-Caveat Lector-
Online Journal - http://www.onlinejournal.com
01-10-01: Relativity or are Republicans evil? (Or do they just act that
way?)
By Michael Hammerschlag
January 10, 2001 | There was a point in this terrible election where it
became all clear, like a B & W photo in developer, that they were going to
get away with it-that the Republicans would manage to stop the recount and
force their man into the White House.. against all reason, facts, and
fairness.
That point was when Bob Dole and Christine Whitman, moderates of whom one
might have expected a dollop of justice, paraded down to Florida and added
their voices to the congealed impervious mass of Republicans parroting the
amazing lie that humans couldn't fairly count votes . . . though we had
managed quite well for 200 years. It was a betrayal of integrity, of
honesty, of decency, that left one breathless in its audacity. Wasn't
there one Republican who had any bedrock respect for our constitutional
principles, who had any principles beyond their own party's
self-promotion, who would publicly speak out against this intellectual
violence? As in the impeachment, apparently not. A candidate that had
campaigned on "bringing back integrity" endorsed the most cynical untruth
possible, one that dwarfed Monica. Republicans mobilized every branch of
government in their service- it was total war, while Democrats wrung their
hands, and pundits relentless pressured the winner (by one-third million
votes then) to concede.
If Katherine Harris couldn't deliver Florida by her machinations (ordering
supervisors to stop legitimate hand counts, throwing thousands of
out-of-state innocent "felons" off the rolls-30 percent of all blacks),
then maybe the Fl Supreme Court. or US Court of Appeals would (they
didn't). If not them, the Florida legislature prepared to usurp their own
voters; will in the most naked abuse of power we have seen in ages. If not
them, the Supreme Court prepared to throw out every principle they
espoused to cobble together a decision so shoddy that every American
election in history would be invalidated by its application. For the
Bushmen, losing was not an option.
But if losing wasn't an option, then this wasn't an election and we aren't
a democracy-which brings us back to the conundrum of preventing a fair
recount. Future eons of schoolchildren will ask, "Why did people let this
happen?" Simply, the Democrats didn't care enough, and the Republicans
were willing to do anything to win. Add 98 million couch potatoes who
couldn't get off theirs' to vote. And pundits just didn't like Al.
Democracy and our entire electoral process rely on good will, on
public-spirited decency far more than people realize. Election officials
(which I've been a couple of times) aren't supposed to be impartial,
indeed, they aren't allowed to be impartial-you must be a member of one of
the two parties to be a poll worker. The theory is of balanced power and a
passionate interest, but in practice, it often relies on people to: 'due
unto others as you would have them (lest they) do unto you.' If this
overweening principle collapses far enough, the entire system breaks down
and isn't easily reconstitutable, which is why all-out political war is
rightly feared by many. In this election, the Bush forces shredded that
principle and demonstrated a deep contempt for democracy.
If conditions had been reversed and Bush was ahead by 700 votes, do you
think for one second that Gore would have opposed recounting the votes? He
is such a civic stickler that he wouldn't even let the black reps talk
about their motion to contest Florida electors when the Loser-in-Chief was
certified the victor Saturday. The Republicans have been fighting
no-holds-barred for 20 years now, since 1980, Reagan, Terry Dolan, and
NCPAC; and almost rabidly since Clinton's ascension. Democrats, however,
have maintained a befuddled civility as if they couldn't quite understand
why the Republicans hated them so much, as the Republicans-fueled by hate
radio-became dominated by extremists and fringe fundamentalists.
Nothing demonstrated this vicious hatred better than the demonstrators
picketing and harassing the vice president at his home to "get out of Dick
Cheney's house," as the presidency was corruptly and violently ripped from
his pocket. At some point hatred and lies must be classified in their
larger category: evil.
Politics all involves some damage to the truth, but when one repeats an
egregious lie over and over, until half the country repeats (or believes)
that untruth, you haven't just damaged the system, you've damaged the very
language and changed the firmament on which the system sits. And nothing
is ever the same again. It's been so in every dictatorship, as rulers
conditioned their people to accept constantly rising levels of outrage, of
violence, of enemies-internal and external-that must be warred against.
And this lie involved the voting that's the very basis of democracy. The
next step of shifting relativity, already floated by Bushmen and perhaps
soon to be picked up by vapid commentators, is to seal the votes-to
prevent all this uncertainty and instability.
This is a different Bush, not one of noblesse oblige, but one of simmering
anti-intellectual resentments; a compassionate conservative who drives his
heart-surgeried veep pal out of the hospital like a plow horse, who goes
golfing 800 miles away as his daughter recovers from emergency surgery
with orders to "clean out her room;" an Ivy league graduate so bereft of
ideas that he had to reach a quarter century back to staff his
administration; his Corporation USA/Bush; a West Texas product who
believes that millionaires should be in control and what's right for
corporations is right for America. We are moving from the best public
speaker in a century to the worst. Contrast this man with the Gore that
warmly and graciously greeted every senator in the historic swearing-in*,
including his sworn opponents. It's a matter of class. Bush only values
money, power, and loyalty. Witness White House Counsel appointee Alberto
Gonzales (who helped Bush avoid jury duty in DUI case), a potential
Supreme Court nominee, as he swore his fawning fealty, his undying loyalty
to Bush at his public debut. He would have kissed his ring, if Bush had
one. It was embarrassing, and chilling in its exposition of the quality of
Bush's nominees.
The Ashcroft nomination could be seen as an act of contempt-offering up an
extreme right-wing ideologue for top cop, but it's something else. It's a
test: a sop to the hard right, who will be suitably energized if he is
defeated, and some red meat to aggrieved Democrats to chew on. He isn't
supposed to be confirmed. If he is, the shell-shocked Dems will have
demonstrated how weak and directionless they are (frightened?), and set
themselves up to be steamrollered on a variety of issues. And America,
prosecuted by a religious fanatic, judged by the Supreme Republicans, will
take another giant step towards the terrifying shifting landscape of a
dynastic reactionary relativistic ether, where the truth itself will. . .
. depend.
And red is gray and gray is white, and we decide which is right.-- Moody
Blues
*You have the President of the Senate: the vice president who became
president, but had the election stolen from him, greeting his running
mate, the real next vice president, but now senator again, and the
president's wife, who is now also a senator, while the president watched
from the gallery; and the opposition beamed with pride, as if they hadn't
banded together en masse to strip the presidency from veep, who would in
two weeks,. . . . be nothing. If this were a TV movie with Alan Alda,
you'd turn it off for being too absurd.
Michael Hammerschlag has written commentaries for the Seattle Times,
Providence Journal, Honolulu Advertiser; Moscow News, Tribune, and the
Guardian; was a TV reporter and produced a documentary series on the
presidential primaries. His website is http://mikehammer.tripod.com e-mail
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Copyright © 1998-2001 Online Journal. All rights reserved.
<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.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
