Will We Let Them Steal the Election Again?

In 2000 George W. Bush stole the US presidential election.

In the very close Florida race many people of color were deliberately disenfranchised. Others, thanks to various irregularities, had their votes negated.

With those votes Al Gore — who had already won the popular US vote — would also have won Florida’s delegates and therefore the Electoral College vote. Instead, before the Florida vote could be properly counted, the Supreme Court declared Mr. Bush president.

Caught off guard, US Americans found no effective way to contest that cynical and partisan decision. In 2004 there is no excuse for being caught off guard. We now know how the Bush crowd operates.

In 2000 Gore and Democratic Congressmembers acquiesced to the Supreme Court’s decision. The Democratic Party was beholden to corporate backers who probably preferred Bush anyway. Ominously, the Democrats have yet to retrieve their party’s soul from those same backers.

That same year elections were also stolen in Yugoslavia and Peru. In both countries, however, citizens took to the streets in massive numbers, eventually reclaiming their vote…and their national integrity.

In 2000 some of us declared, “It doesn’t matter: the two main parties and their candidates are tweedledum and tweedledee.” Given the past four years, however, it’s now obvious we were wrong.

Compared to 9/11, the brazen theft of the 2000 election did far more harm to the US. Few, if any, administrations in US history have so scorned truth or the democratic process. Bush Inc. has wrapped itself in secrecy. It has defiled the US body politic. It has eroded our quality of life, and the quality of political discourse. Its tax thievery has redistributed vast income from the poor and middle class to the already obscenely rich. (See pages 8-9 for a more extended indictment.)

Bush Inc.’s illegal invasions, occupations and regime changes in Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan, prove that the US has become totally shameless about being the world’s bully and thug. The world is now a dangerous place for US Americans.

Voting Is Not Enough
The men (and a woman) of Bush Inc. embody an ideology of greed and dominance hostile to sentient life on this planet.

Having tasted near absolute power, Bush, Inc. is determined to retain that power…regardless of who wins the November election. Knowing that once they are out of office they can more easily be prosecuted for war crimes raises the stakes.

But before war crimes trials, the more immediate strategic priority is to assure that the upcoming election and vote tally are legitimate. Without vigilance, a second coup is likely. We must do all we can to protect this election.

Nonviolently Resisting a Stolen Election
If there appears to be another stolen election, we call on Central New Yorkers — with others across the nation — to stand up and nonviolently resist a second coup.

The Syracuse Peace Council is committed to organizing such a campaign locally and is supporting the national call to action aptly named, “This Time We’re Watching,” <www.ttww.org>.

In the meantime keep early November open for hitting the streets here and in Washington, DC.

Let’s not blow it again.

The stakes are too high.

-the PNL Editorial Committee and the Syracuse Peace Council
Steering Committee