Your web site is the only, and I repeat, only place in the country (and the world) where serious public discussion, analysis, and coverage of the election debacle, is taking place. The newspapers and television networks do all they can to conceal from everyone the real and genuine crises that are exploding every day. Their reporting runs from “awful” to probably “criminal.” We need a Labor Party ... keep up the great work!
EP
New York City
13 December 2000
Unfortunately, I expected the Supreme Court of the United States to act as they did, and I expected it to be led by Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist, as it was. I believe we can all mark this down as “the day that democracy died,” and it will be so if we do not seek remedy. The same Constitution that Scalia so deftly manipulated to strip the entire country of its legally cast votes this day, guarantees that we may seek impeachment of such members of the court that threaten and damage those to whom it protects. I will join with any of you out there who are ready to work to protect the rights of a state to administer an election, the rights of the individual to vote, the expectation that the vote will be counted and NOT discounted, voided, or canceled unless proved invalid, and the integrity of the separation of powers in the (supposedly) separate arms of the United States government. There has been much more than JUST voting rights trampled today... as if that were not enough.
VM
Wildomar, California
13 December 2000
What an amazing article (“Leon Trotsky and the fate of socialism in the 20th Century”). I'd fallen into Marxism recently after committing myself to reading both “Capital” and “The Wealth of Nations,” and I couldn't have been more surprised with what I found if I'd stumbled on a Martian. I could see immediately that control of speech and religion, a command economy, and even something as simple as price controls could be utterly rejected by somebody enlightened by Marx.
His science was amazing, his history was breathtaking, and his gossip was delightful. How is it that such a gem could be so grotesquely corrupted both here and in the “Communist” states? Pearls before swine.
Taking in this article, I got a very warm feeling when I saw that my painfully amateurish reading of the work would actually be seen as quite defensible by a man as fantastic as Trotsky.
As I write this e-mail the Supreme Court has just thrown out the Florida manual recounts, and it appears that with the collusion of the powerful capitalists and the Florida legislature we've officially become the new Soviet Union—comparable to the Brezhnev era. For now.
Whereas before we were imperial unilateralists who at least had elected high officers, today we no longer even have that. I agree this country will be torn by civil war within the next 10 to 20 years, a conclusion I'd arrived at long before I found your own analysis of that very premise, and there's nothing I can do but hope that we pull out of this tailspin.
Aren't the parallels between Lott/Armey/Delay on the one hand and Hitler and Stalin on the other eerie? Mediocre talents with limited gifts who nevertheless have an iron will to power. This is gonna hurt.
BK
13 December 2000
Dear Editors:
It has increasingly occurred to me that someone must lead a campaign to enlighten the American people as to the anti-democratic character of this election and its inevitable outcome. Your analysis, as I have written previously, stands without equal. The question is, how can this analysis be popularized and communicated broadly? How can pertinent facts be verified and disseminated? (For example, I heard that Scalia's son is a partner in the law firm representing the Bush campaign.) Can like-minded people of some celebrity be recruited to a committee dedicated to this mission?
The fact is simple: the popular winner of the US presidency was stripped of his electoral college victory by a state apparatus (headed by his opponent's brother), a right-wing (and, yes, “activist”) US Supreme Court and a small army of fanatical and incestuous lawyers, judges, and pundits (my God, do Barbara and Theodore Olsen not just make you want to vomit yourself to death?!). If the fair-minded American people are lulled into tolerating this, what will these barbarians try next?
Just an aside: one name that is absent (unless I missed it) from your discussion of Democratic Party prostration—President Clinton. What does he think he has to lose? He spoke candidly in Rolling Stone about his enemies and their determination to win back the White House at any cost. Pity he won't address the nation along these lines. That would be “defending and upholding the Constitution” as he was sworn to do!
AR
New Jersey
12 December 2000
Your article on how Fox media presents a distortion of the news and against our Democracy is excellent. I believe the FCC should not allow CNN, Fox and MSNBC to use the word “news” in their titles because it's very deceptive. I have learned to rely on C-Span for the facts as they happen. There has to be a way to prevent the trash news stations from masquerading as “news.”
GD
9 December 2000
Your web site has some of the best, most even-handed, and most accurate reporting on the election I have yet seen. PLEASE consider doing a story on possible race-based vote fraud in Tennessee. I am helping the local and national NAACP in this matter and planning speaking engagements for January to educate people about the evidence in this matter. It is actually possible that because of vote irregularities and vote fraud, Gore's home state may not have legitimately given its electoral votes to Bush. The evidence is summed up at: http://www.nashvilleinsanity.com/NPbreakingnews.html
Please consider helping us get the word out!
Thanks,
CD
8 December 2000