During all the discussion over the election, I got nastily blasted by somebody I considered a friend for being a sheep and an oppressor because I am not out in the streets protesting. This person was all full of venom and fire that the candidate who got the majority of the popular vote may not get enough electoral votes and may therefore not win. He considers such a thing to be a theft of the presidency. I tried to point out that if we don't like the electoral college system, we can change the law and have it abolished, but he was having none of it. He got personal and nasty, and frankly I don't need that in my life.

Anyway, Ceridwen, whom I know from Daveworld wrote this post after some of us expressed embarrassment that the world is watching us go through this controversey. And it so much expressed what I was trying to say to this other person but failed.

I figure the rest of the world is watching, too, but I don't see anything scary in it. If they are paying attention, they are getting a lesson in democracy. They will see that even though the results of the election are being disputed, there can be a non-violent dispute, and a peaceful resolution.

We don't know yet who the next president will be, but we do still have a man in the White House who is on the job. The military is not out in the streets mowing down protestors on behalf of one side or the other. The issue is being debated--fervently, in some cases acrimoniously--in the media (dog bless Freedom of the Press) and, soon, in the Courts--because that is how our system works. There is no crisis here; the economy is not collapsing; blood is not running in the gutters; I am not going to bed fearing that I'm going to be dragged out into the street and shot because I supported one candidate over the other.

This is how we do things. The voting booth, the courts, the congress...we have the Constitution and our various state & local laws that prescribe remedies for those who think they are wronged. And no matter how the issue plays out in court in Florida, on December 18, our outdated "Electoral College" will meet, and vote, and on January 20, we will inaugurate the next president, whoever he may be.

Life will go on. Some people will be pleased with the outcome, and some will be disappointed. The Election will be the biggest story of the year in all those year-end summaries the newspapers do. The 2000 election will be in all the history books, because this is truly weird in the history of American politics.

I hope the world is watching.

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