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THE WAY WE ELECT PRESIDENTS
INTERVIEWS BY MICHAEL McCUSKER
"No man should be expected or permitted to
wield the power of the Presidency without the clearest
of titles to it. Whatever arguments may exist for the
grand doctrine that all power must be first of all
legitimate apply twice as severely to the power that
is lodged in the American Presidency."
-CUNTON ROSSITER
A man recently walked into an Astoria bar
wearing a Ralph Nader T-shirt. "You won’t raise any
hackles in this place," a friend said. "It's filled with
Republicans, who will probably shake your hand for
the help getting Bush elected. If you really want to
make a statement go to a liberal bar. They'll probably
kill you."
In reality the 2000 Presidential election might
very well have been decided by the 100,000,000 who
did not vote rather than the photo finish by the equal
amount who did vote — despite the draw-offs of 3rd
party votes and the more than usual corruption that
plagued the election.
At any rate these interviews were conducted
because many local folk not interviewed for the last
issue of the NCTE wanted to know why they weren't
asked the questions:
Do you think the extraordinary election of 2000
was legitimate and fair?
What do you think might be the consequences
of the election?
As long as folks want to answer we will ask.
HODIN
'I do solemnly swear...1
LEE MILLER:
GENNA HALL
(He is a progressive activist on sabbatical)
I fear the Bush Presidency is going to be a disaster for
women's reproduction rights and I'm sure Roe vs Wade will be
challenged by this administration.
I think we will discover a renewed spirit of militant
adventurism. If we follow the pattern, there will be an executive
deployment of troops, only consulting Congress later. An
uncritical mass media will go along with the White House, and
the violence will be sanitized and reformed for public digestion.
Reporters will be forbidden from the battlefield
There will be massive corporate welfare There wll be
no national health care program. Wealth will stay on top. And of
course the drug war will continue, a prolonged domestic Vietnam
War.
The military wants to get into outer space to dominate
the planet, our Pax Romana
(She is 14, in the 9th grade at Neah-Kah-Nie High
School. She is tall in size and intellect, rich with humor.)
I think that the decision to make George Bush President
was the greater of two evils.
I would rather have seen Al Gore in office — but only
because I lean toward democratic views. I can't even imagine
what is to come for our country the next four years.
JUDITH GRIFFIS
(She is a poet.)
I think it was such an egregious example of hubris.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry — so I think I'll take
a Buddhist very long view and laugh.
The Internet is filled with connections between the Bush
family and I.G Farbin, the Nazi manufacturer of gas used in
the death camps of World War 2, among other chemical uses,
parent company of today's pharmaceutical industry.
No classical civilization has ever been market driven.
They have all had free trade but they never had pnce tags all
over everything.
The saddest part was vtfien the American people lost in
the Supreme Court, wriich politicized the Court.
The tax cuts alone wll probably do wtiat Reagan did —
send the country into a recession. It's a total folly based on fuzzy
math.
I think Bush is a one-term President like his dad and the
other father and son Presidents, the Adamses.
DAVID POLLARD
JAMES HALL
(He is Genoa's father, a woodworker and finish
carpenter living on a Choy Lee sloop in Astoria's West Boat
Basin.)
The election process pretty well clued me in on
vtfiat are close calls — about how shaky that process is
and how untested and left up to interpretation: make up the
definitions as you go along. The election went in all directions:
Was it up to the feds, the states, the counties? It was an
exercise in putting a working definition to a law. I think we
should review the procedures of close calls.
The decision to go with Bush, as I surmise talking
to people, appears to be a biased or favored deal.
i
•
JOHN NELSON
(He spent 49 years in the U.S. Merchant Marine, which
includes 14 years as an instructor at the Tongue Point Job
Corps Center Sea School.)
For the first time in U.S. history we have had a coup.
I just came back from Europe. I was over there vrfien
the election dispute was going on. People there told me 'You've
finally had a coup in your country."
When the President's brother is governor and one of his
campaign managers counts the votes — It's a coup.
(He is a retired teacher and avid conservationist.)
I remain distressed about the electoral process and I am
concerned about wtiat happened in Florida. I hope the National
Legislature will find a way to correct voting irregularities.
The vote may have been taken away in Florida, and
that is exclusive to my feelings as to whether George Bush is
qualified or disqualified to be President of the United States.
I am a devout believe in 'one man, one vote'. I am
disturbed about the Supreme Court's decision. We must do
everything possible to preclude that from ever happening again.
JIM HENSEN
(He is former bandleader of Astoria High School.)
I think the 2000 election is probably the greatest tragedy
in American history. I think George Bush is the dumbest S O B.
to ever appear on the scene.
The man has no awareness of the world we live in. I
think he is microcephalic.
It was a fraudulent election. I think the damage that will
be done will be long term The magnitude of this folly is beyond
calculation. If we keep doing things like this, and putting idiots
like Bush in office, democracy can't exist.
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