Galen Hekhuis wrote in message . ..
On 19 Nov 2004 17:23:43 -0800, (Tinkerntom) wrote:
It is the core, that is important, and yet the Dems still don't get
it. It was said for months before the election that they were lacking
core issues.... But who wasn't listening then? Are you listening now?
Can you accept what I say just because I say it, or because it is true
fact, the Dems lost!!
Sorry to use this post in particular, but it kind of touched on something
that seemingly most people are not aware of. I know many pundits and
newscasters say so, but according to the US Constitution (which I think is
rather binding in this case) the election is NOT over. To be sure, many of
the ballots have been cast and counted for the popular vote, but the
election is not over until early January, I think it is the 6th when the VP
(Cheney) reports the results of the electoral college or something like
that. As far as votes that remain to be counted, among those that remain
are the absentee ballots from the troops overseas. I find it to be
somewhat ironic that many of those who urge that folks "support the troops"
are frequently among those who seemingly do not care that the military
absentee votes are considered to be insignificant. The most common reason
I hear for such disenfranchisement is that it "wouldn't change the outcome
anyway." The hell it wouldn't! It might well add to Bush's tally, and
make a serious increase in the mandate he claims. On the other hand, it
would be rather telling if the troops in the field overwhelmingly didn't
vote for Bush. Either way, we won't ever know anything about it unless
people insist that their votes, along with every American's vote, is
counted. If our troops are dying overseas for (among other things) the
right to vote, the very least we can do here is insist that their votes be
counted. One thing we can do at home as Americans to ensure that troops
(fighting for freedom -- remember?) will not have died in vain is to insist
on free and fair elections here.
Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
Guns don't kill people, religions do
Hi Galen, I appreciate your reminding us of this point of order. We
live in a Constitutional Democratic Republic. Law and Order rules the
day. We do not run our country with tanks on the street corner
politics, and town square coups. We count votes. Sort of arcane, but
it works. I expect that all the votes will be counted, so that all
the votes will count, even the absentee votes of the troops. But in
considering the current tally, and the remaining to be tallied, even
John Kerry conceded that he could not win the election. In conceding,
he promotes a smooth continuation of the Democratic process.
The electoral college was established to assure this process as well.
If all our computers crashed, and all the chads got hung, the process
would continue to all of our mutual benefit. Would we be confortable
while the wheels creaked and growned under the weight, probably not,
but we would survive to vote another day.
We do not live in a pure democracy where each vote is applied directly
to the tally for electing our President. We have been taught from
grade school the virtue of Democracy, and that sells good in public
opinion, and POP politics. One of the processes going on in our venue,
is the democratic popular vote, but it is only a part of the process.
The electoral college was established in a time when instaneous, and
simulteously reported results were not possible. Now with all our
gadgets, it seems it should be possible, but the reality is that
things still don't work out the way they should. So that part of the
process is still necessary, and works. I look forward to Jan 6, or
20th, when you give your concession speech, if you want to wait that
long.
Respectfully, Tinkerntom, aka KnesisKnosis, Life, Live it!