LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Talk |
by Bill Sievert |
Close Enough to Closure
Whenever something terrible happens, especially a seemingly unjust tragedy, those affected cry out for a way to pick up their lives and come to "closure" on the matter. For many of us, the last presidential election was one such situation. During the seven months since the anointing of Howdy Dubya by the likes of Clarabelle Thomas and Sunny Day O'Connor, a majority of American voters has felt disenfranchised. This is particularly true of many Floridians who have been shellshocked (even more than usual). All winter and spring, the hurt wouldn't go away as reexaminations of ballots by teams of newspaper reporters continued to make headlines throughout the state. "Orange County tally nets 203 more votes for Gore," blared a banner headline on the front page of the Orlando Sentinel. "Fifteen smallest counties give Gore net gain of 366," screamed The Miami Herald. "Gore denied 122 valid votes in Lake County's closest race ever." I compiled a tall stack of such newspaper clippings. Day by day I watched the "official" Bush lead of 537 votes trickle down to 200 to fewer than 100 to zilch. Carefully, I kept a tally of each new calculation. At one point shortly after the coronation in Washington, my county-by-county re-count list showed Gore leading by slightly more than 6,000 votes. It didn't even seem close. Each week, I would send emails of the latest vote totals to my friends and family members around the country. Like me, these people were desperately seeking "closure." Only one name in my computer's address book did not appreciate receiving news about Gore's victory. That name responded with terse notes claiming that Bush, in his first weeks in office, was doing more for people with AIDS than Clinton ever did. I have attempted to delete that person's name from my "Buddy list," but he keeps finding a way to worm his way back into my computer. As a gay Republican raised during the Watergate era, he seems to have a natural instinct for such sneakiness. Anyway, just when I was starting to feel better, a consortium of newspapers checked in with its ultimate, maybe final but not absolutely certain statewide count. Actually three or four totals were cited, depending on whose standards were used to count. Most showed Gore comfortably ahead. But the figure that has stuck in my craw was the last one reported. It used Bush's own criteriaas attorneys for brother Jeb and Florida Secretary of State Kathleen Harris had argued for in courtomitting all those danged dangling chads and partially punched holes. Employing such an ultra strict standard, Gore had lost Florida by three votes. Three votes in a state that had cast six million ballots. Is it any surprise that so many folks who live in Florida are a little cuckoo? Three lousy votes. What kind of closure is that? Especially when almost every Gore supporter had at least a couple of friends who threw their votes to Nader? Not to mention those who accidentally voted for Rehoboth Beach's own part-time boy of summer Pat Buchanan. Certainly, any one of us could have found two people who didn't bother to vote. We could have, should have, driven them to the polls. Besides, three ballots among six million make the race a tie. One could re-count until the end of time, and the outcome always would be at least a few votes different. Shouldn't there be some safeguard in statewide elections to declare an official statistical tie if a winner can't be declared by more than a handful of the millions of ballots cast? What's worse, would we ever find closure on the election of 2001? "It's time to move on," some people said with a shrug. "Get over it!" demanded Republicans. Without closure, never! Particularly given that the future of the Supreme Court is at stake. Especially as we watched Dubya in the Oval Office, launching his initial act of aggression against a woman's right of choice and continuing onto his aggressive energy program against our natural resources. At least the President Select has been appreciative. He has persuaded The Treasury to cut a $300 check to most of us this summer to thank us for not overthrowing his faux regime. Just as I was about to accept my bribe graciously and give up on the idea of ever finding closure, a friend of mine emailed me a bulletin. Washington was about to be touched by an angelVermont Senator James Jeffords. With one quick but thoughtful press conference, Jeffords would shift the balance of power in the Senate away from Dubya's dubious team. In his defection from the Republicans, Jeffords spoke as a man of conscience about women's issues, the environment and education. He could not remain a party to a party that was taking the country in so many wrong directions. To borrow a phrase from a fellow columnist in Florida, Jeffords' decision was enough to make you want to join a glee club. There may be little hope of evicting the current occupant from the White House until 2004. Butwith Democrats now in charge of all the important Senate committeesat least he's not going to have free rent. And that, alas, is close enough to closure for me. Bill Sievert was a long-time resident of Rehoboth Beach until he became embroiled in the Florida election last fall. He plans to return as soon as they stop re-counting ballots. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 7, June 15, 2001. |