HAIL TO THE THIEF
By Ronald C. Tobin
On Tuesday, 7 November 2000, the United States held its every four-year "beauty contest," the Presidential Election.  Normally, either the Democratic contender or the Republican contender gets a large enough margin of votes in a sufficient number of states with a sufficient number of Electoral College votes to be declared the winner.  Due to how the system is rigged, the candidates for other parties (Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Reform, etc.) do not really matter in this equation save possibly as spoilers.  In cases of close elections, one wakes up the next morning and finds out who the next President-Dictator will be.  Such has been the way this ridiculous business has worked in my lifetime.
Well, when I woke up on the 8th of November, the contest between Bush and Gore still had not been settled.  Somehow, the vote in Florida (whose governor is none other than George W.'s brother Jeb) was too close to call (this after the state had first been called for Gore, then changed to Bush, then put into 'too close to call').  Gross irregularities were alleged.  An automatic recount by machine cut Bush's lead in Florida from about 1700 votes to just a shade above 300 votes. [At this point, the Al Gore camp should have called for a manual recount of all the ballots from all of the counties in Florida, instead of going to the method they did use (being selective).] Some elderly folks in West Palm Beach County actually said they had been confused by the 'butterfly ballot' and had voted for Pat Buchanan when they had meant to vote for Gore (these are the same people who can keep flawless track of several bingo cards).
We all know what happened after that.  The lawyers came in, suits were filed, accusations flew.  Nationwide, Gore had clearly won the popular vote (provided the data was correct, some are questioning that), but, without Florida, he fell short in the Electoral College.  On the other hand, Bush's only hope to become the 43rd President-Dictator was to prevail in Florida and get its 25 electoral votes, thus giving him 271 such votes -- one more than the minimum needed to win.
So, after five weeks worth of posturing, looking at chads and ballot dimples, shipping said ballots via Ryder trucks across the state of Florida, getting conflicting court rulings, starting and stopping hand recounts in selected counties, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of George W. Bush, thus they effectively handed him the election. Gore conceded on 13 December 2000, giving a rather good speech (politically speaking), and he ended by saying it was time for him to go.  Which he did, in fact, do.
To be blunt, I could have cared less, which of those alleged gentlemen ended up in the Oval Office.  As far as I am concerned, Bush and Gore are equally evil, just different.  That Bush won the Electoral vote and not the popular vote was a historic anomaly, it was bound to happen eventually.  This situation did get people more interested in the Electoral College, and it did manage to make still more people very disillusioned about politics and voting.  This should help swell the ranks of anarchists, libertarians, and others who have no love for this monstrous joke, the kakistocracy of an oligarchy that calls itself a republic.
So, to ridicule President-Dictator George W. Bush: He is definitely not very bright (how's that for an understatement).  He appears to be even more out of touch with reality than Clinton was.  He very likely only received the kind of financial support he did because of his more famous -- and more intelligent -- father.  He has the charisma of a dead cat, and I find him to be about as interesting as common beach sand. I am quite certain there will be no sex scandals in his Administration.  Shady business deals and political gridlock are quite likely.  George W. Bush truly bores me.
Would Gore have been a better choice?  No, just different.  Gore is very intelligent, which makes him a dangerous politician.  He would have tried to push through an aggressive social agenda, further expanding the blasted welfare state.  Due to the evenly divided Congress, he too would have likely faced political gridlock, which Gore would have found difficult to stomach.  I really hope that he stays home in 2004.
I think the bottom line for anarchists and fellow travelers to remember is that the only good President is no President at all.  Some people tried to convince me to vote for Gore, because Bush's election would mean the end of freedom and the creation of the police state.  Well, my message to all of them was it made no difference, the police state was already here.  Gore would have put a friendly face on it, while he sent out the stormtroopers to seize the weapons of the citizens.  Bush will rail about abortion but he does not have the political clout to do much else.
In conclusion, I think we all need to redirect our attention to the ultimate goal -- the creation of the stateless society, the end of formal government.  Being sidetracked by the sideshows of the Republic, hoping for some progress because someone gets elected President-Dictator, is really a waste of time and effort.  Education and persuasion, change through evolution, really is not effective in the political arena, and that does take a more generational outlook.
						"HAIL TO THE THIEF!'
Praise the fates it is done and over with!  All together, now:
Ronald C. Tobin
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