Their Democratic Duty

I'm not George W. Bush, nor John Kerry, but I endorse this message!

It’s almost Election Day for the USA, as our neighbors wander off to the polls in the morning, they no doubt will keep a wary eye on those around them. What must be going through their minds, as they make their way to the polls? The specter of some disruptive event still hangs over the country, will Osama Bin Laden engage in some nefarious activity to disrupt the process, or will they be left in relative peace to cast their ballots, watch their returns and await the inevitable legal challenges to their collective efforts?

Considering the fact that their nation has existed under some cloud of expectation of terror for three years now, mostly proclaimed by its own government, one could understand if your average American just decided to take a pass on the voting booth. The Vice President himself has constantly reminded American’s that the terrorists will try and try again, the administration seemingly trying to instill the fear of God in the people to be ready to be a target again. With that never ending hammering on the psyche, we have to wonder how it impacts on a person’s very private choice in a voting booth?

But vote they will, despite roadblocks that would deter many a hardy soul they will vote. Despite registration snafus, missing names on voting lists and seemingly anarchistic voting regulations that change from state to state and district to district they will vote. They will mark an X, punch a chad, and pull a lever. Whatever method used, they will cast a vote in a display of their faith in the democratic process, despite its warts, corruption and never ending battles long after the votes are counted and counted again.

So what of the choice itself, the race for the White House is the closest one that America has ever seen. The polling numbers indicating neither George Bush nor John Kerry can go to bed this election eve and feel secure that in 24 hours they will be the President of the United States and leader of a good part of the free world.

This election would seem to fit the billing as the most important American election in recent times. The nation itself seems unsure as to where their loyalties should go, a dead heat as they say, almost a 50/50 split, a nation divided in opinion, divided over what’s important to the nation and divided even on the war that continues endlessly on, even as the voting begins.

It’s a curious situation this election eve, normally a sitting President is given the benefit of the doubt, a comfortable lead to work with. But the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania has not seen that large a margin of comfort. With the underlying fear of more terrorist attacks on the American homeland, President Bush took to heavy polling over security issues. Americans apparently believing he’s more qualified to take the fight to the terrorists wherever they are, despite the evidence that the administration seems to have become sidetracked in that fight with their excursion in Iraq.

With an unpopular war ongoing and casualties reported daily, one would think that John Kerry’s numbers would be higher, yet they too are stuck at less that 50%. Why is it that American’s don’t feel comfortable with the abilities of Kerry to keep them safe from terror and find an exit out of the morass that has become Iraq?

The questions for the Kerry campaign are many, for it has been a campaign that hasn’t really caught the imagination of the American people. There is no wave of excitement at the Kerry possibility, instead more of a wishful hope that somehow he manages to outlast Bush and take the Presidency. Surely that itself must send alarm bells in the Democratic Party machine.

There really should not be any reason for Kerry not to have passed the 50% level and rendered the Bush neo-con forces to the one term history books. Beyond the Iraqi situation, which has been bungled badly of late by the administration there are other points that the Democrats should have been far and away ahead of the Republicans on and somehow never got the message across properly.

The economy of debt currently being created by the Bush forces was begging for a debate, the Bush administration has ratcheted up a horrendous national debt in its pursuit of Homeland Security and various International adventures. That debt is going to have to be paid back somehow and sometime, more than likely on the backs of the middle and lower classes of American society, how come they never got that message across? The American economy is starting to slow down, the jobless rate increasing, and the stock market erratic to say the best. There’s the skyrocketing price of oil providing a bad omen for a cold winter ahead. The economy was a Bush weakness, yet Kerry remained below 50%! Are American’s willing to give the President a pass on his economic agenda, purely because they are afraid of Osama Bin Laden?

Why has Kerry’s constant hammering on the job loss crisis in America fallen upon deaf ears? Why did the Bush Tax plan not get the roasting that it deserved, on one hand the Administration runs up astronomical debt, on the other hand they suggest that the highest end taxpayers need not necessarily carry a share of the burden. Could the Democrats not explain the problems with that math? Did the messenger not deliver it properly or do Americans close their eyes when matters of economy come to their attention. Regardless, with his numbers below 50% Kerry failed to make the economy an issue.

The Patriot Act was never once discussed in this election; it was given as just the way the American’s will do business now. Where was the Democratic Party on this issue, where was John Kerry? There are far too many worrisome aspects of this legislation that should have had civil rights activists out on the trail, every day of the campaign. Yet it was never mentioned in the debates and if it was it surely was only as a quiet aside. The culture of fear seems to give the Administration draconian rights of investigation, yet no one seems to think that a land that has opposed tyranny over the years might succumb to that same attack on democratic rights that Americans have long taken for granted. Somehow the concept is out there that if you have qualms about the Patriot Act, then perhaps you’re not a patriot! With that theme playing out in the US, the Democrats seemingly chose the easy route of ignoring the issue completely. You eventually have to stand for something other than political expediency, yet that seems to have been the talking point on this campaign; don’t say anything to call the Democrats loyalty into question.

Guantanamo Bay is another issue that never once was mentioned in this campaign, with the American government running a secretive prison with apparently no due process required, the debate on the legalities let alone morality of that never was made. Now the people currently incarcerated there, may very well be the evilest of the evildoers, but how would anyone know? Proceedings are never recorded, we don’t even know if they have anything resembling a trial there. The United States is a nation built upon the rule of Law, yet we have no insight as to how things are handled on the fringes of Cuba. At what point does someone ask what’s going on there. Perhaps that is the reason the Bush Administration chose a territory off of the American mainland for their detention camp, out of sight, out of mind. Yet one wonders why alarm bells don’t go off in America. A country which is quick to hold public hearings into the various personal habits of elected officials, somehow can’t find the time to delve into the happenings at a top secret prison where people have been held without any sense of process for over three years! One wonders why the Democrats never seemed to approach the entire Guantanamo issue in the campaign. Would it not be beneficial to find out what those being held in detention knew and what the American people needed to know about how and why they got there. The Democrats took a pass on that issue as well; perhaps fearful that standing up for due process and the American constitution might somehow be perceived as anti American.

An isolationist foreign policy of the US government got a short shrift as well, Kerry seemed afraid to tackle the US image abroad. While Americans have long been a stand alone kind of nation, they must at times wonder why the vast majority of the nations of the world seem to think they are on the wrong path. There are times when the American beliefs and actions are justified, there are also times when they act impudently and not concerned with the long term effects of their actions. They regularly have taken to tuning out any dissenting voice or discarding advice from formerly dependable allies. Shortly after the tragedy of 9-11, the vast majority of the world’s nations stood with the American’s in empathy to the horrendous attack on a nation that many feel holds the candle of liberty. How in three short years has that tide gone so far out? Why have the Democrats not explained how they would recapture those sympathies and more importantly how they would recapture the spirit of co-operation the US once had with many of the countries of the world. They touched on the issue, but never really delivered a comprehensive answer as to how they would bring America back to the world.

There were many International issues that just never got discussed; perhaps for fear that the American public is just too weary to ponder their responsibilities. North Korea, Iran, the crisis of Africa, health concerns worldwide and domestic just never seemed to make it onto the agenda. Or maybe despite what seemed like an endless campaign, they just ran out of time. Kerry the Internationalist got bogged down with the American agenda, which is to be expected, but never really gave anyone any sense of what he might accomplish on the world stage.

The simple fact for Democrats is that in a situation where they should have had a much wider margin, their candidate has not found a home in the bosom of the American voter. The Bush forces have held their own in a scenario that for all intents and purposes should have led to a crushing defeat.

The closeness of the polling information, the perception of a dead heat, it plays well for a second term for George Bush, by not having to be held accountable on their record, they never had to admit that things had gone wrong. The current high anxiety of a wartime America, gives the incumbent an edge simply by the fact that nothing has been challenged. By treading the muddled middle, afraid to offend or appear to be questioning America itself, the Kerry team fumbled a chance to give the average American a chance to speak out about these troubled times.

Regardless, the American public casts its vote on Tuesday, with billions of proxy voters hanging on to their decision. It’s a testimony to America’s place in the world that people worldwide are following this election as if they had a vote themselves. They of course won’t be taking too much time to weigh their vote on how the world is thinking; they will however, take the measure of the men competing for the office.

The election has been fought mostly on the agenda put forward by the Bush team; the Kerry handlers never seemed able to change that situation from day one. In effect they have made the election a referendum on the governance of George W. Bush. His handlers may have placed him in the spot to achieve what his father could not, a second term, one that will certainly see the United States carry forth with the agenda it has formulated in the previous four years.

We await the voter’s judgment and wonder what kind of world we will have after the votes have been counted, recounted and maybe even sent to the courts. Democracy is a wonderful gift to the world, flawed at times but still yet an expression of free will. May our neighbours vote in good conscience and be guided by their inner voice as to what is right for us all.