The Never-Ending Saga

The presidential election has now entered its second month and all the starting lawyers are back. We have Al Gore and his Democratic henchmen trying their dandiest to hijack the Presidency from the American people. This is not an issue between Gore and Bush, no matter what many so-called experts are claiming. This is a blatant attempt to steal power they were not able to acquire by legal and constitutional means. They could not win the election by proper means so they are attempting to use the courts to get what the American people legitimately denied them.

Now, I’ve heard some dandy things about post-election America. Many of these are probably urban legend, but some of them include ammunition sales going up 900% in the three days after the election – but then again, it was also probably the beginning of hunting season as well. What Gore has going for him is that he has had the last eight years to assist Clinton in stacking the courts with Clinton-friendly judges who have seen fit to inflict their own brand of activism on the judicial process, thus corrupting the integrity of American jurisprudence. These judges owe their placement to Clinton, and as such, they know what side their bread is buttered on – and as such, they are not inclined to bite the hand that fed them.

In some respects, this process has become not just irritating, but also amusing when you think of it. The irritation of the matter is self-evident; however, the amusement factor has begun to come into play. To give several cases in point, let’s take a look at the talking heads shows yesterday. As a rule, I do not watch the talking heads shows on Sundays, preferring to be in my Church meetings where it can do me a greater good – for while I myself am a political animal, I do not fall down at its feet. My definition of a Higher Power in college was not Political Science 101 then, nor is it any graduate variation of it now.

Anyway, on the morning shows, we had Dick Cheney saying the time had come for Vice President Gore to concede the race and to allow the transition to begin. Cheney further went on to say that Gore’s continuing challenge of the election is approaching the stage where it will inflict damage on the nation; on the other hand, you have former New York Governor Mario Cuomo (D) on FOX News Sunday saying that “Gore is getting stronger every day” and “Our country is built on the principle that the ultimate authority is the court.” Clearly at this point, we see where Mr. Cuomo has strayed. In 1994, when he was creamed in his quest for a fourth term as Governor, he bowed to the will of the people, and in an election, it is the will of the people that prevails and NOT the courts. The Constitution has provided means where the votes of all the people count and that system is the Electoral College.

The Electoral College was put in place to protect the smaller states from the larger states and to prevent them from being shut out of the process of choosing a President and Vice-President every four years. Were the election to rely strictly on the popular vote, you wouldn’t find candidates spending any amount of time campaigning outside the 11 states necessary to capture the election. Those 11 states would be California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Tennessee and the District of Columbia. Now it is a given that capturing these states and no others would also provide an electoral college win; however, the electoral college provides a system for the smaller states to band together for a candidate they believe in. This was the case with Texas Governor George W. Bush. Gore took many of the coastal states, and Bush cleaned up pretty much everywhere else, except Florida, where the election has been certified and Bush has the electoral votes to become the president-elect, yet he has to deal with Gore and his vexatious litigation, which is exactly what it is.

Meanwhile, we have former Secretary of State Warren Christopher in the Gore camp saying that this process is far from over. These guys have rewritten the election rules in midstream not only once, but several times. A good example is if they found a dimpled or pregnant chad on Gore’s spot, they would give credit to Gore, but if one was found on Bush’s spot, the Texas Governor was not given credit for the almost vote there. The fact of the matter remains that a large number of Florida voters – and I imagine elsewhere across the country chose to vote for all offices but the Presidential ticket, as they weren’t satisfied with either choice on the ticket this year.

In addition, in a humorous vein but also ringing with a great deal of truth was the e-mail joke circulating that asked, “How is it these little old ladies can play 15 bingo cards simultaneously, yet can’t punch a ballot?” The fact is in all likelihood that they knew how to punch the ballot but as I said earlier, chose not to. Included in a citizen’s right to vote is the right not to vote if they so choose. Just because you enter the voting booth does not mean that you have to make a choice in every category. This is not the Major League Baseball all-star ballot. It is the ballot over who will be our leaders for the next two to six years - depending on which office you take into consideration.

What I don’t get about the Florida vote is this, and it has to be on the minds of the rest of the country as well. Gore is seeking a hand recount of votes in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Nassau counties; all of these are Democratically controlled, and yet, it would seem of they were bent on divining the intents of the non-voters as well the voters, they would do well to recount by hand the votes in all 67 Florida counties. The reason they don’t is that they know they will get creamed in the final numbers. Part of the blame for this goes to the networks who called Florida for Gore shortly after the polls closed in the Eastern Time Zone portion of the state, before the polls in the panhandle region of the State had a chance to close inasmuch as that portion of the state is in the Central Time Zone where they vote predominantly Republican. There were widespread reports of discouraged voters going home in the belief their vote wouldn’t make a difference, when in fact, it may very well have.

And lastly, we have as the latest evidence that the Democrats in office are out to lunch is Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) saying that now that the Senate is at a 50-50 tie, that both parties should share power in the Senate, which is a crock for a couple of reasons. Bipartisanship does not need the sharing of power. That is already provided for in the assignment of committee memberships. There is a chairman from the majority party and a ranking member from the minority party in each committee and subcommittee. These committees work together to go about America’s business from within the Beltway. Secondly, should Cheney become VP, he would become the President of the Senate and thus the GOP would have a 51-50 edge when it came to tie-breaking votes. And lastly, if the situation were reversed, do you think the Democrats would look favorably on any GOP request for shared power? Not on your life!!

What it all basically boils down to in party difference is this: The Republicans know they have to earn your trust and keep it. Nixon screwed up, and the GOP along with the rest of the country paid for it with four years of Jimmy Carter. Democrats on the other hand, backed into power with less than the majority of the vote as Bill Clinton did BOTH TIMES (43% in 1992 and 49% in 1996), and they will fight like junkyard dogs to retain power at all costs. This is most clearly evidenced today by their approach to winning the presidency at all costs – if not by acclamation through election at the ballot box, then by litigation.

Clearly the time has come for a new brand of leadership in America, and the American people have chosen to try out George W. Bush and see if he is a step in the right direction.

I not only believe he will be the ultimate victor, leaving the American people with lingering distasteful memories of Crybaby Al, I wish President-elect Bush well.

• With files from The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/

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Copyright © 2000 by Timothy Rollins.
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-Published with permission