D-Day

Election Day is barely upon us and already reports of voting booth shenanigans are streaming across the Internet. That erstwhile defender of democracy Matt Drudge reports that 2,000 votes were found already planted on machines in the Philadelphia area before voting had even begun. In Ohio, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Republican Party can go ahead with plans to place 3,500 people inside polling locations to challenge the eligibility of votes. Apparently some rarely invoked state law permits such challengers to help prevent voter fraud not spotted by keen-eyed election workers. Isn't that a little like asking Norm Peterson to guard the liquor cabinet?

The possibility that, after all the legal wrangling, George Bush emerges victorious is only the second greatest danger facing the republic. The first is that the 2000 election debacle becomes more than a blip on the radar. With armies of lawyers on stand-by in battleground states, the litigious culture that the Administration blames for the the health care crisis and the flu shot shortage poses a far greater threat to the basic foundation of American democracy. Watch out if the will of the judges comes to replace the will of the people.