Presidential Election Loser May Thank His Lucky Stars

Who ever loses the selective-recount of the recount of the count of Florida votes for president of the United States may thank his lucky stars before long.

This column is being written Thursday afternoon to meet a Friday noon deadline for Sunday morning publication. Consequently I will not have the benefit of hindsight to evaluate the final (?) outcome.

However, this enables me to be forthright about likely future problems of the next president without risking a charge of sour-grape-ing or piling on.

An economic “correction” is long overdue. It most likely will catch up with global reality before the next president’s term expires. President George H. Bush was the victim of a three-month downturn. He was denied reelection despite a subsequent continuation in his term of an ultimate 18-year prosperity.

George W. Bush or Albert Gore will have to reform Social Security and Medicare with infusions of cash – and/or cut benefits. The man in the Oval Office will be considered a grinch either way.

The mirage of a budget surplus will evaporate as mandated entitlements heat up. A no-win decision will be -- increase spending to cushion hardship, or cut taxes to stimulate a sagging economy.

Congress will be so evenly divided that gridlock will be the normal order of doing the peoples’ business. The well of political discourse has been poisoned by lawsuits and partisan language.

Gore supporters will feel their razor thin plurality in the popular vote was stolen from them. Bush supporters will feel their razor-thin plurality in the electoral vote was stolen from them. Partisans will pick at this scab incessantly.

Neither man will be able to claim a mandate to make sweeping changes. Thus, lacking a large emergency, progress will be in baby steps.

Both political parties in Congress will snipe incessantly at the president – looking to improve their status in the 2002 mid- term elections.

In short, the next president probably will serve only one term – and secretly be glad of it. The loser this weekend will coast to victory four years hence.

The closeness of voting tempts one to surmise that the generational split between conservatives and liberals has had its last hurrah.

This was the first election in which the “boomers” outnumbered warriors of the Great Depression and World War II. The power generation appears to like divided government and less of it.

Money is the mother’s milk of politics. Regardless of the glories of creative accounting, Government is bumping the ceiling of taxation and redistribution of wealth. If history is a guide, today’s 45 percent overburden on the economy is frightenly close to total collapse.

Don’t laugh. There are still a lot of old-timers around who remember the economic collapses of France, Germany, China and monarchial Russia. New-timers have vivid memories of the economic traumas of the Soviet Union, Mexico, Cuba and the Peoples Republic of China.

Each generation in republican (representative) democracy shapes its government and culture to suit its desires – a written constitution notwithstanding. The U.S., Britain and France are good examples.

This is a dangerous trend. There needs to be a bedrock of values and self-sacrifice for the total welfare of the nation. Yet, there is a fine line between this and self-indulgence.

We can anticipate decline in the religious right and the labor union left. These two political pinnacles have stopped growing. When growth stops, decay sets in.

The greatest task facing the new president is that of breaking up the consortium of special interests. Their impact has reached the point of no return. African-Americans, Jewish- Americans, Latin-Americans and Oriental-Americans – just to name a few – are starting to compete with each other for power and pelf.

Individually they contribute usefully to America. In partnership with each other they rob their children of nationhood – otherwise known as patriotism.

It is fashionable with the new generation – native and immigrant –to sneer at patriotism. Yet, shared values opens doors to opportunity. Narrow ethnic, religious and cultural identification isolate the practioners. Prejudice follows. Guilt is more on the minorities than on the mainstream majority.

The closeness of this year’s elections indicates a major realignment of politics has begun.

A short-sighted attempt to re-order government will be to amend the Constitution to elect the president by popular vote. We might as well gather voters in stadiums well equipped with loudspeakers and choose presidents by acclimation.

Regardless of the outcome, just remember: we muddled through the Nixon and Clinton scandals. Gore or Bush will be a piece of cake.

Three special challenges face the new president. Turn special interest groups into un-hyphenated Americans. Set a standard for decency. Encourage civility.

Then get off our backs, out of our pockets and rid of litigation.

We will take it from there.

Lindsey Williams is a Sun-Herald columnist

oo end oo

Williams –lucky

Sunday -- Nov.19, 2000

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