COASTAL POST
(415)868 1600 FAX (415) 868 0502
P.O. Box 31
Bolinas CA 94924
http://www.coastalpost.com
email: [log in to unmask]
December,2000
Who Cares?
The permanent campaign has become the eternal vote count, creating
equal amounts of hysteria , hilarity, boredom and disgust. America’s
short attention span is being sorely tested by our closest presidential
election, which has become a battle between the ruling party's hired
shysters.
The nation’s richest lawyers have lined up at the financial feeding
trough for a litigation frenzy that may last until the next election.
Media information spinners are offering breathless and often brainless
coverage and analysis, but some good may come of this mess.
We may finally change our antiquated electoral system, which is shamed
by other nations with procedures that work more smoothly and
democratically. Our politics are already corrupted by money, and now
that the dreadful condition of our election process has been revealed,
there may be less tolerance for our imperial rulers telling other people
how to achieve what we don’t have: democracy.
The global community is having great fun, with South Africa , Serbia and
Cuba offering to send us election advisors. TV comics hope this farce
goes on forever, and anarchists love having “nobody” for president.
The ironies are numerous, and humorous.
A boring race between a biogenetic pro-government drone and an
intellectually challenged anti-government clone was transformed into an
exciting vote count, for a while . Democrat William Daley complained
about voting irregularities. He is the son of Chicago mayor Richard
Daley, who created affirmative action programs for zombies, featuring
an annual parade of footprints from the cemetery to the ballot box on
election day.
Republican supporters of state’s rights went to federal court to stop
the state from recounting , while Democratic supporters of federalism
professed more faith in Florida than in the USA.
For all the squabbling about dimpled and pregnant chads, and machine or
hand counting , history may simply remember the outgoing president as
being impeached for a blow-job in the white house, and the incoming
president for being elected by a hand-job in Florida.
And the American presidency will be decided by a state that has
thousands of voters who care more about foreign countries - Cuba and
Israel - than they do about the USA.
Every national election is filled with errors, lost ballots, confused
voters and bigotry. This one was no different. It is only the closeness
of the vote that has focused attention on imperfections, but not the
right ones.
The hole in our ozone is tiny compared to the gaping wound suffered by
our democracy, but that wound was not inflicted by confusing ballots,
corrupt officials or ignorant voters. Democracy was savaged by the
corporate party, when it denied Americans the right to hear opposing
viewpoints from Nader and Buchanan in the debates.
The recount controversy has temporarily halted the Democratic hate
campaign against Nader. Despite personal slurs and a fear crusade that
had many believing their vote for him would bring Nazis to power, he got
2.7 million votes, while spending only seven million dollars .
Goreberman spent that much on TV ads in Michigan alone, and Bushney may
have spent more than that on lunch for their staff.
While some Democratic “leaders” were trashing Nader because his
campaign was seen as too white, the Democrat’s may have been defeated by
their own racism .
The “new” Democrats criminal crusade that locked up thousands of Blacks
for non-violent offenses damaged their candidates far more than Nader.
13 percent of Black men can’t vote because of past convictions, and
those who served their time and went on to lead productive lives could
have provided the victory margin for Al Gore and the Democrats , had
they had been allowed to vote.
Along with our racism, our social priorities become crystal clear in
this fiasco: in the USA, shopping and driving are far more important
than voting.
We maintain a multi-trillion dollar credit system , accurately
tabulating balances while enabling millions to over-consume, often
without leaving their homes; why can’t we create an easy, accurate
voting system?
We provide ATM machines that balance accounts and produce cash when
operated by consumers properly trained in their use; why can’t we
educate people to use ballots and voting machines with the same
proficiency?
We transport billions of gallons of gasoline to fuel pumps all over
america, have citizens operate those pumps to fill their polluters,
and bill them to the penny; why can’t we enable those same citizens to
go to a polling place, be quickly and easily registered , and have their
votes tabulated without a mistake?
Welcome to the marketplace, where democracy is more expensive than
consumer goods , and more difficult to find than a parking space at
the corporate mall.
Make no mistake, whichever of these weaklings assumes the presidency,
it is the corporadoes who have won. Their foreign policy will assure
that military spending increases, innocent people die in unjust wars,
and the Israeli occupied territories still include the West Bank,
Gaza, Congress and the White House.
They will continue selling drugs that play profit roulette with our
nervous systems ; they will continue peddling biogenetic food products
that treat our digestive systems as a merchandise mart ; and they will
continue using our democracy as a contested turf among their hired
hands, in this and all elections that pit one gang of the corporate
mafia against another in a battle for territorial control. Until we
claim control of that territory, which is our bodies, our souls and our
nation, these dope dealers, polluters and murderers will go on
contaminating it with their political, economic and moral savagery.
Enjoy your holiday dinners, but don’t expect much from the turkey in the
White House. When we finally give “the bird” to the system he serves,
we’ll all be able to enjoy a real season of peace. Meanwhile, drive, and
shop, carefully.
Copyright (c) 2000 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.
This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author
.
frank scott
email: [log in to unmask]
225 laurel place, san rafael ca. 94901
(415)457 2415 fax(415)457 4791
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