America Uber Alles

Since November 3rd I have been inundated with e-mails and forwards about how stupid Americans are for ‘re-electing,’ George W. Bush. These post-election e-mails and forwards range from the slightly humorous to incredibly ignorant. I too was pissed off at the American electorate; I had my head in my oven for 2 days! I even commented that the Gentle Rant was reading too much Greg Palast, like that is possible! I have calmed down and started to look at things differently. Maybe the American electorate isn’t that stupid, maybe the exit polls weren’t wrong, maybe just maybe, brace yourself, Bush stole another election.
To be honest most of the things I read and believe are not from what Dickens would have called the American Elite.

The American elite is almost beyond redemption. . . . Moral relativism has set in so deeply that the gilded classes have become incapable of discerning right from wrong. Everything can be explained away, especially by journalists. Life is one great moral mush--sophistry washed down with Chardonnay. The ordinary citizens, thank goodness, still adhere to absolutes. . . . It is they who have saved the republic from creeping degradation while their "betters" were derelict.

Most of the American writers I read on a regular basis like Tom Engelgardt, and Greg Palast are not part of the liberal elite. They don't write for the Times or the Post and are not on CNN. The only other American writers who could be considered part of the liberal elite would be Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn(Largely because they are academics). All of these authors are biased, they are against globalization, fascism, Pan Americana and are all for human rights and human equality. What I am trying to say is that I am influenced by writers who would rarely get the time of day on CNN or any other mainstream media in the United States. For lack of a better phrase they would be labelled the Alternative Media.

Rumors are now swirling in the Alternative Media. Many are starting to question the veracity of the November 2nd election. At first I read many of the complaints and quickly labelled them as rants from poor sports or conspiracy theorists. Then my natural skepticism started to take over. First, former Clinton crony Richard Morris asserts that exit polls are rarely wrong but claims the exit polls were manipulated by the liberal media in an attempt to influence western voters to vote for Kerry. In addition, more and more stories about computer tallying problems started surfacing. Subsequent stories showing widespread complaints regarding voter registration and voter intimidation in many of the swing states including Ohio and Florida. Finally, strange voting patterns emerged from traditionally strong democratic counties where Bush won by 10%-40% in some cases.

I have witnessed attempts by the ‘loser,’ to overturn perceived voting and registration irregularities. I live in Taiwan, where the losing KMT are still fighting to overturn what they see as a corrupt election. I also understand that the chances of any kind of recount are slim with Kerry's concession. I should say the chances of a recount are zero with the Bush Reich controlling the House, Senate and Supreme Court. I defy you to say that sentence aloud and not feel the dry heaves coming up. I am interested in seeing what comes out of these rumors in the next weeks, months and years. I'll leave you with a quote from Alexander Pope,

When rumours increase, and when there is an abundance of noise and clamour, believe the second report.

Big Ell