the tragedy of the situation now is that there is simply no way for it to be truly fair.........it's clear that enough people were misled by the ballot in PB so that the FL vote count did not reflect the true preferences of the people who voted in FL. That's not fair.
The wizened Chief of Medicine once clued in a group of young residents, who were complaining about added call nights to the schedule of being "unfair", by replying gruffly, "you want fair, look it up in the dictionary". It took me a while to get this, but what he was saying is that fairness to perfection is defined in the dictionary, but fair is often missing in real life.
I agree that there were voting irregularities in FL.
Is it fair that the nation was told for hours on election night that Gore was the winner of Florida?
Is it fair that democratic urbanites were allowed to vote way beyond official voting hours in St. Louis?
Is it fair, if true per UW, that democrat voting groups from churches were bused to the polls and instructed on how to vote for Gore?
Is it fair, if true, that "street people" were lured by the Dems with tobacco and wine to vote for Gore, after registering on the same day?
Is it fair that the ballot process is different from state to state, county to county, and is interpreted differently by individual citizens with different skillsets?
Is it fair that election results/projections are broadcast nationally in the East, and can influence voters in the West before polls have closed?
Is it fair that candidate Gore was able to use all of the advantages of a sitting VP and government, including Air Force 1 or 2, to campaign?
Is it fair that Bush was able to spend so much money, and had the influence of his family behind him?
Is it fair to look at ballots tossed out on the grounds that people mis-voted only in PB, Florida. Or those that double voted? Frankly, I am learning from this that thousands and thousands of ballots are normally discounted everywhere because of improper voting/punching, etc.
If we're going to recount, then the most fair thing is to recount, by hand, every single vote in America. Since there are apparently irregularities everywhere, we should recount everywhere. At least, that would be the most thorough approach taken scientifically were we not able to repeat a particular experiment.
My question here is this: What's fair, and where does one draw the line? If one is seeking "perfect" fairness, then one most certainly should not stop at recounts just in PB, Florida.
Maybe it gets down to one's expectations. In my case, I guess I expect a reasonable effort at administering an honest vote in a nation of 270 million. I don't expect perfection, on either side of the aisle. I just hope that by the law of numbers, when you have over 100 million votes cast, that all of the irregularities balance themselves out, and a just outcome occurs.
ca |
