Pre-Election Willies

Here we are, with only two days to go! On Tuesday, all of us good citizens will march into the polling booths and pucnh our cards or press our computer screens, and determine who will lead our country for the next four years. I'd like to say that I'm very optimistic about this election. I'd love to be able to say for a certainty that the next presidential administration wil be headed by John Kerry and John Edwards. My hope - beyond all hopes - is that the polls are all wrong, that those "likely voters" do not form a true representation of the American voting public, that millions of people who didn't vote last time - either out of apathy or because they were too young - come out in droves and cast their votes for Kerry. My hope is that Kerry carries all of those so-called "battleground states" by such an indisputably large margin that no one could possibly contest the election. Yes, that is my hope, but my fear is that this will never happen.

I fear that - should Kerry win - that Bush will contest the results. And from what I'm hearing, that has already begun. I hear of armies of lawyers lining up on either side, each one poised with a bulging brief case clutched under one arm, well-thumbed law books under the other, styli - quivering - over their state-of-the-art pager/palm/cell phone combos, chomping at the bit to be the first one to beam his or her challenge to the nearest federal courthouse. In Florida - O! Florida, we lament thee - Democrats have already fouled a plot by Republicans to keep thousands of African Americans from voting. Seems the Republicans published a list - a secret list - of "convicted felons" who were to be turned away from the polls. When a court order forced the Republicans to make the list public, it was quickly determined that over half of the people listed were not convicted felons, and that over half of the people on the list were African Americans. Meanwhile, in Illinois, Republicans working at polling sites are aparently being instructed to challenge - on the spot - any voter they suspect of voting illegally. This would, of course, have the effect of nullifying that person's vote until said citizen could provide proof of their elegibility. Nothing like being presumed innocent until proven guilty, is there?

So, I fear that, come Wednesday morning, we will not know who the winner of the election is. In fact, I have the creeping suspicion that Bush and Cheney will not - like that famous old soldier, McAurthur - just fade away. Rather, I fear that Bush will overturn over two hundred years of American tradition by refusing to leave quietly, once the American people have spoken. If he doesn't, I'm wrong, and I'll pull that crow out of the freezer and enjoy a yummy dinner. But if George W. Bush loses the elcetion, and if he then challenges the results of the election, this president will set a dangerous precedent for future generations, one that could - could, I say - place our nation on a par with any number of nominal republics where the "president" remains in office until somebody physically ousts him.

Then again, Bush has already proven his willingness to set dangerous precedents. Just look at Iraq. if you can stand to. We invaded a sovereign nation that had committed no acts of agression against us, overthrew its government and are now attempting to install a new pro-American government. Talk about a preceent! In this one act, we have given the green light to any aggrssive nation to invade a weaker nation without provocation. If anyone complains, the aggressor can simply point to us and say, "We're just doing what they did." And there goes all of our credibility, all of our clout, all of our diplomatic prestige, right down the drain. But that could never happen, right? Right?

Well, these are my hopes and fears two days before election day. Still, I will go proudly and cast my vote for the candidate of my choice, and I hope every other registered voter does to. And may the best man win (and John Kerry is the best man right now).