Posted by Spike on November 19, 2000 at 08:06:17:
An Open Letter to George W. Bush
Mr. Bush:
The people have spoken. As of this moment (12:17 AM, Monday, November 13, 2000), Vice-President Al Gore leads the popular vote in the 2000 American Presidential election by more than 233,000 votes. The president has been chosen, and it's not you.
In any normal, rational, civilized society, this would mean that the election is over. Unfortunately, in America we choose to circumvent rational thought with something called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is part of the government, something put in place to insulate elected leaders from decisions they believe us too stupid or uninformed to make, whereas the popular vote is truly the voice of the citizens. Are you saying that the voice of the government is MORE IMPORTANT to you than the voice of your fellow countrymen? Do you REALLY want to look us in the eye and tell us our vote doesn't matter? Because that's what your taking office means......it says that the votes of 270 partisan party loyalists outweigh what forty-nine million taxpayers think.
(As a side note, it should be stated that people who use the phrase, "Bush won the Electoral College" are usually high-school dropouts---you won no such thing; the Electors are allowed to vote for whomever their conscience dictates. Nothing in the Constitution mandates that the members of the Electoral College vote for YOU. It is COMPLETELY AND PERFECTLY LEGAL for the Electoral College members to even now elect Al Gore, thus truly following the will of the people.)
Now, look. I didn't vote for Al Gore. Hell, I don't even LIKE Al Gore. The thought of Al Gore as president is about as appealing as a mayonnaise soda, but that's not the point. The point is that a large group of people DID vote for him....a bigger group than voted for anyone else, including you. Even if you win Florida, New Mexico, Oregon,
AND all those supposed "absentee ballots", you're STILL behind, okay? You DIDN'T MAKE IT. You got reamed by a knucklehead from Tennessee, and normally that would only be your problem, but now it's ours, too, because every day we have to spend listening to this is another day we're reminded of the governemnt's moumental incompentence.
Most of us suspect that pride and human nature won't let you admit defeat, and that you'll spend an eternity of your time and money contesting this election, but all that will do is to further convince the us of what we already suspected: that politicians are petty little thugs who put their own careers ahead of the county. Be the better man...prove us all wrong, admit that we voted against you, and step down. We'll all feel better for it, and hell, who knows? Some of us may even respect you when it's over. At the very least, you'll be keeping one of your election-time promises...to "follow the will of the people". This is a good way to start.
Cordially,
Rick Emerson...and the other 279,999,999 citizens of the United States of America