Baaah, the same piece of white bread just got turned over... just as white
as the other side. Instead, the peanut butter used will be JIF instead of
SKIPPY. Hmmm. Big difference.
With a Senate and House practically split evenly among both "parties", and
a popular vote (amongst registered voters who voted) split the same way,
President Bore is most likely not going to rock the boat and will stay
the same boring center-right line just like the last one. Hell, look at
cnn.com right now, Bush is already making statements hinting at pandering
to Gore supporters. Sure.. words, shmords, but all of this even before
the election is officially decided.
Interestingly enough, Gore supporters in California may have created a
case such that Gore will win by popular vote, but Bush will win by
electoral votes...(the latter of which obviously matters)
The last time such a thing happened was back in 1888, when Grover
Cleveland (Democrat; winner of popular vote) lost to Benjamin Harrison
(Republican; winner of electoral votes).
BUT FUCK ALL OF THAT!
Who gets elected president means diddly shit. Most of the time, the
president is either a muppet, a burning effigy in other countries, or just
a punching bag for those who affiliate themselves with the opposing
"party". It's your local representatives and those state, county, city,
propositions that make more of a difference for you.
For example, in California, I'm elated that Props 36 and Props 39 are
looking to win. Prop 36 proposes that one who has been convicted of a
non-violent drug possession crime can go immediately on probation and drug
treatment, as opposed to going to jail. A small move, but a small, good
move. (And I'm actually surprised that conservative Orange County voted
more in favor of this one, on average, than most of the rest of
California). Prop 39 proproses that school bond measure need only a 55%
vote (and not 66%) to pass.
But my final words... (thanks to much discussion with my roommate about
all of this)
As much as a lot of screwed up laws have been passed, and a lot of worthy
bills have been muted, we have made some amazing progress since 100 years
ago...
The idea of a (gasp!) female attorney general would be unthinkable 50
years ago. Or just the idea that we are quickly losing the preconception
of women "thinking differently" or "being weaker than" men.
We have two states in the U.S. (one of which is, at least, very close to)
that have legalized marriages between people of the same sex. Slow
progress here, but progress nevertheless.
Did any of us envision that we'd be all chatting with each other about
sharing a passion for disjunct electronic music on computers back when
Clinton was first elected?
Progress happens, and shit happens... no matter who's president throughout
the years.
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Brian MacDonald <brianm@kuci.org>
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