Suicide by Ballot

[Guest guest]

http://magic-city-news.com/article_2401.shtml

 

Magic City Morning Star

 

 

Suicide by Ballot

By Charles Cutter (www.cuttersway.com)

Nov 4, 2004, 16:21

 

 

Police officers are familiar with the phenomenon whereby an individual

- through despair, desperation, and/or insanity - orchestrates an

event that forces the police to end their life. The technical term is

" victim precipitated homicide. "

 

The police call it " suicide by cop. "

 

Examining the results of the presidential race, we're now faced with

an electorate - motivated by a combination of fear, hatred, and

religious/cultural intolerance - that seek to destroy the very heart

of our democracy through the voting booth.

 

Let's call it " suicide by ballot. "

 

Fifty-nine million Americans - a slight but sufficient majority - will

not have the luxury to claim retroactive ignorance in the years to

come. George W. Bush, in his first term as president, showed us his

vision of America - where capitalism means corporate welfare and

unbridled greed, where U.S. soldiers are handmaidens to Halliburton,

where the anti-abortion candidate slaughters Iraqi children. With

another term in office - coupled with Republican gains in the House

and Senate, and the attendant freedom to replace retiring Supreme

Court justices with radical activists - America's dark fate has been

sealed for decades to come.

 

It's the will of the slim majority. As New York Times columnist Thomas

Friedman writes, the Bush supporters " don't just favor different

policies than I do - they favor a whole different kind of America. We

don't just disagree on what America should be doing; we disagree on

what America is. "

 

Who are these people?

 

They support the separation of church and state in matters of

taxation, but believe we should have Christian prayers and the Ten

Commandments in public schools and courtrooms. They believe in God and

Jesus and a blissful afterlife in Heaven, but are irrationally afraid

of facing death in a terrorist attack.

 

They believe the government has no business keeping track of gun

purchases, but it's okay for the Justice Department to monitor your

medical history and check your library interests, to search your house

without your knowledge. They argue for " less government interference "

in people's lives, while simultaneously arguing that women should be

legally forced to endure a full-term pregnancy, and that gay Americans

should be denied their civil rights.

 

Indeed, homophobia runs rampant throughout this country and is a major

issue among Mr. Bush's constituency. On Tuesday, proposed state

constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages passed

overwhelmingly everywhere they appeared on the ballot. Nine of these

states voted in favor of Mr. Bush, while in the other two - Oregon and

Michigan - the measures passed, but with significantly smaller margins

of victory.

 

The key state was Ohio, where Mr. Bush's slim majority - which put him

over the top electorally - may well have been the result of the

anti-gay measure. It's been credited with the strong Republican

turnout in the areas of the state dominated by evangelical Christians.

 

The so-called " cultural divide " may, in fact, be unbridgeable.

 

A Kerry campaign worker in West Virginia, working door-to-door,

reported an encounter with a six year old girl. Upon seeing the " Kerry

for President " literature, the child said, " He's the man that kills

babies, " a reference to Mr. Kerry's pro-choice stance. Obviously

indoctrinated by her parents, this illustrates the enormity of the

challenge: How do you reason with people who embrace both Mr. Bush's

pro-life rhetoric and his " bring-it-on " bloodlust?

 

In Ray Bradbury's prescient short story, " A Sound of Thunder, " several

time travelers take a trip to the age of dinosaurs. They depart just

after a presidential election, celebrating the loss of an extreme

right-wing candidate: " 'If Deutscher had gotten in, we'd have the

worst kind of dictatorship. There's an anti-everything man for you, a

militarist…anti-human, anti-intellectual…' " While in the past, one man

inadvertently steps on an insect, setting forth a chain of events over

millions of years. When the men return to the present, they find an

altered world, an America leaning toward fascism. Asking who won the

election, they're told, " 'You know damn well. Deutscher, of course!

Who else? Not that damn weakling Keith. We got an iron man now, a man

with guts, by God! "

 

Mr. Bradbury suggests that humanity's core of decency is a fragile

thing, that seemingly minor events create opportunities for

catastrophic change.

 

In his story, it all begins with the death of an insect.

 

Specifically, a butterfly.

 

In Palm Beach County, Florida, in 2000, candidate Pat Buchanan

received an unexpected 3,407 votes. Even he admitted it was a mistake,

the result of a confusing ballot; most of the votes were obviously

intended for Al Gore.

 

Those votes were far more than needed to tip the election away from

George W. Bush.

 

And this would have meant no war with Iraq, which would have meant

thousands of people still living who have since been brutally killed.

It's reasonable to speculate that we would have seen the capture or

killing of Osama bin Laden. Certainly - barring the Iraq war and Mr.

Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy - we would not be facing record budget

deficits as far as the eye can see.

 

All resulting from a clumsy ballot layout.

 

Specifically, the infamous " butterfly " ballot.

 

A seemingly small thing, but the impact is immeasurable - and it's

only starting.

 

And it didn't take millions of years.

 

© Copyright 2002, 2003, 2004 by Magic City Morning Star