Looking Ahead

I submitted a GUESS on the election outcome to the Wall St Journal's contest. I have Kerry winning with 272 electoral votes, which can only happen if he wins in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and does not lose Minnesota and Wisconsin. As I said before, if Bush wins in any of those, it's all over for the Democrats. One of the sad things for Kerry is the number of different combinations that are winners for Bush. Treated as a throw of the dice, there's lots of faces with Bush on it, and many fewer with Kerry on it.

I expect lots of lawsuits, and while I officially expect a concession sometime after 3 PM, November 3, 2004, that is a wild-ass guess. This election could easily last into December or even January. I think the country will be more divided than ever after the election.

All that said, I am very relieved we are at the end of the election process. I decided my views on the issues many, many months - even years - ago, so I have found the endlessly repeated arguments increasingly tedious and wearing. I am sorry, I am a snob: I cannot understand what's so hard to decide about United States policy in the current situation. The election should have been over a long time ago.

What I feel this election proves is the United States is no longer a democracy. It is just another "market" in which the advertisers bend minds to the will of the ruling classes. Good ole Joe Goebbels is in charge, now selling Fascism or Mobism or whatever. The one thing that doesn't happen anymore is presenting truly "independent" thoughts. These days, I do not think it is possible to make public the unvarnished truth. In the word of a San Francisco lady friend 30 years ago, the people are "warped."

Does the tree falling in that far-off forest make a sound? Does Walter make any difference?