The 2004 Election: Another Step Away From...
In the 1960 Presidential Election, John F. Kennedy defeated Richard M. Nixon by about 120,000 votes, about a third of one percent. Nixon lost in Texas by 46,000 votes, by 8,000 in Illinois where he had been far ahead until a phone call from Arnold Schwarzenegger's late father-in-law(1) brought out the cemetery vote in Chicago. Funny-business was observed in several places but what little post-election legal actions the Republicans took were largely stone-walled by Democratic machine judges and election officials.
What did Richard Nixon do even though The Kennedys with the help of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Daley had stolen the election? He conceded defeat, offered his full support to the president-elect and sent JFK a telegram to which the latter reacted by saying that Nixon had "no class."
Actually, Nixon had a lot of class. He was mad as Hell, of course, but he took his loss for the good of the country, not wanting to tear it apart. Yes, the evil, dastardly Richard Nixon put American civilization above his own ambitions. He knew that far worse than stealing an election was making it widely known--and then expected--that elections can be stolen. Because this emboldens those who think that it's OK for elections to be stolen. It sets a precedent upon which more mischief can be built. Then we start stepping away from the orderly, peaceful transfer of power--in which the losers are good sports and wait until next time--that has characterized our government for over 200 years.
We have already started stepping away with this wehrmacht of lawyers mobilized, ready to march into courts with challenges to the 2004 election. Unelecting a governor of California was another step, too. That was done in retaliation for the fuss made in Florida in 2000. Tit-for-tat has taken over. In the old days, politicians made an effort to get along, to bury hatchets quickly for their own mutual benefit, of course, not for the country's. Even the venal could see the value of civility, cooperation, getting over it. You may need your foe of this week as an ally next week.
Declining standards of civility and respectability are partly causes of ebbing political civility, but I believe the bigger reason is apathy. The only people who have been interested in politics lately, until this year, are the hard-core foamers-at-the-mouth, the kind who clean their plates eating up the latest about Kerry's or Bush's military service at every meal, day in, day out without getting sick of it. These people write the checks for the campaigns, PACs and 527s, too. Getting elected is now as much about raising money as it is about getting votes. If you wonder why the campaigns have dwelt so much on topics that you don't care about--like stuff that happened 35 years ago--it's to get the overdosed political junkies to write more checks.
At any rate, the crooks who get ahead in democracy have realized that they don't even have to hoodwink the mob to gain power. They can just go to court. Someday they may be able to gain office by causing riots and using force. Every American election will be a period of turmoil, a coup of litigation if not of arms. Our terrorist enemies could not wish for more.
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(1)This was R. Sergeant Shriver
Copyright © 2004 by Neal J. Conway. All rights reserved.