Déjà vu? Change the View!
November 2000. Gore gets 500,000+ more popular votes than Bush, but is denied a recount of flawed ‘hanging chads’ and ‘butterfly ballots’ in Florida. Florida’s Electoral College votes go to Bush. We are terribly disappointed, but good sports about it. Touch-screen digital voting machines are mandated by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) with subsidies for their purchase.
November 2004. The new touch screen machines are in use across the country. Most provide no printout of the vote. Kerry is projected as winner in the first few hours after polls close. At about 11 p.m., some observers claim they noticed the score in Ohio abruptly flip from 51-49 to 49-51. Amid some confusion in the US and utter disbelief abroad, Bush is elected to a 2nd term. Vote integrity groups spring up and identify other anomalies in the count vs prior and exit polls. The Greens and Libertarians chip in and call for a recount, but again, there’s no ‘paper trail.’ We are terribly disappointed, but Kerry, his staffers and the Dem party are gracious losers.
November 2008. Obama amplifies an inspired campaign with innovative use of online resources and sweeps into office with a Democratic House and Senate. He inherits a gutted economy and the seeds of a backlash coalition of racist, socially conservative, anti-government forces. But, with Dems also in office at the state level, some of the voting machine ‘glitches’ are corrected. We pass what laws we can. We are happy.
November 2012. Founded by Kerry’s nemesis, the Swiftboaters, and funded by oil billionaires, the backlash has become the Tea Party movement. It‘s pulled off a major 2010 midterm win at all levels and set about gerrymandering House districts. Congress is in gridlock and slow economic recovery unsettles working class voters. Obama squeaks by into his 2nd term. We are relieved.
November 2016. The Tea Party tries to look respectable and fields a remarkable number of candidates for the GOP nomination. Last man standing is tyro Trump, whose uninhibited use of hate-the-other rhetoric rivals the Tea Party’s and is envied by the unsettled. On the Dem side, Sanders talks issues, taps into the unsettled anger and brings a growing coterie of enthusiastic progressives. Polls say he’d trounce Trump, but the Dem establishment still holds the reins and plays it ‘safe’ with Clinton. Clinton runs a stand-up campaign and is predicted to win. Trump wins and overnight retracts his hair and his worst divisive rhetoric. We are confused, devastated, gob-stopped, but still hopeful when Podesta tells us to come back for news in the morning. In the morning, Clinton gives an eloquent concession speech. She’s a gracious loser. Déjà vu.
At first, most of us tried to process what had happened. We reached out to each other by phone and social media. We scanned the newsfeeds for some clue that would explain the void we felt. Some were heart-broken, some were scared. Some were heckled and worse by Trumpeters. Others admitted that they were really, really pissed off. In the US, they took to the streets in protest.
But next the day dawned, and it was still surreal. Party leaders sent out brave emails, graciously extolling inclusiveness and unity, calm heads and forgiving hearts. You hear Gandhi in those words. But Gandhi also marched to the sea. Shouldn’t we?
If you, like many of us, are tired of déjà vu, let’s talk about changing the view! Acting now, employing the remedies built into the US body of law, we can take our minds off the disappointment and set positive change in motion. – K. Lee, DAGR Chair, 2015-17
“Don’t agonize; organize” – PDA
Hillary Clinton Concession Speech
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/11/09/hillary-clinton-concession-full-speech.cnn
President Obama Full Speech on Trump Election Win
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr2USTE3L98
Trump Victory Speech w/into by Mike Pence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsvy10D5rtc
[articles following or to come]
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Secure the Vote
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Count Every Vote
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Petition the Electoral College to Use its Mandate
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Revise Electoral College Selection
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Prepare for a Tussle Ahead
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Get Involved in Democratic Activity