands of ballots that have been thrown out, a majority of those senior citizen votes by virtue of an illegally constructed ballot will be lodged for a right wing anti-Semitic like Pat Buchanan? As Flint filmmaker Michael Moore stated, "South Florida has perhaps the largest population of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel and New York. Is it just me, or do these good people, all of whom have suffered enough in their lives, deserve not only our respect, but our commitment to see that their vote is counted?" "To many of you, World War II and the Holocaust probably seems like ancient history. The truth is, there are tens of thousands of people who lived through that horror, escaped the ovens, and are now living out their final years in South Florida. None of us can imagine what they went through; first to survive, and then to somehow make it to a country where they believed they would be free and their voice would be heard. These immigrants worked hard to raise families in America, contribute to our society, and make this country a better place for all of us. They took their citizenship duties very seriously, to the point where many of us have probably rolled our eyes a time or two over their extreme patriotism and love of America. Silly old people!" "Now they are being told to take a hike. I could understand the derision if it were 50 spoiled ballots, or 500 spoiled ballots. But 19,000?" Although I do not always agree with Moore, I support wholeheartedly the notion that telling these elderly survivors and relatives of survivors in Palm Beach County that their voice will not be heard is not only a national shame, it is a national dishonor. What is Bush Afraid Of? If George W. Bush is so confident of victory in Florida, why is he so afraid to complete a manual recount? Let's forget the unnerving fact that his brother is Governor of the State and the Secretary of State in Florida is a partisan Bush supporter. Let's forget the fact that G.W.'s father, George Bush, Sr. once was Director of the CIA. And let's forget the fact that all it took was one phone call the night of the election for the tide to turn against Gore. In a 'voter intent' state such as Florida, the simple solution would be to conduct a manual recount of the entire state, as suggested by Al Gore. However, the Bush Camp declined that offer, and now in arguments before the Supreme Court they are trying to claim selective recounts in certain precincts is patently unfair. Sorry guys, you had your choice. In legal terms it's called an 'election of remedies', and once you reject it you cannot use it to claim favoritism. Additionally, the notion of this 7-Day Statute that requires certification by the Secretary of State is equally erroneous. A statue is nothing more than a legislative fiat that is open to interpretation by the Courts. If it conflicts with the overriding concern of 'voter intent' in Florida, it must be changed. What I do find ironic is that whenever things don't go his way, G. W. Bush runs to the Federal Courts for help, as he did when he sued to stop the votes from being counted because he knows how the vote will turn. Excuse me, but wasn't this the man that on every campaign stop would tell the people, "My opponent trusts the federal government, but I trust you, the people!" At least now we know that G.W. doesn't trust the people at all. He trusts the machines and the federal government to bail him out. Oh yes, he also trusts the 775 American millionaires that financed 90 percent of his campaign. So what are we left with? Apart from his tenuous claims, it appears the Bush Strategy at this junction is to 'sway the tide of public opinion' by casting Al Gore and the Democrats as the 'bad guys' in hopes that Gore will concede. Bush figures if he can get the right wing radio shock-jocks to froth up phony public opinion, when all is said & done, he will grasp the golden ring that is legitimately not his to have. Of course, it doesn't stop there. In Florida, apart from Buchanan getting a strong voting block, apparently in the Daytona Beach area, James Harris, The Socialist Workers Party candidate received a strong show of support and Monica Moorehead from The Workers World Party received 1,805 votes. Excuse me if I'm wrong, but why isn't this being investigated? Somehow I find it hard to believe that in a state where dog racing and kids running drunk and naked during Spring Break are common associations that the socialist revolution is so strongly supported. Oh well, if G. W. actually makes it to the Oval Office he will have much in common with President Milosevic of Yugoslavia, especially considering that both he and Bush are claiming victory with the least number of votes. |
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