Delusions of Honesty
Within hours of Senator Kerry’s concession speach I received an email that claimed to offer solid proof of Republican cheating in districts with electronic voting. Disgruntled Democrats drew this specious conclusion from the discrepancy between early exit poll reports and final vote counts.
I had to wonder, can a Democrat ever lose an election without whining about being cheated? Must they prove time and again they are the party that perfected whining as a political strategy? I know it’s what I should expect from a mob that revels in the politics of envy, admires compulsory compassion and embraces sniveling victimhood like a drunk hugging a lamp post, but couldn’t they surprise me, just once, with some style and grace? Couldn’t the Dems snatch up their tie-dyed T-shirts for a second to flash us the truth: “They Cheated Better Than We Did.”
That electronic voting offers fertile ground for fraud is certain. That party machines have cheated in elections is beyond dispute. That Republicans have a lock on voter fraud is a liberal fantasy. Win or lose Democrats are routinely overwhelmed by delusions of honesty.
Democrats have stolen more than one election by cramming ballot boxes with votes sent from beyond the grave or paid for with a cold beer. JFK would have lost to Nixon had Chicago’s wildly corrupt mayor, Richard Daley, not cheated so successfully in Cook County.
In this campaign Democrats swapped fraudulent registration forms for crack in Colorado and registered Dick Tracy and Mary Poppins in Ohio. In South Carolina the hyper-sexist abortion lobby at Emily's List phoned registered Republicans to provide false information about the location of polling places.
When exit polls don't match final counts there is more than one way to explain the difference. Without saying that electronic voting fraud is impossible, or even unlikely, there are other possibilities. Experts in both parties know that early exit poll results can influence later votes. They know people prefer to vote for winners. Could party bosses have learned where AP exit polls were scheduled and had supporters there vote early to gain a lead in exit polls? Stranger things have happened and less ethical.
But let's assume for a moment that Republicans somehow cheated and Kerry would have carried Ohio and thus won in the Electoral College vote with an honest count. He would still have lost the popular vote. Would he have graciously declined the presidency because the will of the people had been thwarted by an archaic, undemocratic system? Would Democrats have insisted that Bush stay in the White House because he had won a popular majority? Or would they have discovered a renewed admiration for the wisdom of the Founders and the fairness of the Electoral College? I can almost hear John Kerry singing the praises of James Madison now. I could die happy having heard Mr. Kerry quote Madison on democracy:
“Democracy is the most vile form of government... democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention: have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property: and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths”
Democrats have no real concern for the preferences of the majority. Neither do Republicans. Both parties dance with the painted whore, Democracy, because she will take them out into the garden of power. Your well being, happiness and prosperity are far from the mind of any poll who feels the hot breath of Democracy on his neck and hears her whispered promises. Respect for individual liberty, private property, and the rule of law has been routed by the ravening forces of democracy. A paper thin majority is a mandate to loot, boss around, humiliate, and control supporters and opponents alike. Though opponents are more likely to be disproportionately fleeced, everybody pays in the end.
Progressive busy bodies should not despair, however. Democrats will get their chance. "W" has the bad luck to be president at the beginning of a sea change in social mood as indicated by the beginning of a mighty bear market on Wall St.
History has not been kind to bear market presidents. Hoover, Ford and Carter are good examples. All decent men and able leaders who were unlucky enough to have been president during bear markets and who enjoy historic obscurity because of it.
Nixon's landslide reelection early in the great bear market of the 70's may be instructive for Mr. Bush. The market rose until just before his inauguration then fell more than it had in 40 years. Look what happened to him.
As the biggest credit bubble in human history deflates, Americans will want a change of leaders. The Democrats, most likely and most regrettably HILLORY! will have plenty of time and little opposition to turning the Sweet Land of Liberty into a legalistic, "progressive" prison camp. That is if Mr. Bush doesn't turn it into a theocratic, neo-conservative, world-conquering prison camp first.