“Indecision 2000” was the joke name for Comedy Central’s coverage of the presidential election. It turns out the joke was on the voters of Florida. Both sides of this partisan issue have staked claims to legitimacy for their candidate.
The election has been so bizarre that I have waited this long to write about the election. We still do not have a conclusion to this contest.
The very partisan secretary of state for Florida, Bush buddy Katherine Harris, has decided to ignore the hand-counted ballots, and hell has broken loose for those who support Gore. Jeb Bush was very smart to separate himself from any of the proceedings.
One thing this election did for the American citizen was to expose how eclectic and archaic our vote tabulation system is in 2000. Some locations use modern devices while some are still mired in the 19th century.
When you have punch cards, like those in question in Florida, you normally have 5 to 8 percent in every election that are not tabulated due to errors with the card. Normally, no one really cares.
It is akin to a football game, if your team gets a bad call by a referee but you win 63-20, no one really remembers nor cares about it. If that call gave the other team a questionable touchdown and you lose 23-21, then you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be very important.
So think of this as Gore calling for instant replay of a bad call in Florida. Bush doesn’t want it reviewed, preferring to take the imagined touchdown, claim victory and get out of town with a Dubya in the win column.
Either way this gets resolved, for Gore or Bush, you will have half of the nation ticked off at the victor. I foresee Bush squeaking by with a declared victory. He will ride into D.C. with the baggage of illegitimacy around his neck like a huge stone.
Luckily, he can’t pronounce illegitimacy, so therefore he will pretend it does not exist.
Gore can still come out looking good by making a wonderful concession speech about the value of the Constitution and the electoral process and set himself up for another bid in 2004.
This has been a godsend for the media. Ratings have skyrocketed for all of the news sources like CNN, MSNBC, Fox and so on. People have been addicted to this specter playing out before them like a bad novel.
While some decry this as being bad for democracy, I see it as proof of how sound a country we really enjoy. In other places, such uncertainty would lead to a coup d’etat, tanks in the street and the military taking over for the national good.
Americans are willing to let the process work itself out to a solid, Constitutional conclusion. This is our strength. Or maybe it is a sign we feel we don’t need a new leader. Could it be we dislike Gore and Bush so much, we planned it this way?
If this premise is true, then what can be the resolution? It is obvious.
Let’s keep Clinton four more years. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he is rather good at the job.
The economy is great, he is hard at work on the world peace thing and he gives those on the religious right a reason to live and raise money.
He is the consummate politician, adept at getting his way in the face of bitter right-wing opposition, and digs the chicks. He has a great sense of humor, and is tan, fit and rested.
What more can we ask for in a president? So the best plan to save our democracy and preserve peace and prosperity is to keep Bill in office for another term.
Otherwise, the American electorate would actually have to educate themselves about the issues and candidates and get past the rhetoric when making their decision on whom to vote for in the next election.
Oh yeah, all those who didn’t vote might want to get off their asses and participate, too. The Founding Fathers gave us the Electoral College for two reasons.
One was to pacify the fears of the Southern states that didn’t have the population of the Northeastern ones in their time. Reason two was they didn’t trust the intelligence of the average voter and felt you needed educated electors to make sure we got the right person as president.
They feared that a demagogue could use emotional arguments to sway the masses to vote them into office. The Electoral College would prevent such a scenario from ever occurring.
Hmmm … easily swayed voters who really do not understand the issues? Demagogues who use emotional, misleading arguments to get their way? My goodness, those founders were very prescient, weren’t they?

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