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SPILT MILK
It appears that it's all over but the fallout. What might have been, what could have been, may yet not be. Now we must face the consequences of our mostly political inaction over the last 4 to 8 years when a Democrat was in the White House and our human rights were seldom threatened.
But
that is dependent on whether the U.S. Supreme Court stops the recount or
allows it to continue, and whether Gore picks up the majority of votes.
So we now know that it does not matter who gets the most votes in a presidential election, it matters how the votes are counted. And we see that the extent of the governor and legislature's power versus the courts' power in a contested election matters. As a Democratic legislator noted regarding the special session of the Florida legislature, all that was lacking was the postmark, AUSTIN, TEXAS.
Now, thanks to four Justices of the Florida Supreme Court, it appears that those under votes may be counted. We salute this Court and the efforts of all the many election officials and ballot counters in this process.
Did y'all happen to notice how very white and male the Florida proceedings on T.V. were? True, we did see a woman judge and one or two black male attorneys. Beyond that, the only women we saw were in clerical positions. Clearly the power structure was decidedly white and male.
Yeah, but how come the black, Democratic, woman judge did not have her decision called "political"? Could it be that it was because the Republicans agreed with her?
We think this white male preponderance will carry over into an Austin, Texas presidential administration. Oh, we'll see the token black woman and we'll hear about women advisors, but they will only serve to advise along the lines of the usual Republican agenda.
Gore will certainly have to look to the women for his cabinet if he has any hope of continuing to receive the support of women voters. Women must insist on it.
A more dangerous future shock will come as a new President begins to undue many of President Clinton's proclamations especially where he was protecting the environment. Women in states with Republican Governors will find that their clinics will not be protected and anti-choice protestors will be allowed to harass and impede their ability to obtain medical treatment.
But all of this future shock may be avoided if the count shows VP Al Gore won the majority of votes in Florida.
As of this writing, the milk is still in the bottle and the bottle is intact. Isn't it a hoot that the man who said, I TRUST THE PEOPLE is fighting the counting of ballots:
OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE?
2000-050
Copyright
2000 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished
for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that
this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@gendergappers.org.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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