I miss my country. When I was a kid, a popular expression was, “It’s a free country.” I don’t hear that anymore. Because it isn’t. I do hear the expression, “they envy our freedom” but it rings hollow.
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to use an airline (only my second flight since 9/11/2001). As I was surrendering my pocket knife and lighter, taking off my shoes, and unpacking my laptop, I kept repeating the mantra, “They envy our freedom. They envy our freedom.” They envy in vain.
Recently, Al Gore gave a speech to mostly Saudis acknowledging our government’s abuses of Arabs after the September 11 attacks. The right is describing Gore’s speech as treason! Why the hell are they like that and how did our country get this way? Do they not know that it is Al Gore’s right and duty as an American citizen to criticize this country (no matter where he is in the world and whatever acts of violence and destruction our administration is engaged in)? If the right had any sense at all, they would publicly applaud Mr. Gore’s patriotism. In other words, they would disagree with what he said (if the facts would let them) and defend to the death his right to say it. And then the world would truly “envy our freedom.” How the hell can we spread Democracy when we don’t even have it?
How did we lose our Democracy. When did this stop being a free country? My theory is that it began with the 2000 “election.”
I still have no confidence in the election of 2000 and only slightly more in the 2004 election. Even if nothing “wrong” happened in Florida. Even if the butterfly ballot and the intimidation at the polls really didn’t happen or at worst was some kind of misunderstanding, we still had a bad election.
What we had was akin to a statistical tie. A statistical tie occurs when the difference of opinion is below our ability to measure. Polling provides a great example. Often we’ll see 48% for A and 50% for B with a margin of error of +/- 3%. That’s a statistical tie.
At a minimum, that’s what happened in Florida in 2000. Our measuring tools were not accurate enough to cover the narrow difference in the vote. As each recount was initiated then abandoned, it was clear that we could not even agree on a method of counting, much less arrive at an accurate result.
Our nation does not have a protocol for dealing with a statistical tie in an election. (Nor does it have one for dealing with an absolute tie.) What if we called Florida 2000 a tie? In such a case, there are three logical and fair courses of action:
- The state’s electoral votes are split evenly between the tying candidates.
- The state’s electoral votes are disqualified.
- The state has to take a re-vote.
Obviously, we didn’t do any of those. Instead, we had two men, Bush and Cheney, immediately and confidently “acting as if.” They acted as if they won the election. They acted as if they had a mandate. They acted as if it was obvious to everyone. Like sharks, they kept moving, because to stand still is to die. They caught Al Gore, acting the gentleman, totally off guard.
They trusted that there would not be rioting in the streets, because if there’s one thing that progressives do as a first resort is aim for a peaceful resolution by following the “proper channels.” By the time the progressives were considering the second resort, it was too late. The sharks counted on that.
Since then, they have continued to run the administration like sharks: moving swiftly and deliberately along their path of destruction. They have done things that no American government should do (alienate nearly every important ally we have in the world) and no self-respecting Republican would ever condone out loud (run the government back into debt, nation-building, pre-emptive strikes, and so on).
A Fox-watching Republican dismissed my lingering disgust at the 2000 election as sour grapes. I wish it were that simple. But the statement alone vindicates me, otherwise, he would have attacked me with facts instead of taking a pot-shot at me personally.
So, why am I still stuck on the election of 2000? Because to me, that was the beginning of the demise of America. What’s to prevent it from happening again? Especially now. With one party controlling the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches, we have no balance of power; no checks and balances.
As we go around the world pretending to monitor free elections and spread Democracy, I wonder, can we ever have confidence in elections in this country again?
