WILLIAM RIVERS PITT

A Time For War, A Call To Arms

"And the king said, 'Bring me a sword.' And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, 'Divide the living child in two, and give the half to one, and half to the other.' Then spake the woman whose the living child was, and she said, 'O my lord, give her the living child, and in no way slay it.' The other woman said, 'Let it be neither mine nor hers, but divide it.' Then the king answered and said, 'Give her the child, and in no way slay it; she is the mother.'"

- I Kings 3:24-27

The sun rose this morning on a political battlefield. Sometimes, in extremis, you have to reach for the Bible to get your feet back on the ground.

I gave up on this deathmarch of an election several days ago, after that lower court judge spewed out an obscure ruling regarding the discretion of Secretary of State Harris. That ruling guaranteed further madness and litigation, I believed, and I was proven correct. When she stated she would certify the votes without including the recounted ballots last Friday morning, I thought the game was over.

But then the Supreme Court checked in and stopped her in her tracks. The recounts would continue, and Harris was enjoined from certifying anything. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that same day denied a Bush appeal regarding the legality of the recounts in general. In fact, they refused to hear his weak arguments altogether.

Suddenly I was forced to pay attention again, because the hypocrites were becoming altogether too much. The GOP has been railing against recounting votes in four supposedly Democratic counties, utterly ignoring the fact that it was their tactical blunder that put them in such an odious position. Had they called for their own recounts within the allotted time, as the Democrats did, they would now be counting votes in their own friendly counties.

They failed to do so, and thus they have been forced to spew the common fiction of the day: the Democrats are unfair in asking for their recount, hand-counted ballots are inaccurate (stunning how the country labored through almost a century and a half of counting votes in this manner and somehow survived). In tandem, they ran out Secretary of State Harris to short-circuit any counting and end the election. For those of you playing along at home, any Secretary of State is the representative of the executive branch. Harris is a vassal of Governor Jeb Bush, and by proxy a vassal of Governor George W. Bush. This from the candidate who trusts the people, the candidate who has been demanding adherence to the rule of law.

Claims that she was able to be above partisanship were the height of absurdity. Harris was there to repair the damage from the aforementioned tactical blunder; no more, no less. The 11th circuit Federal Court of Appeals, perhaps the most conservative court in the land, denied Bush the opportunity to stop the recounts. The Florida Supreme Court, a filthy nest of liberals if the GOP propaganda is to be believed, has buttressed this by demanding that Harris include any votes revealed in the recount in the final tally. The Bush people today are harping on the decision of latter court, yet ignoring the decision of the former.

Their claims of partisanship sully the judicial branch, and this hypocrisy is augmented by the fact that they lost before that conservative Federal court. By their twisted logic, that Federal court should have ruled in their favor, because they share a political ideology with Bush.

Has anyone noticed that Bush always loses when he steps into a courtroom? The surface impression one receives is that Gore’s lawyers are simply better, but this misses some crucial facts. The arguments made by Bush's publicity people would be laughed right out of a courtroom, so whatever strides they make in the court of public opinion are gutted by defeats in the court of ultimate decision. An example: Bush has been saying for days that the loosening of recount standards is basically criminal, and carried this argument to court. They have also been claiming in front of cameras that overseas absentee ballots - putatively from soldiers but in reality from all sorts of scattered Americans - should be given a wider latitude in their counting.

This is feeding public outrage, but was not mentioned before the Florida Supreme Court. Why? If they want loosened standers for the absentee ballots, there must be similarly loosened standards applied to ballots cast in Florida. This would work against them, so they do not mention it before a judge. Instead, they send attack dogs like James Baker to whip up the populace.

I am still naive enough to believe in the essential purity of the judicial system. If an argument that scores political points on CNN is untenable before the bench, that argument is flawed. Ergo, all of Bush's arguments are inherently flawed, because they have held no water in any courtroom. However the Bush spokesdogs may bend the arguments on the airwaves, any questions regarding the accuracy or legitimacy of said arguments should be answered by the fact that no judge has given them merit.

These are the trees; we must focus on the forest, for we face dark days ahead of us if we do not see these events for what they truly are. In the hours since the Florida Supreme Court ruled against Bush, his lackeys have fired up a campaign to get the state legislature involved. Conceivably, the GOP-dominated legislature could overturn any results from the recount due this Sunday and elect their own representatives to the Electoral College. Gore's people would send their own Electors, provided he wins on the recount. The whole thing could wind up before the U.S. Senate, which might be evenly split if the Democrat from Washington State wins her Senate race. Yesterday, she was leading in the count.

When the Senate is divided, the President of the Senate is expected to pass the deciding vote. Al Gore is the President of the Senate, a perk of his current office. Clearly, he could not cast that vote, so the deadlock would remain. The nation would be frozen from local to state to Federal levels. That is the definition of a constitutional crisis.

The quote above is one of the stories of wise King Solomon. Two women claimed to be the mother of a baby, and fought over it. Solomon ordered the baby cut in two, so each woman could have half. The true mother swooned and begged the king to spare the child, to give it to the other woman. The other woman said, simply, cut it. King Solomon gave the baby to the woman who begged him to spare his sword. She had proven her love by giving up the beloved child.

Our candidates have not read the Book of Kings in some time, it appears. The sword falls towards our beloved country, and these two seem utterly unwilling to stay the execution. They will accept half a nation, bloody and dead, rather than see it delivered living to the other.

I have said this several times before in this space, and it behooves me to say it again: much of our political problems would be solved if the 100 million voters who refuse to participate would get in the game. If this contest has proven anything, it proves that each vote counts. These non-voters missed their chance to make an impact in the election, but it is not too late to affect our current common catastrophe.

I call upon these people, who outnumber the Democrats and Republicans combined, to rise up and demand a cessation of hostilities. Call your representatives, your senators, the editors of your local newspapers. Voice your outrage. Demand that Bush not chase this into the Florida legislature and the U.S. Supreme Court. Demand that Gore stay out of the courts as well. Demand that the two camps cease fire on the airwaves.

There will be no King Solomon to adjudicate this mess. The courts have been stained indelibly by calls of partisan bias, as have the politicians, as have the vote counters, as have the votes themselves. All that remains is us, the people, the voters. We must be our own Solomon. We are wiser than they are, and there are far more of us than them. As that fat drunk Jim Morrison once said, they got the guns but we got the numbers.

The alternative? A flawed President, a divided congress, a crippled judiciary. I had hoped these people would accept the Florida Supreme Court ruling. It is far from clear whether or not these recounted votes will help Gore in the end, and if Bush wins with the recount, he will be immeasurably strengthened as a President. That is all we need, really. We need a President who can rule. They did not accept it, and thus both are weakened.

This could continue to be fought even after a winner is declared. A new President requires an enormous staff, and 600 of those staffers require congressional approval. The losing side in this fight could carry the battle to these appointees, blocking them all and crippling the new President’s abilities to get anything done. If you think such a circumstance is implausible, you haven’t been paying attention. Clearly, all bets are off, and half a dead baby is preferable to these mulish parties.

Make no mistake, reader: this is war. The time has come to pick a side. Will you fall into the partisan nonsense? Or will you stand forth and demand a different way? If you think you have time to consider this, you are wrong. If you think the outcome of this war will not affect you, you are a fool. The bodies are piling up around us, and time is running short.

I Am Finished with this Damned Election

Forget it. I quit. I absolutely freaking quit. As of 2:08 p.m. on Tuesday November 14, I no longer give one tinker's damn about who wins this nauseating farce of an election. I will not watch. I will not read. I will not care. I am through. Finito. Done.

Why should I possibly care? Let's review all the reasons I shouldn't care, shall we?:

1. Gore and Bush both suck. They and their minions have acted terribly throughout this. Gore comes out Thursday threatening lawsuits. Bush poo-poohs lawsuits BECAUSE HE TRUSTS PEOPLE, and then turns tail and charges into a FEDERAL COURTROOM to stop a perfectly legal vote count. Hypocrites, frauds, thieves, shills, spinners, wheedlers, liars, screamers...on both sides there are no good guys.

2. Florida sucks. Florida is the best argument I have ever heard for global warming. Sink that swamp forever.

3. The judge who decided to uphold the 5pm drop-dead time for ending and certifying the vote count has confused this situation possibly beyond repair. There was a good solid argument on both sides regarding whether or not to extend that deadline; aspects of the law could be argued in either direction. A solid decision was needed. And what happens? The judge spits the bit, refuses to take a solid stand, plays it both ways and thereby accomplished absolutely NOTHING.

What did he do? Follow me here: the judge decided that the vote count would end at 5pm BUT counties can add supplemental vote counts after the deadline BUT the Secretary of State can disavow those supplemental counts if she chooses BUT she cannot do so "arbitrarily" BUT those vote counts will be totally incomplete and thereby innacurate and useless SO that is reason to dismiss them out of hand BUT a Federal judge has said the count should be done BUT that seems to have been overturned SO both Gore and some counties will appeal this totally confusing decision WHICH MEANS THIS FARCE WILL NEVER END, EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER. This peabrained weak-kneed cowardly lion of a judge has opened the door to limitless litigation.

4. It doesn't matter who wins. The country is polarized, the Congress is totally split, no legislation beyond congressional raises will pass. Don't worry about Roe v. Wade. FORGET the Supreme Court - any nominee who doesn't walk on water or raise the dead will get Borked, depend on it. Nothing is gonna happen in the next four years unless somebody drops a nuke on us...which frankly is something I might welcome, as long as they nuke Florida, Texas, Tennessee or Washington DC.

5. Ralph Nader sucks. Not only did he skew this election with his hubris-driven campaign (do as I say, America, and do it now, or I'll mess everything up!), but he destroyed any remote chance that a third party candidate will EVER be President. Nader got 90,000+ votes in spot-'o-hell Florida, and that is more than the difference. Do you think anyone will vote third party and risk something like this ever happening again? DOUBT IT. We're stuck with the Republicans and the Democrats, kids, forever and ever, amen.

MY ADVICE TO ALBERT GORE IS TO CONCEDE NOW!!! BE THE BIG MAN, BE THE HERO, QUIT THE RACE AND SHARPEN YOUR CLAWS FOR 2004. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE PRESIDENT NOW. WHOEVER IS PRESIDENT WILL BE 'INSTANT LOSER'. WALK THE HELL AWAY AND SAVE US ALL FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL-ELECTION VERSION OF THE O.J. SIMPSON TRIAL.

Do not ask me about this race. Do not email me, stop me in the hall or in the street. Do not speak to me of this election. Just tell me when it's over.

I quit.

4:36 pm: I'm stuck on the B Line, the glacial, jerking, interminable B Line trying to get home to watch Inside Politics on CNN. The Debate is tonight, at long last. The news outlets on the web have written of little else - and they have written little more beyond canned platitudes and scripted pieces of advice. Gore must relax. Bush must explain. Tell me something I didn't know. I'm sure Inside Politics will not offer anything new to the cacophony of expectations that have replaced actual news in the last three days, but I’m going to watch it anyway, because I am hooked.

(From 10/3 Washington Post: "The inability of either candidate to gain an obvious advantage has helped to heighten the stakes for the debates, which will provide Bush and Gore with their best and perhaps last opportunity to influence wavering or undecided voters.")

4:43 pm: We've moved roughly thirteen feet down Commonwealth Avenue in the last seven minutes. Maybe they should lash this train to a team of horses. Get me home!

4:47 pm: An announcement from the conductor: Attention passengers. This car is having break troubles and is going out of service. Another train is coming soon. We pile out and stand in the middle of Comm Ave like sheep. Technology exists that allows me to write this on a laptop in the street without a plug - but we can't get the trains to move.

The rumor in the city today is that Ralph Nader got tickets to the debate, and will be lurking in the audience like a panther. God bless him, I hope he raises a little hell.

4:55 pm: Another train and we're on our way - again. I've missed Inside Politics. It's probably just as well.

(From 10/2 Associated Press story: "Gore has spent 'eight years on his knees to big business," Nader said.)

5:37 pm: Home. It took an hour to go five miles. The B Line should be dismantled and sold as scrap. It is an embarrassment to the city. I need a beer, some dinner, and some televised political punditry. Fortunately there is enough of all three to go around. Time to start watching the clock.

6:02 pm: A special extended edition of Inside Politics! Sweeeeeet!

6:05 pm: I'm already sick. The GOP set up a Realtime website devoted entirely to spinning the debate - and they've already started, some three hours before the thing begins. www.DebateFacts.com already has something up calling Gore a liar. This is ominous.

Gore's campaign, by the way, will have their own Realtime site up soon, at www.Gore2000.com.

6:09 pm: Aieeeee!! Pundits! Spin!! Too much too soon!!! Time to ram my eight-hour Simpsons tape into the VCR - I'll check back in at 8pm.

6:56 pm: TBS is showing the "Carter gets stabbed" ER episode! He’s headed into the room - look out behind you, Carter!! Oooohhhh, you hate to see that happen...

8:17 p.m.: The moment is almost upon us. Gore the Shark v. Bush the Shrub, an encounter that could well decide this whole race. They’re tied in the polls, with gender balances tipping everywhere. Gore leads mightily among women, while Bush holds a huge lead among men (Bush is from Mars, Gore is from Venus?). The other polls are all over the map, and not one of them offers clarity beyond one razor-edged truth: this is the closest race in 20 years.

This is my Christmas. I love this crap. I live for it. All day long I’ve been hearing prizefight shills ringing in my head:

Innnn the far corner, wearing the environmentally sound patchouli-scented wraparound sarong made of recycled AFL-CIO leaflets - he's a Vulcan automaton from Planet Q, the man with antifreeze in his veins, the man who invented invention, faster than a speeding policy seminar, more powerful than Bill Clinton's libido - ALBERT...GORE...JUNIORRRRRRR!!!!!!

Aaaaaand in the near corner, wearing the feetie pajamas with his thumb in his mouth, the man who'll give your tax money to rich people, the man who makes Gerald Ford look like Mr. Wizard - he couldn't say "Yugoslavia" if you put a gun to his head, but he's ready to throw down tonight. He stole Reagan's brain and he's out to steal your heart, from the great nation of Texas, give it up for GEORGE...DUBYA...BUUUSH!!!!!

Well, I doubt it'll start like that, but I can dream. I have been waiting for this shindig for weeks, ever since George took off his chicken suit and decided to come to Big Bad Boston after all. The funny part is that nobody in Boston is watching this thing. Everyone is stuck in traffic out by Morrissey Boulevard. Thank you, Secret Service. As if we don't have enough trouble with the roads already.

By the way, fellas: Where's Ralph? Where's Pat? Hagelin? Browne? Talk about chicken suits...

8:21 pm: Gotta decide which network to watch. Peter Jennings on ABC might be the choice. He always develops a certain gravity for events like this. I HAVE to stay away from CNN and Bernie Shaw. The man is an assassin, a total fiend. For those who are playing along at home, it was Shaw who asked Dukakis that question about Kitty getting raped and murdered. Might as well have gone Capone on him with a baseball bat. The Duke was dead on the floor before the curtain came down, and he knew it. Bush ought to be grateful Shaw didn’t get tapped as moderator. Mr. Bush, how have you been running for President when it is painfully clear you cannot speak the English language?

The horror...the horror...

(From 10/3 Reuters story: "The vice president got a boost from a Reuters/MSNBC daily tracking poll on Tuesday that gave him a six-point lead over Bush, the governor of Texas, 46 percent to 40 percent.")

8:22: NBC?

8:23 pm: ABC it is - but I'm clicking around to watch the glitterati of the national political punditry salivate on themselves. This is their Big Night - the Super Bowl and the World Series combined. These guys have hyped this encounter to such an obscene degree that anything short of full decapitation with sprays of arterial blood will be considered a letdown. I'll bet none of them slept last night.

8:25 pm: I wonder if CNN's Bernard Shaw is named for George Bernard Shaw? G.B. Shaw had a great quote that fits well with tonight’s festivities: "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul is assured the support of Paul." Who is Peter? Who is Paul? Does Bernie know? Does he care?

(Background: from 10/3 New York Times: "A New York Times/CBS News Poll shows that most Americans regard Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore as strong leaders, but they consider Mr. Gore far more prepared for the White House."

8:30 pm: Sometimes CNN does it just right. They've got Wolf Blitzer sitting with a panel of undecided voters in Florida. That’s pretty much the election right there.

8:50 pm: God, this is killing me. I'm bouncing off the walls. Will we see the Bush Smirk? Will Gore turn to petrified wood? Will one of them stumble? Will one of them fall? Will Nader charge the stage? 8:53 pm: Jim Lehrer, the moderator, is saying hello to the crowd, and the CNN talking heads are talking right over him. Snarl. Lehrer is the wild card in this thing. How will he phrase his questions? What will he ask? Any curveballs? I found it interesting this week when it was revealed that Lehrer hasn't voted in 40 years, the better to maintain his objectivity. A serious man. I'll bet Bernie votes all the time.

8:59 pm: LLLLLLLLET'S GET READY TO RRRRRRRUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!

9:00 pm: Lehrer covers the ground rules and opens the floor. The candidates are wearing almost identical suits - somber blue with red ties. Ralph was right, on the surface. Looking at them, you'd think they belonged to the same Kiwanis Club.

9:04 pm: The first question is about experience - who has more, and does it matter? Gore is specifically asked if Bush has enough moxy to do the job. Gore says he doesn't question Bush's experience, he questions the programs. The two candidates play nice, ply the audience with their stump speeches. If people were looking for a barn-burner, they ain't getting it yet. It took all of six seconds for Bush to mention "the great state of Texas." Note to Gore: you directly questioned Bush's experience in a rally a few weeks ago. Keep it above board, big guy...

9:10 pm: Suddenly some life. Gore begins beating what I imagine will be a common theme of the evening: Bush plans to give the wealthiest 1% of Americans more of the surplus in his tax break than he plans to spend on any other program. There's some back and forth on this. Gore looks for all the world like Reagan, and Bush has gone Quayle - sputtering, getting shrill. Calls Gore's figures "phony numbers," but Gore seems to win the exchange.

9:12 pm: Interesting bit here: Bush says Gore has promises to fix Social Security, Medicare, etc., but Clinton/Gore promised this in 1992 and didn't deliver. Bush says Gore is campaigning on past failures. This is effective for Bush, until you remember that all the failed Clinton/Gore social programs were slaughtered in GOP-controlled committees.

9:16 pm: Gore says "lockbox" regarding Social Security for the first time - isn't that a GOP phrase from last year? The wealthiest 1% take it in the chops again. Bush is really getting flustered, fires out a pitiful line: "Not only did my opponent invent the internet, he invented the calculator." God. Memo to George: fire your joke writer. Gore goes into berserk wonk mode regarding Medicare, butchers Bush's plan seven ways from Sunday, challenges the audience to check Bush's website to prove that his "fuzzy math" is right on point. Bush is beginning to look like a puppy someone left out in the rain, these numbers are piling up in his cerebral cortex.

NADER MOMENT #1: All the happy talk about good health care and prescription medicine cloaks the fact that both of these guys are bought and paid for by the corporations that control these miserable situations: the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies. If Ralph were here, he'd clobber them.

9:21 pm: Lehrer's next question is about the skyrocketing oil prices: what will the candidates do to control the situation? Gore charges the ramparts of alternative fuel sources, cleaner cars and buses, tax breaks for non-polluting factories, etc. Pretty green stuff here, and good to hear. He concludes by saying he won't shred the Alaskan wildlife refuge to plumb more oil, but instead is "betting on the future."

Bush jumps on his "this administration had no energy plan" bandwagon, pretty strong ground for him. "You bet I"ll open Alaska," he says, and give the proceeds to the poor. BELLY LAUGH #1. He doesn't even skirt the concept of alternative sources of fuel. He talks about coal miners - I get the feeling that as far as Bush's fuel plans go, if it ain't dirty it ain't worth it.

9:28 pm: Lehrer asks Bush if he'd overturn the FDA's approval of the abortion pill, RU-486. Pat Robertson has just leaned forward in his easy chair somewhere out there. Bush goes Yellow Alert - must pander to conservative base without alienating women voters. Bush doesn't think a President can overturn the FDA - but Gore reminds him that JUST YESTERDAY he promised to have that very idea reviewed if he wins. Bush retreats into a stump speech: we must cultivate a culture of life. Bashes partial birth abortions, doesn't mention how they are usually performed to save the mother's life.

Gore picks up the banner of Roe v. Wade and waves it to and fro. Sudden ominous turn - we're talking Supreme Court now. Bush will appoint strict constructionists to the bench, and won't have an abortion litmus test. Gore counters that "strict constructionist" is a code word for the overturning of Roe, reminds us that Bush loves Scalia and Thomas, says the Constitution is a living document and the Justices he'd appoint would treat it as such. Bush blusters again, whines - and an audible sigh from Gore? Easy big fella. You're ahead on points. Don't rude yourself out of the contest.

9:36 pm: Foreign policy question!!! What to do with Milosovich? Gore says he'd take measured steps - huh? - believes the Yugoslavian people will see the problem through. Bush says he'd ask the Russians to lead the way and assert themselves again on the world stage. A great answer, until Gore reminds him that Putin has yet to recognize that Slobo lost, and maybe he should do that before we invite him to the table. Bush should have stayed in Austin - Gore is visibly drooling before every question.

9:42 pm: A bunch of happy talk about rebuilding the military - but that foreign policy discussion was pretty light, and it begs the question: rebuild the military for what purpose?

NADER MOMENT #2 : Last time I heard, Israel had turned into a bloodbath and millions are dying in Africa. Those are foreign policy questions, yes? But let's talk about a European problem that will likely be solved through an election. Ralph - Ralph - where are you? These guys wouldn't get away with such skullduggery if you were up there. A lesser man might call ignoring such non-European problems subtly racist...and I am that lesser man.

9:45 pm: Lehrer: which of you is better suited to make the Big Decisions? Gore reels off an impressive list of responsibilities he's had: Vietnam, Congress, the NSC. This is Gore country. Bush comes off with a "What, me worry?" reply. Says he'd decide on principles and not polls, tries to draw a parallel between Gore's resume and his own from his time as a Constitutionally weak Governor of Texas.

9:49 pm: Lehrer: Is this election major choice in political philosophy? Gore says Big Yes, back to using the surplus to help people and not to fatten the wallets of the rich. Bush goes to the "fuzzy math" complaint, warns us that under Gore the government will swell beyond the boundaries envisioned by LBJ (he didn't say it as well as I did, though). Paints a picture of three zillion IRS agents prowling the countryside doling out Gore's targeted tax cuts. The Michigan Militia just reached for their shotguns. That line will resonate in a lot of places.

9:52 pm: The candidates wonk out on numbers again. Gore savages him with his Policy Samurai Sword.

Shades of Cosell - "Clay is killing him! Clay is killing him!"

9:56 pm: Lehrer: Change and/or reform public education? Bush says he'd demand responsibility from schools and teachers, goes into warm fuzz story about at risk kids in charter schools, accountability in grading. This works says Bush, dives into education policy, this is his strong area. "Don't subsidize failure." Gore: accountability and local control is good, he's agreeing with Bush. Smart. Adds more policy re: teacher testing, 100,000 more teachers, shrink class size. Tax deductible college tuition.

Bush won that exchange hands down. Education is his strongest area, and he knows the stuff cold. Gore was playing catch-up the whole time, agreeing left and right because challenging Bush here would be folly.

NOTE: Noam Chomsky has a new book out: The Miseducation of America. Read it and compare his brutal wisdom to the candidates’ ideas.

10:05 pm: Lehrer: Can you point to decision that illustrates how you'd handle an unexpected crisis? Gore: Kosovo solution, I had Russian PM get involved, was risky but paid off in the end. Other examples are there if he had time, touts public service - some rah rah about him being a Middle Class Warrior fighting HMO's and Big Oil.

PENULTIMATE NADER MOMENT OF THE NIGHT: Nothing needs be said here. Nader would have just slapped him. $500,000 worth of stock in Occidental Petroleum, Al. That's your portfolio.

Things suddenly get riotously ugly for Bush: respond to crises? He talks about handling wildfires in Texas, that he's got a big heart, and would cry with the victims of catastrophe.

10:09 pm: Lehrer: What would you do in the event of a financial crisis? Bush would talk to Greenspan, get facts, get Congress involved, and somewhere in there they'd all come up with game plan. Perhaps the most glaring non-answer of the night. Gore praises Bush on response to fires..hee hee hee! Reminds us he's worked on this stuff, recalls the peso crash and the Southeast Asia market meltdown - and then lets us know that our prosperity is due to the deciding vote he cast in Congress that rammed through the current economic plan. My prosperity is yours, y'all. Boo-yah.

Bush says entrepreneurs made this economy, not Big Al. Zing! Gore says they were working hard 8 years ago and struggled. Papa Bush gets blasted.

10:14 pm: Bush backhoes, knocks the middle class tax cut of 1992 promised by Clinton/Gore that never came, rips Gore economic plan. Gore sighs audibly yet again. Gore: his quotes are from partisan report from GOP Congress, not worth tax-funded paper it's printed on. We shrunk government. Gore is scolding Bush, Bush about to blow, more whining about fuzzy math.

10:16 pm: Some back and forth about Social Security and lockboxes, mostly a repeat of earlier barbs. Bush looks like he needs a nap, Gore looks pompous.

10:24 pm: Lehrer: The Inevitable Character Question. Bush says Gore loves his family, and that's good. Hits "no controlling legal authority," Lincoln bedroom, the Buddhist fundraiser. I'll keep the public trust and won't let you down.

Gore: we should attack the problems of the nation, not each other. You focus on scandals, I focus on troubles of our country. I am my own man, family man, not exciting but will fight for you, won't let you down. Where have I heard this before?

I question Bush's tactics here. He's beating on Clinton, not Gore. Big Al invokes McCain - big whiff for Bush, who could have used that name - and promises to sign McCain/Feingold. Reminds us that everyone is dirty when it comes to campaign financing. A deft defusing of a thorny issue, in my opinion.

10:29 pm: Lehrer invokes McCain, and asks if the candidates will support him. Bush says yes (BELLY LAUGH #2), if we can kill labor donations and soft money. Gore casts a baleful eye at Bush and says, "You've attacked my character, but I won't respond." Says the system undermined by special interests, he knows how bad it is and will fix it. RIGHT.

CLOSING STATEMENTS

10:31 pm: Bush is immediately terrible, rushing, like he can't wait to get out of there. Rambles through his stump speech and finishes his closing statement in about 47 seconds. Another big whiff.

10:33 pm: Gore isn't much better, does the stump speech thang - but wait: THE CAN LADY IS HERE! Hoo boy, and I thought props were against the rules. Gore goes Middle Class Warrior again, I will protect you.

MY ANALYSIS:

Turn the lights out, folks, this election is done. I only saw one President on that stage tonight - an arrogant semi-robotic President, but a President nonetheless. The spinmeisters, I am sure, will say Bush did well. According to his own preposterously low expectations, he did indeed. He didn't fart, smirk, or fall off the stage. But he lost, and he lost badly.

Reports are coming that Ralph Nader had a ticket to the debate, but was barred at the door. That is a shameful, disgraceful, ominous and dangerous development. He had a ticket! The Massachusetts Police were used to enforce someone's political will - and we are all the poorer because of it. Ralph should have been there tonight, on stage or in the hall. The outcome would have been immeasurably different.

Something to watch for: if the media says this was a tie, or that Bush did well, understand that they are spraying these preposterous lies to keep their "close race" story line going. The media is more powerful than God in American politics, because a lot of people are stupid enough to believe what they say and write despite visible evidence to the contrary. My eyes saw George W. Bush bleeding from a thousand cuts tonight, and nobody is going to tell me different.

Will Pitt

In two weeks time a sweeping array of transformations has altered the landscape of my life. Two weeks ago I was working as a database savant for a law firm, living in a dumpy apartment in Somerville with three other people, and writing these columns on an old PC that operated in geological time. When I was not drinking, or writing, or watching the Red Sox in a state of high anxiety, I was wondering what exactly I would be doing with the rest of my life.

This afternoon I am enjoying a beer. I am writing my column. Pedro Martinez is pitching and losing against the division-leading Yankees at Fenway, a day after reliever Bryce Florie nearly got his face torn off by a line drive. But I am writing and drinking and stressing in a clean, huge basement apartment in Brookline. I have no roommates anymore, and this is, for the most part, a blessing. As for my PC and my future, some clarity has been achieved. I am writing this on a Toshiba laptop that is as fast as the wind. When I wake on Monday morning, I will not be headed for Boston. I will be headed for a classroom. My classroom.

Out of a clear blue sky came the phone call from a nun named Barbara, who runs a private school in the town where I grew up. When the phone rang I was entering the names of plaintiffs into an Access database. Five minutes later I hung up as a teacher of English and History. I packed up my files, shunted the mountains of paper that had been my responsibility over to the denizens of the neighboring cubicles, and walked out the door into a future I never expected to find. I have always wanted to be a teacher, but I never believed I would get the chance.

I have learned something of what it is to be a politician in the last few days. I stand each day before a group of people who are tired of listening to strangers natter at them about things they haven't learned to care about. They have spent much of their lives with people like me talking at them, and the novelty of it has evaporated for many of them. I try to inspire them with my words, and with the wisdom I have to share. I try to get them to pay attention to things that seem removed from their daily lives. I depend upon them, and they upon me, but that obvious connection is often difficult to capture.

I have learned to obey the treacherous Machiavelli as the politicians do. I am new to this profession, and my steps are uncertain. I observe the teachers around me and try to imitate their mastery, their ease, and the manner in which they engage with their students. I copy them as closely as possible, and add my own style only where it will do the least damage. In time that will change, but for now I am content to do as others have done. If you do not know what I am talking about, I instruct you to turn on CNN at 5:00 p.m. and watch Inside Politics.

It is the showcase for the Establishment candidates who are dashing towards the Presidency. To be sure they are prudent men, these candidates. They are thoroughbreds honed with precision by the advantages of a privileged upbringing, and by the keen trowels of Party strategists. So trained and prepared are they that a misstep is rare, and noteworthy. They are careful. Above all else, they walk in the steps of those who came before them. There is little originality to be found in this campaign. Al Gore sounds daily the trumpet of Harry Truman, and for the most part it has been selling well. In the most delicious irony of this campaign, Republican standard-bearer George W. Bush has imitated, with as much accuracy as his pea-brain can muster, the caring cuddly campaign style of the despised William Jefferson Clinton. Truman and Clinton were both winners, and the candidates are not fools for assuming those mantles as best they can.

We share this knack of mimicry, the candidates and I. The stakes involved, however, could not be more different. If I were to walk into my classroom and begin speaking in my own strange tongue, my students would likely rejoice at the change of pace. They would learn truths never shared with them in the classrooms they had passed through before. Such an act would affect only one room-full of people. If the Establishment candidates came before our national classroom and found the courage to write new lessons on the chalkboard, the impact upon us - we students of this faltering democracy - would be dramatic beyond description. We are ready for it. We would exult in their boldness, and we would take careful notes on everything they said.

It will not happen that way, sadly. A combination of factors ensure a political conversation that contains more details than previous races, but will conclude with lessons lifted directly from the same dog-eared textbook we have been carrying around for decades. There are only two candidates in this race as far as the media is concerned, and the river of political cash has but two wide forks. Ask me a direct question and I will tell you truthfully which of the two I prefer, but I am not so innocent as to believe my preference has anything to do with change.

Many things are different for me now. I have several new truths to adjust to. When I go to earn my daily bread, however, I know that my words and actions will be lifted from those that have come before me. I am safer that way. Come November, there will be a new teacher at the head of our national class. They will instruct us from a lesson plan we have come to know painfully well. Our new teacher may believe they are safer for following this course, and I believe Machiavelli might agree.

"There is nothing more difficult to plan, more uncertain of success, or more dangerous to manage than the establishment of a new order of government," says Niccolo. But loyalty can be carried only so long in the face of the frustration and disillusionment of the citizenship. A prince would do well to remember this, lest he find his palace sacked and his kingdom lost.

Mighty Casey

"I don't care whether he's likable tonight. I just want to respect him tonight."
- Doris Kearns Goodwin

Ms. Goodwin, I believe your wish came true.

Thursday night, in an atmosphere of extreme anticipation and nervous dread, Al Gore took the podium at the Democratic National Convention to accept the nomination for President of the United States. Unlike conventions past, there was no question about who would be the nominee. Gore's eviceration of Bradley in Iowa and New Hampshire, many moons ago, stripped the nomination question of all the gamesmanship and froor-wrangling that had once been the hallmark of primary campaigning and conventioneering.

Everyone knew Al was the Man. The delegate-counting on Wednesday night carried all the drama of a heavyweight boxing match in a town where you know the ringside judges are already bought. So the stench of fear palpably wafting through the Staples Center Thursday night had a different source. It began to be noticeable Monday evening, after President Clinton tore the roof off the joint.

"How can Gore measure up to that?" was the question passed behind cupped hand in press booth and delegate cluster alike. "He doesn't speak that well, never has and never will."

"Goddam Bill," some said. "He can't let go."

The smell grew worse on Tuesday night, after a crippled parade of Democratic stalwarts were paraded across the stage. Ted Kennedy sounded like a man lost in the woods, utterly confused and mushmouthed before what many assumed to be a malfunctioning TelePrompTer. Jesse Jackson roused the crowd with his uncanny gifts, warning America to "stay out of the Bushes!"

But in the end, it was a visitation with the Ghosts of Christmas Past. If you want to know why the Democrats lost in 1980, and 1984, and in 1988, all you had to do was look at the Jumbotron. There were the men and women rejected by a Reagan-enchanted electorate. There were the policies that had no traction. There were all the reasons a group of people called 'New Democrats' rose up and siezed the throne. The 'Old Democrats', in full flower that Tuesday night, had failed.

"Damn," said the delegates. "Is Al going to get tattooed with this loser stamp?"

"I don't want people looking at Al Gore," said some, "and seeing Ted Kennedy."

The stench was actually visible on Wednesday, when Joseph Lieberman took the stage. It drifted like a fog through the crowd, which shifted uncomfortably on it's feet as Lieberman spoke.

"I think it's great that he's Jewish," said many. "But his support of vouchers and his complaints about Affirmative Action are the last thing we need. We're losing, and this guy is threatening to blow away some of our most vital constituencies."

The sun set on Thursday, and the devoted faces of the delegates turned for the last time towards the podium. A low thrum of terror pulsed in their blood. This was the most important speech in the entire political career of Al Gore.

On his shoulders was the simultaneous need to fire up the support of unions, of Black voters, of women voters, of environmentalists, of teachers, of those who despise Clinton, of those who love Clinton and fear Gore doesn't measure up. Al Gore, more than anything else, needed with one speech to convince the world that he is not some Vulcan automaton with antifreeze in his veins.

In an old poem about baseball, a man named Mighty Casey struck out and lost the game. On Thursday, August 17th, in a city that may as well be called Mudville, Mighty Casey absolutely, completely and convincingly tore the cover off the ball. He sent it sailing above the heads of the clustered delegations. With his bat, Al Gore sliced through the fog of fear and let his people know that he is a man of principle and of ideas, looking forward, not in anyone's shadow, and not beholden to the stained legacy of his boss.

Click around the internet and you can read stories about how Gore rang all the bells for the liberals. You can read about how he freed himself from the Clinton albatross. You can read about how he introduced himself, finally, to the American people. "I am my own man," said Al. Anyone paying attention would have to agree.

What I came away with from this speech was the image of a man who did not need partisan applause to augment his standing or his statements. An empty bucket like Bush and an ego-maniac like Clinton were required repeatedly to pause in their remarks, after some canned jump-line, to allow the delegates to howl and stomp. Their noise was supposed to be an indicator of greatness for these speakers: they yell, so I must be great.

Gore required no such artifice. He delivered his speech like a policy machine-gun, literally stomping the audience into silence and speaking constantly over the roar of their approval. He did not need their love or their noise to make himself appear great. His words did that all by themselves.

George W. Bush spoke in Philadelphia, and did better than anyone expected. Bill Clinton spoke in Los Angeles, and did exactly as well as everyone assumed he would. Al Gore spoke on Thursday night and set a new standard for great oratory in this plastic, connived, contrived political arena. If there is any doubt left out there that Gore is a leader and a man of bravery and strength, whomever holds those doubts probably wouldn't vote for Gore if he started raising the dead and walking on water.

Nader can fight MasterCard, and the contest will be bloody. Buchanan can fight Hagelin, and mighty men will weep. Bush must fight Al Gore for the next three months. I do not envy him at all.

The Circle Jerk Will NOT Be Televised

"Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me."
- Rage Against the Machine

I am angry tonight, friends. Too angry to write coherently. Behind me, the little clock radio on my dresser is blaring out the sound of hundreds of well-fed white people enthusiastically nominating George W. Bush as their thoroughbred of choice. It is difficult to concentrate on anything with that going on, but I can't seem to turn it off.

Hell with it. Let it play, and maybe come to an understanding of what it must have felt like to listen to the parents of these same porky fools nominate Nixon in 1972. I am young enough to be optimistic, but I shudder with the realization that in 28 long years we haven't learned a damn thing.

Or have we? I suppose we know by now that the business of Washington is not the business of America. We know that we cannot trust most of the men elected to high and honorable office to act honorably behind closed doors with our daughters. We know that, given half a chance, the people we trust with power in this country will sell us down the river for another term in office or a choice committee chair.

Representative Tom DeLay of Texas has been hosting a week-long shmoozathon between Republican officeholders and the cream of the corporate crop. On any other day such close contact between the Money and the Man would be illegal, but since Congress voted themselves an exemption to this purportedly inviolable rule, what was shady in June is completely acceptable in July. And so in the end we learn that power in these people's hands exists simply for the sake of power itself.

I warned you. I am too angry to hold a common theme tonight. The whole exercise of this GOP convention seems to me like an act of public masturbation, but one so tawdry and loathsome that even the most twisted voyeurs are choosing not to watch. Who would waste their time watching some corpulent cash-fattened sycophant stroke himself when Dennis Miller is on Monday Night Football?

If you need evidence that this party, like it's blood kin the Democratic party, has become totally irrelevant and too obnoxious for society, look at your TV guide. All the major networks have shunned this bloated gathering for football and sitcoms. Unless you have an internet connection, a fast computer and a really bitchin' streaming video player on your hard drive, you are denied the chance to watch most of the show. Thus, we have more proof that politics in America is for the rich and the connected.

I am not going to waste your time or mine with some kind of breakdown of this whole sordid scene. It is what it is, a grand, expensive circle-jerk writ large. When the stroking is done and the climax has passed, the privileged son of a failed President will wear the crown of his party's partisan hopes and dreams. I can remember conventions where nobody knew what would happen until late into the night. Bush Sr. didn't know he was tapped for the VP slot until almost the last moment. McGovern gave his acceptance speech in the wee hours of the morning, made to wait until his floor troops had routed an attempt to hurl him from the ballot.

With this, there is no suspense. We knew how this was going to wind up before the green came to the leaves after that long, interesting winter. And brother, we know what we'll get if this unbearably emptyheaded brat manages to claw his way into the Oval Office.

George W. Bush represents the most wretched truths to be found in this vast land once filled with promise. We are told that we can do anything we want, as long as we are willing to sling a little elbow grease. But the sad fact is that the opportunities meant for decent men like Ralph Nader wind up going to trust-fund babies like George, who can tap vast funds and connections provided by Daddy, who hasn't done much beyond party like John Belushi and run some businesses into the dusty Texas ground.

Governor of Texas? That reminds me of a character from San Francisco's quirky past. Have you heard of the Emperor Norton? He paraded through the streets of the city in a cape and a top hat, and believed he ruled the world. In fact he was insane, having lost both his fortune and his mind trying to corner the rice market in San Francisco in the 1850s. He would parade around the city, waving to his subjects and proclaiming edicts that were humored but unheeded. The Emperor had no power, but wore a cloak of honor conceived in his own fevered mind. Thus it is with the Constitutionally-weak Governorship of Texas - but in Dubya's case, no one is amused.

Unless something miraculous happens, George W. Bush will be the next President of the United States. Gore is haunted by Horny Bill, Buchanan is about to be crucified by his own party, Hagelin has a "Loony" sign stapled to his forehead, and Nader...Jesus, Ralph, why do I hear the song "Beautiful Loser" whenever I hear your name? Us Lefties hold you up on high, for you are The Answer...but come November you're going to get chopped down in a savage dash towards the citadel of Political Pragmatism. The best you can do is haul plastic Al back to the mob of people who vote Democratic out of habit, despite the fact that the party no longer represents them in any meaningful sense.

Prepare for compassionate conservatism, America...and don't bend over for the soap.

A Bell Tolls for Ralph

The dance floor is getting crowded.

George W. Bush is coming off a masterful performance in Philadelphia. The smoke and mirrors displayed to a anemic television audience was capped with his performance at the podium, and it was good for a 14 point lead...saith the national polls.

Al Gore has spent the last several weeks lurching along like a bandwagon with two flat tires. The Nader candidacy had absolutely kicked the guts out of Gore's whole show. Unlike Bush, who has all the motivated activists in his tent, Gore lost the liberal line animals to Ralph.

These are the people that haul the candidate over the top, and it has been made clear these last few months that Al Gore might not have the horses to haul these people back into the fold. They are disgusted and disillusioned, and many have decided that after seven years of Their Man Bill, a vote for Ralph Nader amounts to absolution for their sins.

Bush has no such problems. The chaos at his flank you hear is Pat Buchanan going not so gently into that good night. He was welcomed with open arms, and not a few extended middle fingers, into the Reform Party, and his presence has utterly shattered Perot's fledgling experiment. Pat Buchanan will be too busy these next few weeks wrestling for the nomination, while trying not to get sued for vote fraud, to cause George many problems.

Any trouble Pat might be able to stir up among the rabble-rousers within the conservative vote has been put in check-mate by Bush's choice of Dick Cheney. Cheney represents the right's viewpoints on subjects such as abortion and gun control far better than Buchanan could at this point, and his military cache resonates with those who still think the Gulf War was a noble enterprise.

The dance floor is getting crowded.

Bush, Gore, Cheney, LaDuke, Buchanan...there was one spot left. A recent poll said that only 13% of voters in America consider a candidate's vice-presidential pick an important factor in their deliberations. There have been exceptions; Kennedy's choice of Johnson in 1960 and McGovern's choice of Eagleton in 1972 are examples of where a VP choice can make or break you. But then again, The elder Bush survived Dan Quayle...for a while, anyway.

It seemed that Gore's choice for Vice President was becoming an important one. If anything, a good choice would help change the conversation as set within the media in Philly. It's about character, stupid. Nary a word has been said impugning the personal morality of Al Gore, but his presence within the shameful sphere of William Clinton tainted him, possibly beyond repair. Picking Kerry of Bayh might help disrupt the monotonous tone of belated condemnation being heaped on the Democrats for standing behind the President while he was on his knees.

At midnight last night, word came forth from the Gore camp announcing that a decision had finally been made. It would not be John Kerry or Evan Bayh, but Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut to stand as the Vice Presidential nominee in Los Angeles. Much of the nation has yet to be sold on the idea that either Presidential candidate has the best interests of the common American voter in mind. Even so, I must confess that, within the geometry of politics, Gore's choice of Lieberman is nothing short of inspired.

Lieberman is held in the highest esteem by his colleagues in the Senate. He stood with John McCain in the fight over the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, and just recently was instrumental in the passage of a bill closing the tax loophole that allowed influential interests to operate in total darkness. For those keeping score, this was the biggest victory for campaign finance reform in years.

The news media was utterly unable to find a single person from either camp to go on television and say a bad word about Joseph Lieberman. When the press attempted to glean from George W. Bush an opinion on this pick, he aped Ronald Reagan in the jetwash of his helicopter, holding a hand to his ear and shaking his head with that same vapid smile on his face. Perhaps he was distracted by the savaging his own vice presidential pick received in the press, and wondered why Lieberman was, at least for now, receiving a pass.

I could have told him. Lieberman represents so much of what has been missing from the Gore campaign. He was the first Democratic senator to step into the well and denounce William Clinton during the Lewinski scandal, using words such as "immoral" and "embarrassing." This alone severs the poisonous umbilical cord that has tethered Gore to Clinton these last months, but there is more.

Joseph Lieberman is an Orthodox Jew. George W. Bush makes much of being pious, but Lieberman is on armchair-to-armchair relations with the God of the Old Testament. The very fact of his orthodoxy demonstrates that he is a man of character, and morals, and faith. Religious conservatives should have no truck with the family values of Joseph Lieberman, lest they tempt the wrath of the media, which has shown little patience for anything that even remotely resembles anti-semitism.

The addition of Joseph Lieberman to Gore's ticket could be a torpedo below the waterline for Ralph Nader. It has been my impression that a great number of Nader supporters have been silently searching for a reason to like the Democratic candidate. They have told me, behind cupped hand, that they will vote for Gore if the race is close. I believe the support Ralph Nader is receiving among the liberals and the Left is broad, but shallow. When push comes to shove in November, the spectre of a Bush presidency may be too foreboding a possibility to surrender a vote for what amounts to a protest candidacy.

The addition of Lieberman may be just the thing, that one missing ingredient, that will send disenchanted Democratic voters back into Gore's column. I believe the air will begin slowly leaking from the Nader campaign, bringing back to the Democrats some of it's lost soul. Not everyone will go, and Ralph will soldier on to the end like the principled man he is.

Nader has been alone in his standing as a gold-plated Good Man In Politics. Nader's voters are proud to say they support him, a rarity these days. I believe many people will find within themselves an ability to feel the same way about the senator from Connecticut, making Gore's vice presidential pick one of those historic make-or-break choices that can carry a campaign to victory.

Bush Gave a GREAT Speech

At some time around 10:00 p.m. EST, in a wealthy compound in California, the spirit of Ronald Reagan fled his old and debilitated body. It hovered a moment over the bed, staring down at the aged man laying below, remembering days of yore. It did not linger long, however. Once again, that spirit had a date with destiny.

It raced through the night, flying across what Keouac called 'the great bulge of America', and came to rest inside the body of a man named George. It filled every nook and cranny of it's new body, energizing it, blessing it with a sense of purpose George had seemed to lack in the days and weeks before. On Wednesday, George had been a candidate for President because it seemed like fun, and because it seemed like his birthright. Last night, invested with the spirit of 'The Great Communicator', George W. Bush became more than the sum of his oft-ridiculous parts.

Last night, on a podium in Philadelphia, George W. Bush became a man.

Friends, you can say what you will about Ronald Reagan. There is much to be said, and much of it is not kind. You can say what you will about George W. Bush, for there is so much to be said that one might speak forever and not capture the essence of his emptiness, or capture the surly truth behind his candidacy.

Ronald Reagan was called the Great Communiactor for a reason - he was a salesman first and foremost, and if you can look past his vicious policies and his lack of depth, you will find one of the greatest orators ever to occupy the Oval Office. George W. Bush did Reagan proud last night. He gave the speech of a lifetime, one for the books.

I taped the speech for posterity. If my children ever ask me how George W. Bush won the election in 2000, I will play the tape of his speech and tell them, "It started right here, when he blazed in Philly like a house on fire."

The Democrats have an enormous amount of work cut out for them if they are to top the GOP Convention. Forget the fraudulent inclusiveness that was everywhere. Forget the complete lack of policy. Forget the togetherness. The Democrats have only one thing to surmount - George W. Bush's acceptance speech. It was a masterpiece.

If they are to overcome that bright burst of rhetoric, they must remember their Shakespeare. Gore has seemed so much like Hamlet recently - indecisive, shifting this way and that, unsure of his position or his purpose. Gore and the Democrats would do well to remember Hamlet, and the line he spoke that may as well have been crafted for Bush and this whole convention:

One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

The Ragtag Revolution

I was listening to the BBC news broadcast on the radio on Monday night, and I heard something very interesting. It seems a large Asian bank conglomerate was having some manner of WTO-like gathering in Thailand. As in Seattle and Washington, the bankers were dogged by a ragged army of anti-capitalist rogues, who chanted and beat drums and clashed with the cops for the three days these bank meetings lasted.

The spokesman for the bankers shrugged his shoulders audibly when interviewed by the media, claiming that his people and the protesters were on the same side. They were eye to eye on the environment, third world development, helping the poor. The spokesman had the tone of a man who dimly believes he’s been cheated, let down, shortchanged. From the protesters there was nothing of substance the media felt obliged to broadcast.

I must make an aside here to inform you that Noam Chomsky is God. You'll think so, anyway, after finishing Chronicles of Dissent, and begin really listening to what you hear in the media or read in the newspaper. If Noam is not God, then he must be Superman. Superman can see through walls. So can Noam Chomsky. What better instrument to use against the myopic simplespeak we hear every day from those purported to be running things with our best interests keenly in mind, what better instrument than a linguist in the face of all this?

"The systems of control and domination and aggression to which those with power were committed here were in fact a kind of freedom. That’s just vulgar propaganda exercises. We are inundated with this every moment of our lives. Many of us internalize it, one has to defend oneself against it. But once one realizes what’s going on it’s not very hard to defend against. There are ways in which our intellects are dulled and our capacity for thought is destroyed and our possibility for meaningful political action is undermined by very effective systems of indoctrination and thought control that involve, as all such systems do, abuse of language. One can see this everywhere."

I had my Noam ears on, and I was amazed at the content of the BBC story. The protesters have earned the media label of "anti-capitalist", and are therefore now always referred to as the anti-capitalist protesters. My God, they’re Commies! Right? Well - no. First of all, it is essential to disunite the words Capitalism and Democracy. Democracy is a political system where people actively and equally participate in governance. Capitalism is an economic system with an entirely different set of rules. Therefore, to be anti-capitalist is not the same as being anti-democracy, except, of course, in America. And that is the rub, the impact upon our populace of the label "anti-capitalist." In America, to be anti-capitalist is to be completely wrong and possibly insane. Thus we are indoctrinated.

This label is a mind-closer; one hears it and immediately assumes they disagree with that group. In essence, their views are discredited before their message is even partially disseminated. And is this powerfully duel-edged label even accurate in any sense? The fact that these protesters must endure such rhetorical thrusts means they are a threat to something. On the rare occasion an “anti-capitalist” protester is actually interviewed by the media, they will almost certainly say that one of their main goals is to achieve popular participation in the decision-making within the economic system that at the moment is the sole purview of powerful multinational corporations and banks. Does a desire for active participation sound anti-democratic? A spokesman for one of the leading protest groups claimed that they were no more anti-capitalist than abolitionists were anti-work.

What to make of this disparity? Why are these groups so roundly dismissed by the population at large, while that same population generally agrees with the central philosophy of these groups; to wit: corporations are too large and need to be brought down from their Olympian heights to a place where the role of the common citizen involves more than being a consumer, or a wage slave. They are dismissed because a clever use of language, a hyphened adjective, allows the populace at large to reject them out of hand before any amount of consideration of their views is made. They are also dismissed because that same media is very much under the sway of corporations like the ones that were badgered in Thailand on Monday, therefore there is no keen desire to completely or accurately report their point of view.

To be sure, the protesters have not helped their cause. I can close my eyes and vividly recall the photo of the black-masked anarchist protester kicking in the window of a Nike store in Seattle with a Nike-clad foot. These protesters seem to be reading from the same book as the ones who descended upon Chicago in 1968. That book teaches that large numbers and a public battle with the police will engender sympathy for their cause from the masses. Televised visions of young people getting tear-gassed and set upon by riot-prepared police can do naught but cause outrage and bring about inevitable change.

The old lessons of the Chicago Book fail to take into account the mollified nature of the masses these protesters are now reaching out to. It fails to deal with the fact that videotape of “anti-capitalist” protesters in America 2000 getting roughed up by the authorities is nothing more or less than an example of wackos getting what is coming to them. The Pigs aren’t the Pigs anymore; an indication of how much trust the American populace has invested in it’s police can be seen in the fact that Rudy Giuliani still has a job and a viable political future. There is no sympathy here.

Perhaps there never was. Any Baby-Boomers reading this must see past the veil of nostalgia to know that your Chicagos and your Altamonts undid you in the end. The silent majority was born in the blue glow of televisions all across America, which showed pictures of you being gassed and beaten and shot in the streets. The people wrapped in that glow far away from you and your politics were not on your side to begin with, and when you got into a public crunch with the cops on the doorstep of the Democratic National Convention, you delivered them bag and baggage into the open arms of Richard Milhouse Nixon.

The much ballyhooed "Revolution Generation" had many victories and wrought great changes upon our national landscape, but their tactical errors and descent into violence led to twelve straight years of conservative Republican rule. They won many battles, and lost the war. But they had children, and those children may be standing at the center of a seminal moment of the 21st century. Put your Noam ears on and pay attention to these protesters when they challenge the right of corporations to make unilateral decisions for all of us. Pay attention to how their actions are reported. You will find that the words you hear do not line up with the truth.

These protesters must, however, learn from the mistakes of their parents. They must pattern themselves after the victors, as all successful insurgencies do, by presenting a unified and well-organized front. They must actively campaign against labels applied to them that keep their message from resonating with the people. They aren't "anti-capitalist", but they are also the only ones who provide a counterpoint to this abuse of the language. These protesters need their Noam ears, too.

They must take the next step and eschew violence unless it is absolutely necessary, lest they lend credibility to their foes and provide fodder for the media. Only then will they win support from the masses whose rights they are trying to protect.

If I make these ragtag revolutionaries sound like heroes, it is not by accident. They are out there pushing against a condition the majority of us have decided grudgingly to endure, a condition in which the way one spends their money is more powerful than voting. We are not oppressed so much as our horizons are limited. These protesters stand against a world where George Bush and Walmart and Al Gore and Starbucks are all ye know and all ye need know, amen.

It behooves us to pay them some mind, but they must learn from the past if they are to win the future.

How can you stand it? We have been chest-deep since the fall in one of the most abominable political races ever run. The dubious cast of characters we have endured since November is only part of the story. Beyond the milkfed sons of privilege carrying the banner for the Main Parties is a swirling morass of corporate overminds, a deteriorating environment and the beginnings of another jungle war far, far away. One of these boobs will be charged with handling it all, and there is a large fog of doubt as to whose interests they plan to represent.

I waited for you during the primaries. Those days after the New Hampshire primary surely quickened your blood. At the very least the players were far more engaging. There came former jock Bill Bradley, dragging his marsupial chin north after his horrible gaffe in Iowa to absorb another beating from a shark-toothed Al Gore. However entertaining that may have been, it's fair to say that all the action was on the Republican side. When John McCain wiped that vapid grin off the face of heir-presumptive George W. Bush, my feet tapped and my fingers snapped. There was no joy in Mudville, because the voters around Manchester could not be bought.

There was Orrin Hatch, who, I learned today, has a website where you can download MP3s of him singing religiously patriotic songs. Stop laughing, it's true. Dan Quayle clawed his way onto the stage for a time, but the snickering drove him back to Indiana. Gary Bauer shrieked of God's vengeance and the evils of China until, like Bob Dole, he tumbled off a platform and out of the race. And there was Alan Keyes. At full bellow he was the grandest speaker out there, on any night. But when the voters stared into his crazy, swirling, sweat-lined eyeballs they saw more than they were prepared to deal with.

Did you heave a sigh of relief when McCain finally was brought low? I surely did. I watch baseball, and coming from Boston I am privileged to be able to observe two naturals at work: Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra. They are the best at what they do. John McCain was a natural, a gifted politician with a resume of service and pain so vast that to question him on issues was tantamount to treason.

I close my eyes and see board rooms with fuming moneymen chewing cigars, cracking their knuckles in rage because they'd given all the money to George. They didn't count on John, and he made their investment seem foolish, and worse, beatable. When the GOP establishment rousted the diehards and finally beat McCain down South, I felt as much joy as Bush did. John McCain would gobble up Al Gore in a general election, even though he carries Barry Goldwater in his genetic code. And Al Gore is one of the Good Guys...isn't he?

Behind them all was Bill with his fly unzipped and a sheepish look on his face. Nixon was the raven over the GOP convention in 1976. The shadow of William Clinton will cast long and deep across the Democratic Convention of 2000.

It's another Hobson's Choice, Hunter, perhaps the worst one we've ever faced. Back when you were writing politics all the time it wasn't just a game you were watching. There were high stakes involved - a war, rights movements, a broader definition of freedom, and over it all the face of Richard Millhouse Nixon, whose ascendancy bode grave ill for the very soul of the nation.

The candidates you had to choose from back then were also a motley crew; some days simply throwing up your hands and abandoning it all as the bad noise it was seemed the only human option. I remind you of that because today, I believe, the stakes are even higher and the abyss darker than those bloody days when Altamont and Chicago were on everyone's lips. "We were right, and we were winning." Isn't that what you said in 1971 after all was lost? We're still right, Hunter, but we stand to lose even more.

Back then you knew the enemy, and there was no one better at pulling back the curtain to reveal what was really happening than you. Today the enemy is harder to find. It is the sneakers you wear, whose proud corporate logo was sewn on by a slave laborer in Micronesia. It is the shirt on your back. It is the coffee you drink, the megastores you shop in, the gas you put in your car. The First Amendment protects us from government intrusion, but nothing in those old documents provides us with protection from the corporations that hold the puppet strings. Al Gore and George W. Bush are their greatest creation. No matter who wins, corporate America comes out ahead.

Did I say no one was protecting us? I'm sorry, the defeatist in me boiled over for a moment. This year we have some surprise entries who appear poised to stick the entire race out until November. Pat Buchanan, the old speechwriter/populist, is still crashing around, biting off heads and slobbering on babies. Raise high the pitchforks, my pallid tribe! We burn the temple of NAFTA tonight! Who would have thought Buchanan, the last echo of Watergate, would become a sympathetic character? He's mean and he's dirty, but he was right about those trade bills. When the WTO protesters rail against that shadow corporate government, Pat Buchanan can lean back and say, "I told you so."

Did you know Ralph Nader is running? Actually, seriously running? You might have missed it, because a lot of the mainstream news outlets on cable and the Internet pay him little mind. That's no accident. I think, in a tiny corner of their minds, a lot of very powerful people are rabbit-scared of Ralph Nader. He's been nipping at the heels of corporate America for thirty years, and he knows all their weak spots. He won't win this year, but if he pulls 5% of the vote his party will be eligible for Federal matching funds the next time around. I've been collecting signatures for Nader to get on the Massachusetts ballot. Those who have actually heard of him gladly sign their name on my sheet. I take that to be a very good sign.

I watched the Thrilla in Manila tonight on ESPN. Ali was magnificent then. He's all used up now. We're running out of champions, Hunter. Buchanan, and Nader...and Thompson? It's so crazy that it just might work. America A.B. (After Bill) is fraught with nightmares. But the hope is still there, as fresh as ever. Hope is the best drug of all, as it was thirty years ago. Write for us again, Doc. Once more into the fray, dear friend...?

The rebellion is over. The insurgents have been routed. The general election for the office of President of the United States will be between the son of a Senator from Tennessee and the son of a former President from Texas...or Maine...or Connecticut...or wherever. Did I mention that one is the Vice President and the other is a Governor? Welcome to the race of the Establishment Candidates.

It is going to be strange to deal with the end of this wild, woolly, acrimonious primary season, but deal with it we must, because it is over. Strap yourselves in, my friends, for we are about to descend into a mud fight of Biblical proportions. The simple fact is that, unless either of these two candidates sprout horns and begin speaking in the language of Baal, there is not much they will be able to do to convince anyone to vote for them, because everyone made up their minds on this 20 years ago. You are either a Democrat or a Republican, or else you are an Independent who has already fixed on a candidate, and nothing on this earth will get you to change your mind. So all that will be left is a brawl between the ass and the elephant, a trashing, a shiv fight with much bloodletting. The only thing that will suffer is voter confidence that either candidate is worth a vote at all.

We have now a Black Licorice race - you either love black licorice or you hate it, and no matter how many times you try to eat it, your opinion does not change. Nobody "kinda likes" black licorice. That's just the way it is.

Well, now we hunker down for the aforementioned dirt war between Bush and Gore. We watch these two men go after each other hammer and tong, we watch them wallow like feral pigs in the muck of a low-road Presidential campaign. We hope against hope that something will emerge that will change the conversation and add some excitement to what will almost surely be a long, dry, white season.

What could possibly happen to add some adrenaline to yet another Establishment race? Well...

1. The economy goes into the tank: The Dow Jones dropped almost 400 points yesterday after Proctor & Gamble predicted low earnings, and Greenspan has been perched over the door of the Stock Market like the raven, squawking about raising interest rates. Petroleum prices are skyrocketing, with the cost of a gallon of gas this summer estimated to run an astounding $1.80, and we know from long experience that all the dot.coms in the world don't change the fact that oil is the lifeblood of our economy. If the oil situation gets tense, the economy will shimmy and shake. If the economic boom we have been riding grinds to a halt, Al Gore will have lost the mainstay of his campaign concept - Mo' Money!!! Bush will step in and say, "Well, its been fun, but these Dems can't even sustain this huge economic boom. Give me a chance." People paying $37.50 to fill the tanks on their Yugos might listen.

2. The Vice-Presidential nominations: given that we already know just about everything there is to know about the two guys running for President, the addition of two new personalities on the respective tickets will be a welcome distraction. Who will get picked? Why? Where will they come from? Will it be another all-Southern Democratic ticket? Will Bush be smart and nominate a woman as his running mate to mitigate the far-right conservative label he stapled to his forehead in order to defeat McCain? Remember this - elections can occasionally turn on VP selections. McGovern's choice of Tom Eagleton in 1972, whom it was revealed received electro-shock therapy for severe depression three times, essentially killed McGovern's whole show. And who can forget J. Danforth Quayle? Bush Sr. still won despite this albatross around his neck, but a whole generation of voters grew up listening to Letterman ridicule the man who was a heartbeat away from power.

3. The Stoner Candidates: someone could pop up with definitive proof/pictures/evidence of having either done lines of coke with George or oodles of bong hits with Al. Dirty roach ends and rolled-up $50 bills might be the undoing of either man.

4. The Ever-Present Bimbo Factor: are there any neo-Lewinskis out there, waiting to explode like a claymore mine under the tracks of someone's campaign? As Bill Clinton has emphatically shown us, anything is possible.

5. William Jefferson Clinton: do not forget Big Bill. Bush will run against him, Gore will run on his record while ignoring his indiscretions whenever he can, and under it all Bill will be running dark and silent like a nuclear submarine. He is the best tactical politician of our age, he draws huge crowds at fundraisers, and he has the skills to make his presence felt. Lame duck? Perhaps in the legislative session. But, in the world of campaigning, the Republicans may find out that this duck has some sharp teeth.

The rest of the campaign will circle around now-familiar themes: better education, saving Social Security and Medicare, building up the army, improving race relations, the threat of China, the defense of Taiwan, tax cuts, taxes for the internet, campaign finance reform, getting rid of guns, keeping guns, gun safety locks, gun background checks, closing gun show loopholes (yes, I think guns will be a huge issue in this race), and a long rambling discussion/dissection of the lack of morality in the Clinton White House and the need, or lack thereof, for change.

Bradley and McCain will be gone by March 14th, and their departures will be a non-event after the routing each absorbed on Super Tuesday. Bush and Gore remain, and for all intensive purposes they are strong candidates. Bush has developed a thicker skin since New Hampshire, thanks to McCain's repeated napalm attacks and strafing runs. He still has gobs of dough. And Gore...well, consider this: no candidate in either party, in all of the history of Presidential elections in America, has ever won each and every single primary they competed in, unless they were an incumbent running unopposed. Gore has pulled of the political version of the Miami Dolphin's miracle unbeaten season of 1972 (the same year as McGovern and Eagleton and the re-election of Nixon...and boy, am I reading the tea leaves now). The question remains whether he can win the Super Bowl.

So...that's it. Thank you Mr. McCain and Mr. Bradley. You were honorable men on honorable crusades who changed the tenor and substance of the conversation. You made these primaries vastly more interesting and entertaining, and the force and conviction you brought to the table spurred a record turnout of voters, a truth that is nothing but healthy for our Democracy. When you fall into line behind your respective parties, I hope with passion that they will listen to you behind closed doors, and adopt the fire of reform you so desperately wished for.

In 1992 I voted for Bill Clinton for President. I voted for Bill because I loathed and despised George Bush. I voted for Bill because I had been raised a Democrat and was weaned on an acute dislike for all things Republican. I voted for Bill to snuff out the thousand points of light and drag the country back from the edge of a precipice I could only contemplate in my darkest dreams.

But I knew. I knew the whole time what it was I was voting for. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson said it best, in Better than Sex: "The difference between Nixon and Clinton is the difference between the Truck and the Traveling Salesman. The Boss was our Satan, and Mr. Bill is our Willy Lowman. Clinton is 'liked, but not well liked,' and not even his best friends and allies believe anything he says."I knew in that most fundamental moral sense that I was voting for a man whose conscience and temperament were only a stone's throw from those of Reagan, or Bush. A politician is a politician, and as H.L. Mencken said, the only way to look at them is down. I voted for Jerry Brown in the primary, but when push came to shove that November I pulled the lever for Bill and hoped for the best.

It has been almost eight years since I voted for Clinton. The jigsaw puzzle of our society has been rearranged, but the pieces still fit together to create the same picture. The economic boom of the 1980s that filled the coffers of defense contractors, real estate developers and Wall Street corporations has morphed into the economic boom of the 2000s, one which benefits technology moguls, insurance companies and Wall Street corporations. The common man still struggles, and the fruits of economic prosperity remain beyond the reach of the vast majority of the populace.

The failure of each succeeding administration can be traced back to a national affliction that I myself suffered from for many years. That affliction is Political Pragmatism. It is the idea that we must vote for the lesser of two evils, inferior men from "established" political parties that have no interest whatsoever in altering the status quo. The Two Party System squats across the political landscape, obscuring scores of candidates and ideas whose ascendancy could bring real change to the American political landscape and vanquish those who have made it their most profitable business to stay in power for the sake of power itself.

But because we are Pragmatists who have been trained over many years to believe that these two monolithic political entities are our sole viable choices, we believe that a vote for anyone besides a Republican or Democrat is tantamount to casting our ballot into the sea.

It is becoming clear in this first Presidential election of the new millenium that the political system we currently endure is failing. The Republican Party is becoming more and more obsolete by the day. The Democratic Party has proven itself something less than the savior of the masses. The steady increase inthe number of Independent voters on the rolls is a clear demonstration that the body politic is becoming primed to refute a system that has ruled unrestrained since the days of Andrew Jackson.

The pragmatists who vote for a candidate just slightly less repugnant than another candidate are tasting more and more the bitter gall of the "necessity" to make such a dismal choice. Decisions like these carry the same sting as does unrequited love, and after enough time the forlorn endure so much disappointment that they find within themselves the courage to, finally, walk away.

How, then, do we convince those afflicted with Political Pragmatism that a vote for someone who actually represents their viewpoint is not a complete waste of time? How do we wrestle the conversation away from the major news media, whose very existence and importance on the political landscape is due to their shameless payment of subservient homage to the Two-Party System? How do men like Harry Browne and Ralph Nader, or political parties like the American Reform Party and the People’s Independent Party, get their message out without being restricted by the need to spend thousands of dollars for airtime on the networks for as long as it takes to get some attention?

I use a free email service and I have access to over 1,000 people all across the country via various listservers I am on. In five minutes I can reach these people without spending a dime. As the internet spreads to every corner of American society, so will the ability to broadband conversation on the issues at hand using the power of the written word. A Party that cannot afford to elbow their way onto the media stage can find someone who knows HTML, create a web page, and use email and other communication avenues to spread their message. This is the essence of grass roots politics writ large. Slowly and surely a groundswell will grow, gathering to it enough attention that the jackals of the media will abandon the carcass of the Two Party System to feast upon a whole new way of thinking, acting, and getting things done.

If enough people endeavor to spread information on new candidates and new ideas for government, change will come. If an information revolution is to happen, it must come from the hands and minds of those who care enough to pay attention, and who believe the time of this political status quo has come and gone. It is up to us to do this. Information on “Third Parties” outside the current spectrum is readily available. If we promulgate this new information with the technology at hand, we will inject the lost quality of hope into our national political conversation, and change will come as surely as springtime.

As Americans, the health and well-being of the nation is our responsibility. The stagnant concept of Political Pragmatism, which would demand our vote for a Gore or a Bush despite the knowledge that none of them will accomplish that which is most required, must be forever dispelled. Change is simply another word for hope. I believe there is enough hope left in us all to see this fight through to its necessary conclusion.

The field crews roll up the tarp on the sacred green diamond of old, noble Fenway Park. The keeps at the Cask & Flagon on Yawkey Way polish the pitted wood of the long bar in preparation for six months of pints and elbows resting in the television glow of Red Sox games. Boston Globe sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy pens the same five words at the end of at least one article he writes, as he has done for as many seasons as he has been with the paper: "This could be the year."

If you live in Boston and love the Red Sox, as I do, you try to stay away from words like "hopeless". We raise our eyebrows and shrug as if it doesn't sting when hated Yankee fans remind us that it has been 82 years since the Sox won a championship. We imitate stoicism when someone is rude enough to mention the names Bucky Dent or Bill Buckner in polite company, wincing only on the inside. Here in Boston, we have mastered the art of ignoring history, and when the green returns to the countryside we turn again in hope to that palace of the game under the Citgo sign in Kenmore Square, never once uttering the word "hopeless".

I view Presidential politics in this country with the same eyes that I view the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. One team always wins, and one team always loses. The team that always wins, the despised Yankees, is better funded, has more followers, and has become such a juggernaut on the landscape of the game that it is taken as a given that they will win. The team that always loses, my beloved Red Sox, has less money, fewer followers, and has been defeated so many times that it is taken as a given that they will always lose.

The same facts, and the same assumptions, exist within our national political structure. In over 150 years there have been only a few fleeting moments when a sitting President has been a member of a party besides the Republicans or the Democrats. Taylor was elected in 1848 as a Whig, and Lincoln was re-elected in 1864 as a member of what was called the National Union Party. Both were merely warmed over versions of Republicanism, and both evaporated into the mists of time. Not even a natioal hero like Theodore Roosevelt could make a go of his Bull Moose Party, and since that time no "Third Party" candidate has stood even the remotest chance of winning the office.

The vice grip that the Republican and Democratic parties hold on our national political scene is so all-encompassing that even mavericks within their ranks, who by all appearances faithfully carry the banner for their party, are soundly defeated if they threaten in any way the status quo. This was thumpingly demonstrated in the resounding defeats handed to John McCain and Bill Bradley on March 7th and 14th. These men were the real deal, party-wise, and yet they were rebuffed in favor of warmed over Establishment candidates who are guaranteed not to rock the boat. Watching the primary results coming in from Super Tuesday I and Super Tuesday II, I could hear the haunting voice of that obnoxious New York radio announcer echoing in my head: "Yankees win! Yankees win!"

So where does this leave us, the political Red Sox fans who have for too many years endured the woe of always being the bridesmaid, and never the bride? In politics and baseball, we avoid the word "hopeless", even if the word is emphatically applicable. But I will tell you something, as a Red Sox fan and an advocate for political change - the Yankees are soft this year. They are old. They are gettable. They have some young talent and a manager of wizard-like abilities, but their time on baseball's throne is drawing to a close.

I believe the same is true of the Republicans and the Democrats. George W. Bush is Chuck Knoblauch, a fortunate son who is more lucky than good. Al Gore is Paul O'Neil, an assasin whose talents are admired but whose personality is not. They have all the money in the world, and an organization backing them that has the power and weight of history's momentum. But they no longer have the relevant skills required to play the game the way it needs to be played.

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is as old as the game itself. The rivalry between established political parties and those on the outside yearning for change is as old as the country itself. Both these contests have ended the same way time and time and time again, until the next season comes and new circumstances allow the underdog to whiff a newly decanted scent of hope in the spring air. Someday, somehow, things will change, and the underdog will rise up to smite their mighty foe, bringing history to a much-needed close and opening a chapter never before written.

I haven't been on the planet very long. I was born at the end of Nixon's first term as President of the United States. I was in diapers and still learning to talk when the disgraceful train wreck of Watergate played out before the public eye. I dimly remember Carter and long lines for gasoline, but my political education did not begin until after Hinckley took a shot at Reagan.

Because my experience in the realm of politics has only encompassed the three administrations I have actually lived through, any sweeping proclamations I might make carry only so much weight as you wish to give them. Do not forget, however, that this limitation carries a keen second edge. I have seen Reagan, I have seen Bush, and I have seen Clinton, three men who by any meaningful moral standard are lower than dogs. These men, with the help of their hired hands and those who came to Congress on their coattails, have done more to give American politics a bad name than any other three men in the history of this nation you could name. These men, their policies and their politics, are all I know of leadership in America from an eye-witness point of view.

I can confidently say that I know a rotten deal when I see one, and I have seen one this last week.

The shameful and wretched orgy of self-interest and partisanship that has become the Elian Gonzalez case stands tall in my mind as perhaps the most obnoxious example of everything that is wrong with our current system that has come before us to date. It ranks with the Lewinski Impeachment Extravaganza in seediness, and in the propensity of the main characters involved to pander to the worst aspects of human nature to score their points. It inhabits the same rarefied air as the Gulf War, for it shares that same dreary disconnect between what is being reported by the media, in full feeding frenzy, and what is actually happening. The Elian Gonzalez case even rubs shoulders with the Iran/Contra scandal, a grand example of political skulduggery, because after the shouting ends and the dust clears nothing at all will have changed.

In one essential way, however, it is worse than all three. A sex scandal, an unjust war and a cacophony of lies and double dealing are all aspects of our modern political landscape. They are, morosely, to be expected. But the Elian Gonzalez case is just that: the circumstances that have arisen around the wrenching tragedies in the life of a six-year-old boy, a child, a baby. Mean and scurrilous people with political scores to settle and agendas to fulfill have used this pitiful half-orphan to further whatever low breed of cause they choose to call their own. Cuban refugees in Miami snared the boy into their decades-old war with Castro, shamelessly exploiting the innocent mind of a motherless child to their own ends. Capitol Hill politicians and Presidential hopefuls alike lined up to take their pound of flesh from Elian Gonzalez. There is no tangible political end to the activities of those who have chosen to charge the ramparts of this boy's plight, no war to win or enemy to dethrone.

He's just a boy, a child, and he has been ground up in the gears of how things work around here. When the Miami family arrived in Washington in pursuit of Elain this past Saturday, they rushed immediately to Capitol Hill, and into the arms of vampires. They will be sucked dry of political usefulness, just as they themselves drained as much as possible from Elian and the shade of his reckless mother. When I saw the CNN footage of that family striding up those marble stairs towards Rep Bob Smith, I found myself screaming at the television. "Stop!" I bellowed. "You're just going to get used! Stop, before it's too late!" But they were gone, and we are here.

Let us speak a moment about CNN, and the other television networks that purport to be legitimate news sources. These media are like the Grand Canyon - huge and vast, but empty for the most part. The only sound you will hear from them are the echoes of others shouting down into the chasm, making themselves heard. In this instance, however, the media's position as mouthpiece for the governing establishment has dragged them down into the mud with the rest of the swine.

How can CNN not be soiled, when Wolf Blitzer allows Cuban-born Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida to rage on about the certainty that Elian Gonzalez was being drugged and brainwashed by the Clinton-Castro Cabal? CNN and the other networks allowed, completely without rebuke, the most noxiously hateful and distorting partisan nonsense to be blurted across the globe for all to see and hear. The BBC commentators I listened to last evening sounded both bemused and shaken by it all. It would not surprise me if several foreign stock markets begin plunging soon, due to the frightening fact that the leading lights of the planet's last remaining superpower seem to have completely taken leave of their senses.

As sad as this episode has been, I am thankful that in it, unlike the impeachment, there can be found some heroes to admire. We had no Archibald Cox during the Lewinski conundrum to light the way, but we had Elian's father for this one. We had Juan Miguel Gonzalez, whose understanding of family values stood in grand contrast to a galaxy of politicians who purported to hold such values dear, while vehemently arguing against reuniting a son with his father. We had Janet Reno, she with the millstones of Ruby Ridge and Waco hanging ponderously around her neck, making the decision to take decisive action after spending so much time trying fruitlessly to bargain with zealots. The photograph of the man with the machine gun reaching for a terrified Elian Gonzalez is disturbing, to be sure, but it was a picture that never would have been taken had so very many people not acted so very poorly.

In their heyday, the Romans ruled with what was essentially a two-party system. There were the Senators, and there was the Emperor. These two factions spent so much time and effort plotting against each other that the Empire slipped away from them. In those pagan times, the politically-motivated rape of a child might not have been considered entirely repugnant. I would like to believe that we have progressed beyond such things, both politically and morally. Unlike the Roman citizens of yore, as Americans we have a say, and in that truth we must find the realization that what has happened to Elian Gonzalez is our fault as well. We elected these people. We support them with tax money wrung from the sweat of our brow. We send them back to Washington, election after election, and we tolerate it when they act as shamefully as they have in the last week.

The time has come for this to stop. It will not end on its own. If you believe that those within this system will reform it for you, you are being sold an empty purse. Because our system of government has become the monstrosity we endure today, it is widely believed that the vote does not count. Nothing could be further from the truth. If every American voter paused to take enough stock in the dire facts of our current political situation, so much so that they voted for a candidate they actually agreed with and honestly admired, change in this country would come almost overnight. This is not a fantasy or a dream, but a pragmatic political truth. If you don’t vote for them, they will not come.

When you are bouncing your grandchildren on your knee in some faraway tomorrow and you begin to tell the story of what went wrong with America, remember Elian Gonzalez. Remember all those who chose to plunder a sad little boy for all he was worth. Remember the system that spawned such a travesty, a system where only two parties controlled the conversation and used whatever weapons they could find to wound and discredit each other. Even a six-year-old boy. But if you're lucky, you can tell your grandchild that you were there when the wheel came around, when the people became tired of the nonsense and took the reins in hand.

If you're really lucky, you can begin your tale with the words, "It all started roundabout the turn of the century. That was the new millennium, you know. New millenniums bring about all sorts of changes..."