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April 22, 2005
One Lesson of Ukraine
In 2000, George W. Bush and Al Gore were the major players in a presidential election. The results were very close. Al Gore actually got more of the popular vote, but George W. Bush won the electoral college tally. Florida was a sticking point, with some small irregularities turning into major issues, because of the closeness of the state's vote. In the end, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that recounts should be done in limited areas, which forced the US Supreme Court to step in to ensure equal protection under the law. They said that a statewide recount must be performed if one was to be done at all. The recounts were stopped, the already certified election results were considered final, and Bush won the state.
Immediately, the left began pushing a fiction that "Bush stole Florida" and thus the election. It wasn't true, and a statewide recount performed by the major media proved it, but truth isn't something that the left is really all that concerned with. For four years the drumbeat continued that Bush had stolen the election.
In the past few days in Ukraine, the people have been dealing with what appears to be a stolen election. Unlike the left in this country, they truly believe that their election was stolen. Why do I say "unlike the left in this country?" I'm of the opinion that the left in this country KNOWS the truth, that Bush won the 2000 election fair and square.
Ukraine has been rocked by protests for days. Although the media have been concentrating on protests in Kiev, they're going on across the country. One half of the country is protesting the election, and the other half is protesting the protests. Ukraine is a divided country in the truest sense. It isn't the simplistic fiction of division used by the left in this country, where approximately 50% of the population falls into one political belief and 50% in the other. Ukraine is divided right down the middle, with one physical half of the country being in political opposition to the other physical half.
A stolen election there, a stolen election here. What's the difference?
I believe that the difference is in preception of reality -vs political spin of reality. The reality of 2000 is that Bush won a close, and hotly contested political race. Bush did not steal the election. Bush did not steal Florida. Bush did not look to some "cronies" on the Supreme Court to give him the Presidency. Al Gore failed to win a majority of votes in Florida, and Florida's votes went to Bush, pushing Bush over the 270 electoral vote threshhold and causing him to win the presidency.
The political spin of that reality is that Bush stole the election. This spin was strictly part of the political game. It was an attempt to energize the Democrat base for the matchup in 2004, and to some extent it worked.
The perception among most liberals in this country was that Bush really won. They kept this to themselves, though, as the truth did nothing to help them and their political positions.
How can I be so sure of this? It's very simple. Where were the hundreds of thousands of protesters? Where were the crowds in the streets, across the country, refusing to accept the election? Sure, we had a bunch of bussed in professional protesters down in Florida for a short time, but around the country, business went on as usual.
In Ukraine, protesters came out in force. Businesses shut down. Government offices were blocked. Huge crowds filled town centers. They stayed out for days. Why is that?
The protesters in Ukraine, unlike the liberals in this country, truly believe that their election was stolen. They're not pushing a story they know to be a lie.
Posted by Lockjaw at April 22, 2005 12:50 PM
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