I write a twice weekly column of social and political commentary called The Poet's Eye
check out past issues here:
http://www.stormpages.com/gitdown/Thepoetseye.html----------
This is the text for the latest issue:
With both parties unwilling to predict the outcome of next Tuesday's election because the poll numbers are statistically even, this writer is certainly not going to climb out on a limb by predicting a winner. It will surprise me if a winner can be declared by November 3.
One thing that I can predict is that if George Bush is re-unelected in any manner resembling the way his regime assumed power in 2001, our democracy will be, in the words of Daddy Bush, in deep doo-doo. For that matter if either Bush or Kerry wins the electoral vote and loses the popular vote as in the 2000 election, it will not bode well for our Republic. And if the voting tabulation goes on for weeks and ends up being settled in the end by lawyers and judges, can you imagine what that will do for popular confidence in our electoral system, both here at home and worldwide?
There are several reasons why this election could turn into a repeat of 2000 or an even worse debacle. One of them is provisional ballots.
Under the 2002 Help America Vote Act, each state must provide standby ballots to voters if they cannot be found on registration lists, are in the wrong polling place or don't have proper identification but insist they are eligible to vote. Those people will be given "provisional" ballots that will be kept separate from others until their eligibility can be confirmed. With different states and localities applying this law as each sees politically fit, this system looks like a prescription for confusion and delay.
Provisional ballots could be the device which condemns this election to the nether realms of paperwork and case law that only a secret caste of lawyers can understand. In the last election the final decision was made not by the majority popular vote but by three Justices on the Supreme Court. It may take days to verify and count the provisional ballots, but at least they will be on paper.
Which brings us to the subject of electronic voting machines. If you think hanging chads were fun, just wait till you get a load of electronic voting. We're talking about our votes being reduced to invisible digits here. There is no paper trail, no physical evidence that this voter or that voter ever cast a ballot. It's like a video game. You touch a button and who knows what happens to your vote? It is sure to inspire confidence in our electoral system when there are no visible ballots and there can be no reliable recount should one be necessary.
Our electoral system has been on a steady downhill slide ever since they gave a vote to the common man. This was in the formative days of our Republic when only white male property holders voted. When the right was extended to just any old white male, elections became less civilized affairs with results like Andy Jackson who Thomas Jefferson regarded as a menace to society. By the time negroes and women got the franchise it was all but over for the gentlemanly casting of lots. American elections became melees with all manner of fraud and mayhem. Votes were bought and sold. We had ward bosses operating from smoke-filled back rooms.
Even though the modern political environment is strictly non-smoking, the corporate powers who have hijacked our electoral system by means of vast financial power are calling the shots from behind the scenes just like the old ward bosses. Both campaigns are being run like rock concert tours. The candidates are pure product with no substance. Have you ever asked yourself how George Bush finds time to do the "hard work" of the presidency when he spends all day every day either campaigning or vacationing? The answer is: He doesn't do it. George Bush is, like most contemporary presidents, just a face on the label like Colonel Sanders. Nobody believed that Colonel Sanders personally fried every piece of chicken. George Bush doesn't cook the chicken either. He hires illegal immigrants to do that. And if he could figure out how to have it fried overseas, he would.
Corporations have purchased our elections. They are the only ones who can afford them. It takes a quarter of a billion dollars to run a presidential campaign these days. Just like they have purchased the names of our public sports stadiums and civic arenas, they have purchased our political parties and our elected officials.
The Poet's Eye looks forward to the day when our elections will be run by InfoBallotDynamicsCorp or some such subsidiary of Disney or Exxon. They'll do it all by computers and phones. You can call in as many times as you want. They'll factor in income, race, religion and sexual preferences to determine the value of your vote. Results with be instantaneous, if not predetermined.
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