Critical Mass
During the Democratic National Convention, almost-president Albert Gore discussed life lessons learned from the 2000 election.
“The first lesson is this,” he said: “Take it from me — every vote counts. In our democracy, every vote has power. … Don’t let anyone take it away or talk you into throwing it away. And let’s make sure that this time, every vote is counted.”
Funny, Al, but I learned the opposite lesson in 2000. Every vote doesn’t count in America. Ask the tens of thousands of African Americans in Florida, whose votes still have absolutely no power. Ask the millions in regions where gerrymandering has predetermined most races. Ask the majority of Americans who voted for you, Al, whose votes didn’t make a lick of difference.
There is one place where every vote still has power: The U.S. Senate. When a joint session of the House and Senate met to formally award Florida’s electoral votes to Bush, members of the Congressional Black Caucus raised an objection. According to an 1887 law, the objection had to be signed by at least one senator. Any senator.
But not even one member of the Senate would sign.
Representative after representative came forward to call the election what it was — a fraud — and not a single senator would sign.
“I don’t care that it is not signed by a senator,” Rep. Maxine Waters said during the joint hearing.
“The chair would advise that the rules do care,” Gore answered, followed by laughter and applause. Nice job making sure every vote is counted. Do the rules care about election fraud, Al?
This sad episode epitomizes why real progressives hate the Democratic Party. For Democrats, the crime in Florida was the result: Gore lost the election. He was the victim. And Bush and his Republican cronies were the evildoers.
For progressives, the crime had nothing to do with the result. The crime was the illegal disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of innocent black citizens. Bush and his cronies are guilty, sure, but Gore is just as guilty for turning his back on the black community. All white politicians in the all-white U.S. Senate — including Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards — are guilty for refusing to support the Congressional Black Caucus and their attempt to stop the election.
Likewise, I partially blame the democrats in Congress for the war in Iraq, the USA PATRIOT Act, No Child Left Behind, the tax cuts and John Ashcroft’s confirmation.
If the Democrats aren’t willing to fight for what is right when it could weaken them politically, then what good are they? Who cares what they say or think when they aren’t willing to act on those beliefs or take responsibility for their horrendous votes?
Now the Greens for Kerry — yellow Greens as I call them — have conspired with the Democrats to destroy the progressive movement from within. I’ve watched the man who best represents my beliefs and values, Ralph Nader, kicked off the ballot in Oregon and unfairly attacked from the left.
When honkey-donkeys blame Nader for what happened in 2000, it is a slap in the face to the black community. Your outrage, progressive America, is misplaced, as usual. Part of President George W. Bush’s legacy, win or lose, will be that he set back the progressive movement at least a decade. And what has the progressive movement gained by falling on its sword?
According to Congressional Quarterly, Kerry supported Bush on 65 percent of votes in 2001, including the USA PATRIOT Act, which he still supports. I guess in a vote between 100 percent evil and 65 percent evil, the choice is clear. And although Kerry supported Bush in 72 percent of the votes in 2002, he became significantly less evil after he started running for president. In 2003, he dipped into the 30-percent range. And this year, he basically stopped voting altogether, participating in only 11 percent of the votes, as of the middle of July.
Unlike Al Gore, I will not begrudge those who choose to sit this election out or “throw their vote away” on Ralph Nader or any candidate who represents their beliefs. Nor will I waste an ounce of energy praising Kerry. If he is elected, I will give a sigh of relief, but I will not join my peers in celebration — I will not even crack a smile.
Instead, I will start down that long road toward rebuilding
the progressive movement, at every step, reminding my peers what a terrible mistake they have made by hitching their wagon to John Kerry’s star.
