This past week, a posse of internet screamers who clearly don't like the idea of an uppity Brit questioning the legitimacy of George W Bush's first election took it upon themselves to denounce me as a "conspiracy journalist", a "left-wing hack" and a bare-faced liar.
The occasion for their fury was a book I've written chronicling, and attempting to explain, the inability of the world's most powerful democracy to conduct fair and transparent elections by any recognisable international standard. It came as no surprise that some people would find the premise of the book troubling, even offensive. My conclusions are hardly tender towards voting machine manufacturers, local and state election officials, or indeed the entire two-party system that underpins US politics.
No shit! It does not take a Rocket Scientist to recognize that something stinks in our election system. With so many terrible things coming out of the Bush administration one cannot stop the anger from rising when they think about the 2000 election and the underhanded techniques the Republicans used to steal it.
It is, or should be, beyond dispute that the Florida election was fought dirtily and that there is at least a case to be made that the wrong man ended up in the Oval Office. Contrary to received wisdom, the problem was not ultimately with deficient voting machines or even the respective merits and demerits of the Republican and Democratic causes. What Florida suggested - and continues to suggest - is that the very foundation of the American democratic system is corrupted and rotten. And that's a reality many Americans may not yet be ready to confront.
Why do we not talk about this anymore? Are we afraid to be labeled "poor losers" or "conspiracy theorists"? You know I am less concerned with what the other side wants to label me then I am in making sure these things never happen again!
Why would the Republicans abandon the immoral and illegal methods that worked for them in the past two elections? There has never been one person prosecuted or any real negative ramifications for this despicable behavior. If the Democrats don't locate their nut sack and start demanding answers to the hard questions then they might as well just stop running for office in this country.
Corruption does not end until it is exposed to the light. I have my spotlight charged up, how about you?
