-Caveat Lector- DIVERSION 2000: Undecided, undemocratic, ... unbelievable! <http://www.npns.org/news/worker/worker019-election-2000.html> The Worker Vol. 2, No. 11 (Issue 19) -- November 17, 2000 WASHINGTON, November 14 (NPNS) -- The events of the last week have been nothing short of astounding. For the first time in almost 125 years, there is yet no clear winner in the presidential election. But one thing has already been made clear in the last week: whoever becomes president will be viewed by a large percentage of the population as "illegitimate." This is because of the combination of massive voting fraud, irregularities, voter intimidation, lawsuits and threats. In short, it is fair to say that there is a great deal of behind-the-scenes action by the bosses in this country to make sure that whoever wins the White House is their pick. All eyes are now on Florida to see who will end up being the winner, either Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Al Gore. And, in fact, Florida is perhaps the most appropriate place for such a drama to unfold. The saga began on election night, Nov. 7, when most of the television and radio networks announced based on exit polls of voters, that Gore had won Florida and its 25 electoral votes. Almost as soon as this had been announced, Bush returned to the governor's mansion in Austin, Texas. He began to call the major networks, pressuring them to take back their predictions of a Gore victory in Florida. In this effort, he enlisted the aid of his brother, Jeb Bush, who is the governor of that state. A short time later, in an unprecedented move for election night, Bush invited the media into the mansion in order to denounce their "premature" prediction of a Gore victory. Soon enough, the major networks withdrew their predictions and put Florida in the "too close to call" category. This suddenly changed in the early hours of Nov. 8, when John Ellis, head of the election desk at the right-wing Fox News Channel, called Florida a Bush win. Shortly thereafter, the other networks followed suit. Gore even conceded defeat in a call to Bush. But then he received a frantic call from Democratic officials in Florida telling him he should not concede. What was Ellis' statement based on? Certainly not any facts, since Bush's lead in the state was falling rapidly. It has since come out that Ellis is in fact a cousin of the Republican candidate. It can now be reasonably argued that we saw an attempt by the Bush campaign to steal the election like a thief in the night, literally! Why such conspiratorial, underhanded moves? Because Bush knew about the voter irregularities in Florida, and the intimidation of Black and Latino voters in several states. And he knew that unless Gore conceded defeat before these irregularities and stories surfaced the chances of a Bush administration would be less and less. After all, such things can be easily swept under the rug if there is already a president-elect. In the final analysis, the current conflict between the two candidates is a conflict between two wings of the capitalist class. We have always said that a Gore administration would be, in essence, no different from a Bush administration. Both will faithfully serve the bosses in their attacks on the working class. At the same time, we recognize that the Republican Party is trying to fudge the numbers enough to put themselves in the White House. The only reason we can see for such a maneuver is that they are acting as an agent for a section of the bosses that is trying to assert control over the state. Until now, they have been fighting behind closed doors. But the conflict over the election has taken this fight into the open. In turn, the Democrats have lined up on the other side, along with Green candidate Ralph Nader and his supporters, in opposing the actions taken by the Republicans on behalf of their paymasters. We are now seeing the development of a conflict between the bosses that has not been seen in this country since the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction. And, as we said above, the last time this kind of election crisis happened was prior to, and the basis of -- the end of Reconstruction. As Marxists, we view the current struggle as a question of basic bourgeois democracy. We have always said that the U.S. election system, with its use of the media, the Electoral College, etc.is profoundly undemocratic. While we support calls for the abolition of the Electoral College as a democratic reform, we do not see these kinds of changes as any real advance for the working class. This conflict, if it continues in any meaningful way, will inevitably draw the working class into action. Marxists must intersect this movement and win it over to a fundamentally different perspective. The building of a workers' party, a party that will represent the interests of the working class and will mobilize our class in defense of these interests, is a vital task today. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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