One of the really great outcomes of the 2000 election debacle is that the Voter News Service(VNS),a monoculture cartel consisting of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and The Associated Press , is dismantling their operations. VNS was responsible for the bad information that made all the talking heads look like idiots and sent the 2000 election into a legal quagmire. Needless to say, beyond the issue of statistical accuracy, the talking heads likely buried it with a personal vengeance.
By morning, we’ll know how many lawsuits are being filed over contested votes in our USAmerican elections. At least seven races are predicted to wind up in court. We think that is a very conservative prediction.
As Tocqueville observed in his classic Democracy in America, Americans solve their social problems using the legal system. It’s an ugly and expensive way to improve social, political and civil matters but the law has historically, more often than not, lived up to its special responsibility of being the final word on how American society corrects any given problem.
While we may exhibit boundless cynicism between the legal fallout that is certain to begin immediately after poll closing and the actual repair of democracy in the US, we are confident that the system will correct itself and provide a stronger election system in 2004. We will know that we have a system of integrity when the city of Miami can go through an entire election cycle without blinding evidence of corruption.
Start counting the days. Legitimate democracy is coming soon.
Another great outcome of the 2000 election debacle is that the broadcast media seems to have taken off the turban, the sequin cape and decided that it, along with the crystal ball, should go back into the garage. It is 6:40 p.m. EST as this sentence is written and the media continues to be remarkably restrained.
Of course, the polls haven’t closed yet and the night is young. We, however, will not give up our optimism until something stupid actually happens.
So break out the nachos and salsa while reminding your roommates that yelling at the TV is not simply normal but a vital aspect of your daily health regimen. Flip the remote between all members of the media cartel until the people around you are ready to kill you or your eyes melt out of your head.
Whichever comes first.
