E.J. Dionne: Pointillist Extraordinaire.

Dear E.J., your column yesterday was titled, “It Couldn’t Happen Here.” How wrong you are and how clearly you point it out.

Way many years ago I read a book by Upton Sinclair titled the “Jungle.” I was enthralled so I picked up another book at the library by this guy named Sinclair, as in Sinclair Lewis, not Upton Sinclair (I couldn’t remember the actual author’s name and it was before I had the Dewey Decimal System down), titled “It Can’t Happen Here.” It was penned in 1935. I read it sometime in the late fifties or early sixties (I am not sure of the exact timing). But I do remember putting it down and putting it aside. I was not as enthralled as I had been by the “Jungle.”

I do, however, remember being very disturbed by what I read and as I was in Worcester, Massachusetts at the time, it was and still is truly ironic. But as I recalled, and all recollections are subject to scrutiny, I put it aside as irrelevant.

Well I was wrong. I picked it up recently and decided to read and finish this rather relevant literature (I still haven’t finished it). I have finally figured out why I put it down (yes I am a slow learner). I put it down not because it wasn’t relevant. I put it down because it was too relevant and challenged my world at the time. A challenge that was horrifying. And, it was a challenge in which I knew where the moral lines were drawn.

Though I am Canadian, I grew up and matured (okay, no laughter here) in small town America. My mother married an American and we finally settled in small town Massachusetts. We were raised to be political and for that I am so thankful. We were, however, supposed to be Republicans.

And I was. I was a fervent supporter of Barry Goldwater and went to the Boston Garden appearance and loudly cheered him and his message. Okay, so I was a little immature (actually a child really) and misinformed. But it seems to me in retrospect, most of the electorate is misinformed. I believed that Barry supported civil rights and that was my most important stance. After all, he had worked to integrate the forces in Arizona.

But the bottom line was that I knew what was going on at the grassroots and I didn’t give enough attention to that. Well, what 16 year old does? But, I wasn’t a stupid 16 year old. In fact I was a smarter than the average 16 year old bear. So, why did I fall over and play dead for a political party that was opposed to all I believed in?

Most of the local Republicans firmly believed that fluoridation and the Civil Rights movements were part of a Communist Plot. Now, I knew that was utter bullshit. And yet I didn’t bolt the party. My father was the head of the Republican Town Committee, how could I bolt him. I desperately wanted him to love me and if I bolted the party, I would not be loveable.

Now, I am not saying that we didn’t argue about politics we did, especially the Civil Rights movement being a Communist Plot. It was also evident to me that most of the other Republicans were small minded and small time guys. They had the cover of being white men in a world that rewarded white men, quite simply for being there and merely showing up. Not much else was actually required, as there was no apparent competition with women and/or men of color. No test you see, they simply got a passing grade. So, when it looked like a test might actually be required to be rewarded naturally they, the untested, pulled out the old Communist Plot Card and played it for all it was worth. And most people weren’t paying attention and connecting the dots, including me. So, even though I would never be admitted to their club, if they had their way, I continued to carry their water.

So, as they say, “Denial” isn’t just a river in Egypt. And that, my friends, is why I couldn’t read “It Can’t Happen Here.” It wasn’t that it was irrelevant, but that it was too relevant. I knew those characters in a way that was far too personal and painful. They were people who were much too close to my life, in my life and that I wanted to love me. And because I knew all too well that it can happen here.

Oh, and keep in mind folks, that was before the Irreligious Christian Right-Wing Fascists were front and center in the attack on our constitutional democracy.

Well, that brings me to what made me bolt the party. The Republicans finally launched the “Southern Strategy.” And, they launched it in a way that even I, who was in “Denial” and not the river, could no longer ignore. The dots were getting so close that even someone who was not a fan of pointillism could ignore. And lord knows I do love the impressionists.

That, folks, brings me to the point of this post, and it has taken a long time, hasn’t it. E.J. Dionne had a column yesterday which was titled, “It Couldn’t Happen Here.” And E.J., god bless his soul, and he has a very good one, points out that it has. His premise is to juxtapose the recent Mexican election with the 2000 selection of George W. Bush.

Take it away Mr. Dionne:

Mexico is in a mess because voters in its presidential election were so closely divided between Andros Manuel Lopez Obrador, the candidate of the center-left, and Felipe Calderon, the center-right candidate who was declared the narrow winner yesterday.

As a result, there are charges of theft and miscounts, of "grave inconsistencies." Lopez Obrador has insisted that the authorities "help clear up any doubts" and "not allow the will of the citizens to be violated."

Let's be clear: There's nothing wrong with Mexico's voters. Close elections happen. The test of a democracy is how a bitter dispute of this sort is resolved. Can it be settled in a way that enhances confidence in the electoral process and the legitimacy of the ultimate winner?

Mexicans have one thing going for them: There is no question under Mexican law that the winner of the popular vote will be the winner of the election.

Imagine the global outcry if Mexico chose its president indirectly through some sort of electoral college that gave advantage to smaller states over bigger ones and permitted the loser of the popular vote to become president. The world would be merciless in deriding Mexico as a backward place living under undemocratic laws written in the early 19th century. Mexicans can be proud that this won't happen.

But there are potential problems. Lopez Obrador has had questions about the results in the state of Tabasco. Mr. Calderon and Mr. Lopez Obrador, please, please make sure that you don't have some close relative in charge of things down there.

How would it look if the governor of the state was your own brother? What would people think if the top official in charge of elections was your sibling's partisan ally who made every key decision in your favor?

The American media would go nuts. On Fox, Bill O'Reilly would condemn the sleaze and nepotism while declaring, confidently, "Thank God such a thing could never happen in the United States of America!" CNN's Lou Dobbs would add a "Broken Ballot Boxes" segment to his long-running series on "Broken Borders." Mexico, don't go down that road.

Another thing: Whichever one of you is ahead at any given point, please don't ask that the counting be stopped abruptly just because you happen to hold the lead. Don't have some high-class lawyer with a name like Jaime A. Panadero III come out and say things like, "I don't believe that the people of Mexico want this national election turned over to lawyers and court contests" -- and then have the very same lawyer direct other lawyers to go to court to stop any further counts.

If either of you did such a thing, wouldn't it look hypocritical? Would it not seem as if all you cared about was obtaining power -- and that you didn't care how you got it? It would spoil the legitimacy of your election.

But, yes, there is an excellent chance that the Mexican election will end up in the courts. So it will be very important that the court rulings have credibility with the Mexican people, especially with those who end up on the losing side. The judges should exercise their power, well, judiciously. They need to make sure that they're not seen as making a partisan call.

Above all, this means not stopping recounts just before a deadline -- and then claiming, after the court-imposed delay, that there was no way to remedy the very problems in the counting that the court itself might have noted because the deadline had passed.

It means that the judges should arrive at whatever decision they reach in a way that's consistent with their past views. They should not invent wholly new doctrines, utterly at odds with their previous positions, that happen to favor the candidate closer to their own ideological inclinations.

And, please, let there be no court decision so unprincipled that the judges themselves have to say that their ruling has no application to any future cases, that it "is limited to the present circumstances," because of the "many complexities" involved. That would make the whole court process look fixed, wouldn't it?

My Mexican friends could well object that it is insulting and ludicrous to presume that their country is capable of coming up with such a nightmarish scenario. They would argue that no well-functioning democracy would ever settle a contested election in the ways I have just described. I agree wholeheartedly. So here's hoping that Mexicans manage to resolve this voting dispute in a way that does credit to their nation, and offers a model for those democracies that could use a little help.

On December 12, 2000, in their infamous opinion Bush v. Gore, the U. S. Supreme Court announced to the world the end of the “Rule of Law.” Everything that has happened since then is a direct consequence of that decision. Now whether E.J. Dionne is a fan of the impressionists, and the pointillists in particular or not, he has connected the dots and for that he deserves our thanks.

There is just too little dot connecting going on out there in the “Opinionating Class.” And that inability or unwillingness to do so is hurting political discourse and democracy. The electorate needs more folks challenging their world view and their “Denial” and I don’t mean the river.

Because it can, and is happening here.

Thank you E.J. Dionne in a very big way for helping and for being the pointillist that we need!

Oh, and watch your back!