President Shrub

[Is this really, really it today? Will the Supreme Court, dominated as it is by such lovely gents as Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, give the presidency to the man who didn't win the election? If so, what will life be like under President George W. Bush?]

[I can't face the prospect with too much panic. I'm trying to take the long view: we survived four years of Bushism last decade. Yes, in George Sr.'s term we had a Democratic Congress, so there was some balance, but even with all three branches of government in the hands of the GOP, it seems unlikely that MAJOR damage will be done. And it seems likely that this state of affairs will not last past the midterm elections in 2002.]

[But it seems obvious that Bush and his folks really did steal this election. Judging from everything I've read, more Floridians voted for Gore than for Bush, and yet, Bush will win the state and the nation. How do we avoid this in the future?]

[1. Ban the Electoral College. Not one argument I've read in favor of retaining it has convinced me. It was set up to let smaller states have more of a say in the election. Why is this necessary now? It has the effect of giving a Wyomingite something like three times more voice than a Californian. As a citizen of the Golden State, this irks me just a smidge.]

[2. Make national elections truly national. One computerized voting system, one tally taken out of the corrupt hands of local officials. If misguided counties want to use technology from the middle of the last century to conduct races for dogcatcher, fine. But this chad business has got to stop.]

[I've got all kinds of other political schemes, from computer-drawn multi-member congressional districts that cross state lines to a rotating presidency, but this will do for now. Enjoy your Republican Reich.]

[Next time: more self-indulgent rambling about my own life, I promise!]

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