Henri Reynard Speaks Out

Who is The Winner?

---

So there was this election for President, see, and it all came down to a few hundred votes in a state with a history of manual recounts in smaller elections, and the party with the few hundred vote lead out of six million cast didn't want a hand recount. Totally implausible! It could never happen! Well folks here we are in the most powerful democracy in the world with exactly that scenario. And what will the future bring us all? I'm no prophet so this is a mere prediction, not a prophetic pronouncement.

It will bring us a better democracy. That's what Santa put under our tree in November this year. If we don't get around to opening it until Christmas then it's all right with most of us. And if it happens sooner then we will all be pleasantly surprised. Now the Grinch here is the co-Chair of the Bush campaign, Kathleen Harris. Admittedly she's a lot better looking than the Grinch, and a lot smarter. But only a Grinch could take away our right to a hand recount in an election this close. Of course she believes in her candidate. By election time we all believe in our candidate. Except those of us who do not know which candidate is our candidate. She is certainly not in that minority. But her job should not be done, in this case, by someone who believes so strongly in their candidate.

Since this is not a prophetic announcement I can skip the grim and awful pronouncements. This system is set up to deal with the understandable and human biases of any close election. We will arrive at a carefully thought out result even in the face of such Grinch-like behavior. That's why the courts are there, to keep public officials in check, to balance the forces of our democracy, to set things right. Well actually folks that seems to be true in most cases except in Texas, but that's another story.

We are participating in a historic event here, it will be preserved for all time in the bright lights of the Television cameras that are recording every bit of it for posterity. There are pieces of our electoral system that may be broken. They will be glaringly obvious in all that light. There are many more shining examples of good and virtuous behavior and honesty and integrity. Even if the Grinches win they will lose the power to do this many more times. They will lose that power because the people will have seen it in the full glare of the lights and they will not be happy about the result. That will bring change and improve our democracy.

So while the pundits are smiling and gnashing their perfect teeth over the uncertainty of it all, we are having the time of our lives. We are watching democracy be put to the test. And we will emerge from this non-crisis; better citizens, smarter citizens and even in a few cases wiser citizens. We will gain those characteristics by watching the differences between campaign rhetoric and real life.

Where the rubber meets the road, "I trust the people", becomes," I don't think they can count those votes fairly, they will introduce human error and their biases into the count". "I trust local government", becomes "let's throw this into Federal court and see if we can stop the counting". People notice the contradictions in these things when they are said in such close proximity to one another. "I believe in the will of the people", becomes, "Kathleen, I know you don't like it, but someone has to play the part of the Grinch in the Christmas pageant or we lose the prize".

So no matter what the outcome we, the people, will win in this election. Virtue may not triumph this time, although it may, but we will still be winners. We will win a more vigilant body politic. We will win a better system of voting and counting. We will win a better system of checks and balances. And we will win an aroused electorate that will force those changes in a marvelous system, designed by our founders to be self-improving, not perfect. I am in awe of their wisdom, and marvel at the beauty of what they created. They would love this election.