C. Roy ReynoldsWELL IT'S official. Democracy does not come cheap nor with an insurance cover. As the saying goes: "Ya pays ya money and ya take your chances". The self-styled bastion of democracy has just managed to spend billions of dollars on its national elections to end up with two losers for president. For make no mistake, however this mess turns out both candidates are losers. Those who appreciate wit and biting satire must now miss the late journalist H.L. Mencken tremendously. I can just imagine his reaction to the present situation.
However, this thing goes it has already exposed the weakness of the American model as it applies to the presidential elections and it must now be urgent for them to recognise the incongruity of the paramountcy of the Electoral College fossil. In any other country which adhered to the basic principle of democracy of one vote for each person Al Gore would have now been constituting his cabinet but in the USA a shadowy amalgamation called an Electoral College has the authority to nullify the choice of the majority. I wonder what would have been America's reaction to a similar situation existing in say Canada or Britain or in some "lesser" nation. I have no doubt that it would have been soundly ridiculed, as indeed it should be.
Now there is a strong lobby to quickly just bury the embarrassment in the name of national unity and to paper over the obvious rent in the nation's democracy. I have no doubt that millions of Americans are just as bewildered about the Electoral College powers of democratic override as the rest of us. A few years ago I saw a book which gave some public reaction to questions about the Electoral College. Among the bizarre reactions was the man who identified it a brownstone building downtown. Another lady replied loftily: "Not everybody can go to Yale or Harvard, and if you ask me Electoral is just as good as any other college!"
Americans, including former president Carter, have been travelling the world observing and certifying other people's elections. I have no doubt of how they would have reacted had they encountered an anachronism as now bedevils their own election. They would justifiably recommend that this dodo bird be expeditiously exercised. As for us in Jamaica, are there any lessons? We are fond of dismissing our electoral processes as being bogus-ridden, but I am willing to bet big money (if I had any) that never in our history has any of our elections produced such a distortion as has occurred in the USA. No person for whom a clear majority of voters had voted has ever been kept from holding office. And when there have been doubts nobody has ever suggested that the avenues of readers should not be exercised to cover up national embarrassment.
But putting the wrong man in office is not the only peril of the American debacle. The measure of the man is even more astounding. I have followed the process keenly and it marvels me to see that a man has limited as Bush could even aspire to leadership of his country let alone given it by default of a silly system. The Electoral College has now emerged like the fine print on an insurance policy which the buyer never thought of any importance until it was magnified and used to deny his just claim.
I have listened to Mr. Bush on numerous occasions and seldom, if ever have I been able to understand what he was saying... There seem to be a "sublimable" disconnect between his mouth and what passes from his brain.
I can just imagine the pantomime should he have occasion to discuss some complicated international issue with other world leaders. But that is the dark side. The bright side is the rich source material he will furnish for television and radio comedians.
In the light of how many Americans have been reacting, especially in Florida where just recently their electoral process has featured much more than a few "Dead Men Walking" and voting, I wonder how our local breast-beaters who disparagingly compare us with America must now feel.
But as things seem at this time of writing, America will cover its nakedness if even with nothing more convincing than the proverbial fig leaf. Like the nursery rhyme character it will mend its crown with "vinegar and brown paper".
Do we still think we can mend our own system with electronic gadgetry?
C. Roy Reynolds is a freelance journalist.
