The System works, but for how long?

Well my fellow Americans, it looks as though the drama of the Year 2000 election is finally winding down. And while the nation awaits the U.S. Supreme Courts’ decision on whether or not to allow the hand counts in Florida to continue, perhaps this is the time to take stock of our representative democracy and its method of balloting; how the system worked, and how it failed us.

I will go on record as stating that I think the process being played out in our nations courts is an example of our system at work; an extreme case mind you, but the system as we know it has not broken down. There are no tanks in the streets of our cities, no battleships, cruisers, or destroyers at anchor in the Potomac, their guns trained on the White House, or Supreme Court building. The challenges to the Florida vote certification have been peaceful, and respectful. There has of course been rancor and political grand standing, but there has been no violence, and no call to arms, and we as Americans should be proud of the rule of law has been upheld and respect by all involved. Can there be any doubt that this same scenario could not have taken place almost anywhere else in the world? We as a country and as a people have nothing to apologize to the rest of the world for; our system works and works well. Can the rest of the world, save a few nations say the same?

That being said, our system for electing a President is not without it flaws, as the current quagmire in Florida clearly demonstrates. We need to move to a uniform system of balloting if not through out the nation, then certainly uniformity is call for through the many states. A standard must be adopted and adhered to by every county in a given state; how else can uniform and consistent standards be adhered to? In this case I think the rights of the people to have their votes counted without doubt and supposition clouding the returns, should outweigh the rights of the individual counties and or states to do thing “their” way! I find it more than slightly "stupid"(for the lack of a better word) that all of the counties of a state would continue to be permitted to devise and administer their own system of balloting and the methods for counting those ballots without clear and unambiguous guidance from the many State legislators!

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