Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, November 4, 2004
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■ In my opinion
have taken control of the White Home
Herein lies the peril of writing
columns about (literally) current
events. I wrote a few introductory
paragraphs for this space Tliesday
night about the difficulty of talking
about an almost-resolved election. No
candidate had secured victory, and a
win seemed eventual for President
Bush, but not immediate enough that
I’d have to write these replacement
paragraphs Wednesday morning.
I wrote an analysis of why we could
probably safely assume a Bush victo
ry sometime after, say, Thursday, even
given the quarter million uncounted
and provisional ballots. But that’s no
longer interesting, let alone prescient.
I wrote, too, that 1 couldn’t yet
cheer an incoming Kerry administra
tion or lament another four years of
dubious foreign and economic poli
cies. Of course, now I can.
On the upside, given the decisive
ness of the election, we needn’t dread
an upcoming, say, 36 days of partisan
cacophonies that would extend an al
ready fatiguing electoral season.
Fortunately, I dedicated most of
what turned out to be a first draft to
a few thoughts about other parts of
the election:
Firstly, repeating a surprise string of
victories in 2004, Republicans made
even deeper inroads than they did
four years ago. While the party’s plat
form meshes poorly with Eugene’s lo
cal political scene, its message contin
ues to resonate with many
Americans. Besides a presidential
win, the GOP won a net four House
seats as of this writing, upping its
hold to 231 of the chamber’s 435.
It also picked up a net of four Sen
ate seats as of this writing, picking up
former Democratic seats in Florida,
TRAVIS WILLSE
RIVALLESS WIT
Georgia, Louisiana, South Dakota and
both Carolinas, while losing seats
only in Colorado and Illinois. The
biggest prize of the evening after the
presidency was former Representative
John Thune’s narrow victory over
Senate minority chief Tom Daschle in
South Dakota.
What explains this behavior for a
populace that usually prefers a split
in authority between parties? At
least part of it can be chalked up to
the Democratic message. Democrats
plainly settled on a message of “not
Bush,” but have failed to express
most of their other planks with such
clarity. While the Dems’ message is
less muddled than it was a year ago
(ODE: “Democrats’ demise;” Nov. 2,
2003), the ideological recovery is far
from over, as this year’s electoral fig
ures suggest.
Secondly, Florida is lucky that the
vote gap was much larger than polls
predicted. (Side note: To that end,
CNN Crossfire’s firebrand TUcker
Carlson summarized faults in the
polling system on the network’s
election night blog: “I think the exit
polls are insanely inaccurate. They
are a joke. They are historically
sucky. (Some of them) foretold a
trend that did not exist. A series of
polls should show a pattern.”)
As much as the state might
deserve a verbal lashing from the
media, Bush’s 375,000-vote lead in
the state — about 700 times his lead
there in 2000 — should be more
than enough to disinterest lawyers
and media alike in pursuing the
state’s electoral troubles. (Among
others: Several officials have cast al
legations of votes lost or miscounted
by electronic voting machines dur
ing recent elections; a Democratic
campaign manual in Florida ostensi
bly called for volunteers to illegally
handle votes; a Democratic state leg
islator said she wasn’t given a com
plete absentee ballot when she
asked for one; Orange County’s
touch-screen voting machine system
temporarily crashed; most of 60,000
missing absentee ballots trickled late
to voters in Broward County just last
week, though officials still had to
send 15,000 replacements.)
Finally, Bush won with a clear
plurality of the popular and electoral
votes, and so far without the inter
vention of the courts. Moreover, he
became the first president in 16
years to receive more than 50 per
cent of the vote. Critics who have
pounded at Bush’s legitimacy be
cause he lacked the electoral en
dorsement of a majority of the coun
try’s voters, or because the Supreme
Court ruled for him in Bush v. Gore,
will have neither argument at their
disposal during his second term.
But, like the Bush administration
shifting its justifications for interven
tion in Iraq, I suspect those critics
will scrap together new (albeit prob
ably unconvincing) philosophical
ammunition for Bush’s legitimacy.
traviswillse@ daily emerald, com
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■ Editorial
Escapists
explore new
option: Lane
Country
Now that Kerry has conceded the election,
and Bush is officially our president for four
more years, many liberals in Eugene are con
templating their next move. Republicans con
trol every branch of the federal government, in
creasing their margins in the Senate and House;
they can now easily defeat potential Democratic
filibustering on court appointments and, most
significantly, the Supreme Court.
The changes America will see during this
upcoming “Republican Era” promise to be
even more dramatic than during Bush’s first
four years. The disagreements that are polar
izing our country are taking place at a funda
mental level, not at the level of bureaucratic
nuance. Americans are split down the middle
on their world views, priorities and political
preferences. And, somehow, the traditional
ists, the religionists and the neoconservatives
have staged a complete takeover. What is left
for progressives to do?
One option we’ve heard discussed on cam
pus is political escapism. Escapists are those
who are so troubled by the results of an election
that they flee the influence of their govern
ment’s new direction. Left-wing escapists have
traditionally moved to Canada while escapists
on the right tend to form militias and attempt
mini-secessions.
If you believe the Democrat’s scare tactics
about the return of a draft, Canada might
seem like a good option. Canada has cheap
drugs, virtually no enemies and superior
breeds of comedians. But there are lots of
good things about America. For instance, we
have amber waves of grain. It seems a shame
to move to Canada and throw all that away
just because of our disagreements.
One of the goals of the American experiment
was to find a way for a diverse group of people
to live in peace in a large geographic area. But
with the population becoming more and more
diverse, and the geographic area of this country
now much bigger than it was when our forefa
thers first conceived of our republic, perhaps
we should rethink some of the philosophies
that underlie our government.
In that vein, the Emerald Board believes it is
time for liberals to take a page from the right
wing escapist playbook and develop our own
progressive militias who will fight for a sover
eign nation: Lane Country. If Lane was a coun
try, we could really get something done. We
could decriminalize gay marriage, marijuana
and choice. Let the Texas militias create their
lawless, taxless distopia where they arm them
selves to the hilt in order to protect their proper
ty. Lane Country will have a progressive tax
structure, universal health care, livable wages
and a clean environment.
Yet another possible, and given the current
circumstances, entirely logical escapist alterna
tive is the creation of a progressive island na
tion dubbed “Academia.” We believe a South
Seas or Carribean isle near the equator would
make an ideal geographic locale for the creation
and fostering of a more perfect union based
upon progressive ideals. Upon gaining citizen
ship, Academians will be issued a hybrid car.
You are probably thinking that secession
sounds a bit extreme. After four more years
of Bush, we think you will be singing a
different tune.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
David Jagemauth
Editorial Editor
Steven R. Neuman
Managing Editor
Gabe Bradley
Freelance Editor