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(The Latest Word provides Sandy's latest observations about folk music and other topics. The main Latest Word page contains a list of additional installments.) AMERICA'S ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION Before anyone gets his or her dander up, I am not going to pontificate on who I believe won the election as our 43rd President. I have no intention of using this site to air my political or religious views—think of it as a virtual Thanksgiving dinner <g>. However, something needs to be said about the current situation. While it is true that the election was weeks ago, and as of this writing the U.S. and Florida Supremes have yet to say, "Stop!—in the Name of...whatever," it is not true that we don't know who our President is. We do. Until January 20, 2001, it¹s still Bill Clinton. The media and some political spin doctors would have us believe that the country is torn, paralyzed, and battle fatigued. Well, the NHL, NFL, and NBA are all playing regular games. Our airports are no more hopelessly clogged and dysfunctional than they have been for the past few years. ABC's phone lines are jammed not by angry political victims of either side but by potential Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestants. Deejays are spinning both requests and formatted tunes. Mail is getting delivered, checks are getting cashed, money is being spent. (And some of us are busy making music-hint, hint.) What needs to be done right now is to get at the truth. This will not go on indefinitely—the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this Friday, and electors must—and believe me, will—be chosen by December 12. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that the election, as it was conducted and counted in Florida, stinks like a dead marlin on both sides of the aisle. Allegations of voter fraud and intimidation abound. Convicted felons have been allowed to vote. Carpools of minority-group voters were stopped and detained enroute to vote until the polls were safely closed. In liberal inner cities and staunchly conservative rural areas alike, polls were understaffed, voters told that ballots had run out, and polling places closed at the appointed hour despite voters waiting in line. Voters confused by what was in hindsight an idiotically designed ballot were refused statutorily mandated assistance, adequate time in the voting booths, or fresh ballots to replace ruined ones. Recount standards seemed to change minute by minute, county by county. Clear assessments of voter intent were made impossible by aging Votomatics with dull styli and clogged guide holes. Timely-submitted, signed, witnessed, and dated military ballots were discarded for want of postmarks, and in other counties unsigned and undated military ballots were accepted merely by virtue of being military. One side played "hide the weenie" with votes they didn¹t want counted, while the other went overboard trolling for votes that may or may not have been there. One side declared itself the winner and trumpeted it so loudly and repeatedly (using airwaves and hired demonstrators) that the weight of public opinion seems to begin to believe it; the other clings to broad principles of "the will of the voter" instead of devoting all its energy to gathering the evidence it needs to make its case in a timely fashion. People, step back and breathe deeply. This process will end soon enough that the country will not fall apart if we see it through to its judicial conclusion. Much has been made of the spectacle of this election being decided in the courts. Well, why do we have courts if not to settle conflicts between statutes, case law, and disputed facts? We could do what was done in the old West—settle this thing by duel; or by New Mexico's solution of one sudden-death hand of poker. But we are a nation of laws—and courts are the ultimate arbiters of those laws. But is this any way to pick a President? Heck, no! The first casualty of this mess must be the anachronism of the Electoral College—a mechanism designed back before women, African-Americans, and nonlandowners were allowed to vote; and engineered strictly to placate states in which slavery was allowed. Since we didn't even elect Senators directly back then, why do so for Presidents? Back then, we didn't have instantaneous nationwide news transmissions either, so it would have been unwieldy and time consuming (more so than even now) to calculate a winner based solely on the popular vote. Today, without an Electoral College, every person's vote would count equally no matter where they lived, candidates could not afford to blow off entire states while campaigning just because the other guy had a lock on them; and the ominous specter of a partisan state legislature or Congress ignoring the voters to decide an election would be out of the question instead of looming over the remains of the campaigns like a circling buzzard (not to mention the clear probability that our courts could go back to deciding everyday cases). Sounds like a no-brainer. But what if the situation were reversed, as it appeared early on election night—that Gore would take the electoral votes while Bush would win the beauty contest? Just as ludicrous and unfair. Now, I am well aware that even in elections for nationwide office, the Constitution reserves the power to govern elections to the individual states. Fair enough. But within each state, the current crazy-quilt of different voting mechanisms and even rules of interpretation for the same voting system has to go. If not all counties within a state can afford to convert to the most modern and foolproof voting systems, then the same standards must be applied to all counties using a particular type of system. That's why we have legislatures; and they¹d better get cracking in time for the next elections if they'd like to stay employed next time around. Now, what about the infamous "Ballot With Butterfly Wings," as Billy Corgan might have named it? It is extremely unjust that thousands of voters were hoodwinked into thinking they'd voted for the candidate of their choice when they'd really unwittingly chosen someone whose views were anathema even to mainstream Republicans. It was equally unjust and unfair that Jacob was able to dress in goat fur and trick his feeble and weak-eyed old man into giving him Esau's inheritance. But Isaac reluctantly concluded that what's done is done, and let the injustice stand. I¹m afraid that's what has to happen here. Should Palm Beach County or even all of Florida revote? What a can of nightcrawlers that would be! What about those who already voted absentee-can you imagine the time frame for applying for and then sending in new ballots? Oy vey. And a revote for the entire state? Not to mention excluding other states whose voters might feel aggrieved, the events of the past few weeks would re-influence voters on both sides—not to mention erstwhile third-party or independent voters who'd belatedly realize how high the stakes really are. If you limit the re-vote to those who can be proven to have at least submitted a ballot on Election Day, what about those allegedly unfairly prevented from going to the polls the first time around? I¹m afraid that the extent of the remedies available in the current vote contest must be limited to votes already cast and the proper way to find and count them. That being said, we will survive (bless you, Gloria Gaynor and Jerry Garcia). When the dust clears, as it must, in the next few weeks, we will have a President-elect. Half of us will hate him and half will embrace him wholeheartedly. He will face a deadlocked Senate and a near-deadlocked Congress no matter what. But will the Republic fall? Will democracy die? Will government get utterly nothing done? We got through one scandal that made us forever suspicious of governmental power, and another decades later that soured us on both the personal integrity of one leader and the motives of his opponents. And guess what? Here we are. You¹re reading this. I¹m writing this. I will go have dinner and you will catch a movie. Our kids will go to school, and our pets will do whatever it is that pets do. Trust me. Whatever happens, we can handle it. We always do. Main Page • Additional Installments • Contact Sandy Copyright © 2000, 2001, Sandy Andina, All Rights Reserved |
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