Matt had a link to the Boing Boing post about Kerry’s concession of the election, and I thought it was interesting for a couple of reasons:

1. Boing Boing had been quite silent today about the election, after numerous posts yesterday.
2. I think the bit they quoted from Dan Gilmour was right on the money. Let me share a bit:

People say there are two Americas. I think there are at least three.

One is Bush’s America: an amalgam of the extreme Christian “conservatives,” corporate interests and the builders of the burgeoning national-security state.

Another is the Democratic “left”: wedded to the old, discredited politics in a time that demands creative thinking.

I suspect there’s a third America: members of an increasingly radical middle that will become more obvious in the next few years, tolerant of those who are different and aware that the big problems of our times are being ignored — or made worse — by those in power today.

That third America needs a candidate. Or, maybe, a new party.

3. The last line of the post:

Presuming the elections were fairly conducted and accurately counted — which remains a matter of some debate — I’m going with the latter.

Enough of this, ok? First, Bush has a 7 digit lead in the popular vote. That’s a heck of a lot of election fraud. Second, both sides engage in voter fraud, plain and simple. Why? Because the system is so screwed up. Here’s one interesting story. And I’m sure there are tens of thousands of others on the web right now. Point is, Kerry lost not because Republicans rigged the election, but because he didn’t get enough votes (again, if Republicans rigged this election and prevent MILLIONS of people from voting, and did it without raising all heck, that’s sorta impressive).

But this just goes back to Dave Gilmour’s point. A lot of people didn’t vote. They didn’t vote because they didn’t like Bush, and they didn’t like Kerry. And I think for many of them, there will never be a viable candidate for president. It’s easier for Democrats to label these people as “lazy” or “undecided” or just blame the Republicans rather than realize there’s something wrong with their party (see Sidney Blumenthal).

All that said, I’m not looking forward to another four years of George Bush, but that’s how it is. We’ve got four years to fix the system.

Posted on 3 November 2004