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The White House represents the
residence and office of the President of the United States, now the
world's only superpower. But
the White House, and America, is lacking something vital: the
character to maintain that status as a superpower. We are indeed a divided people
and have been since the nation's inception. Not
all people living in what became the United States wanted to sever
ties with the Crown. Some
were loyalists to the King, others wished to establish a new nation
founded on different principles than a hereditary monarchy. They
believed the people, the governed, should have a voice in the
selection of those who did the governing. Now, in the year 2000, we are
a closely divided people, which is amazing since the previous eight
years should have produced a clear majority of Americans demanding a
change toward a more honorable status for the office and the man in
that office. It seems that the election ran
more along traditional party lines than on domination by one candidate
versus the other candidate, as happened in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was
elected by such a majority as to claim "a mandate of the
people." Neither candidate possesses a
magnetic personality or the traditional image of the American
statesman. Al Gore is a political hack who will be out of a job if he
doesn't win this election (whenever a winner may be declared). George
W. will still be governor of Texas. However,
neither man is likely to find himself in line for food stamps without
a political office to hold. America is still in the
painful process of legal surgery, and the nation cannot proceed to the
recovery room and to healing therapy until this is over. More
and more of the nation is just sick of legal battles. We are sick and tired of lawyers. It is true that lawyers have their place, but it is not their
job to maneuver the election of the president. This will not only spawn hundreds more lawyer jokes, but
worse, cast a dismal cloud on what lies ahead for future elections. Bringing in the lawyers was
indeed a major blunder in this election. Most of us have little faith
in the integrity of lawyers in general. We
have seen major miscarriages of justice wrought by incompetent
lawyers, and incredibly crafty ones. Those
who are good at their craft need to deploy the integrity that was
intended for our court system, not the theatrics that should be
reserved for Perry Mason cases. (Note that Perry Mason only defended the innocent.) We've seen the worst of
American politics, the misuse of legal skills, the petty mob-scene
tactics of Jesse Jackson & Co. at his worst, and the vitriolic
emotions borne of partisanship out of control. America
is viewing the democratic process at its worst, even to the point
where some Americans wish to amend the Constitution itself. We
have even forgotten that we are a federal republic and not a true
democracy. This whole mess is the result,
oddly enough, of a prosperous economy. If we had been in a recession,
the vote probably would have ended by11:00 p.m. election night. Whatever lies ahead, the
healing of America has to be the new president's primary goal. If
not, we may indeed turn into the "banana republic" of
deciding elections by guns rather than ballots. That would be the ultimate
downfall of America as a superpower. We must all demand that the healing begin, and soon. Join the conversation about the election... © Dorothy Anne Seese, 2000
See our latest columns: View expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Political USA.
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