In the last seven years, the Bush Administration and its lackey press have reminded us again and again that 9/11/2001 changed everything. But to me another, earlier date seems more significant and that was election day in November 2000. Not specifically that day, of course but the time of the dispute that followed, leading up to the December incursion by the Surpreme Court that finally installed Bush in the office he did not deserve.
It was not that I was then so much of a Gore partisan. After he made such a fool of himself in the debates I had some doubts about how suitable a President he would be, though I voted for him. And it was not so much that I found Bush such an objectionable choice, though I certainly did. What disturbed me so much about the events following the election of that year was the behavior of the rank and file Republican. After such a clearcut and obvious case of election fraud, I found it hard to believe that so many Republicans would stand at street corners making such fools of themselves and demanding that their candidate should take office without there ever being a proper count of the vote. In the back of my mind I was asking My God, what is happening to my country?
If the shoe were on the other foot, I thought, surely I would be just as strongly demanding proper process. I would be arguing for a proper count of the vote even if it would hurt the candidate I preferred. I really believed that I would.
However, the other day I asked myself how I now felt about this. After the utter disaster that the Bush administration has turned out to be and after seeing the dismantling of our Constitution, I had to admit to myself that winning at any cost seemed much more appealing than it did at the end of 2000. This was a shocking realization and I think it is one the we all need to resist. Let us not descend into behavior as exhibited by the Republicans shouting at street corners at the end of that year.
Proper process really is more important than outcome and that is what we should all seek to restore. This really is the only thing that can save our form of government. We all need to work for a clean vote-count and even more, for elections that the Carter center could approve. And we need to restore respect for and understanding of our Constitution.
