In retrospect, I'm sure Al Gore is glad he's not in the White House at this time. I do respect the fact Mr. Bush is having a hard time in the office "fought" so hard to get. I don't disagree with how he's handled the current situation. In fact, I finally believed something he said during a press conference from the White House Rose Garden a few days after the terrorist attacks. He was unrehearsed, for the first time, and very human. This doesn't mean I think he deserved the office, but now he's there, and the public who didn't vote for him have to make the best of it.

As a gay man, I feel Mr. Bush has to make an effort to embrace ALL of the citizen of America during the days to come. It's time for equal to heterosexual rights, and it's time the GLBT community let him know it. We may be in a "new type of war," but one of the best ways to show the world he is a man for all the people, and willing to do whatever it takes to make things work, would be to introduce legislation for a national Anti-discrimination law, protecting all citizens regardless of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.

Come on G.W., you know it would make you a shoo in during the next Presidential Elections.

Politically Incorrect
A Gay Opinion 12/14/00
by R.A. Melos

When I was in school, 8th grade to be precise my history teacher, a tall, imposing, slightly bald man, taught my class the election process. Basically, what I learned back then was, the person with the most votes became class president. It was actually a popularity contest, which, as I saw it, was the same for every other form of election held throughout my lifetime.

The very basics of the political process were, everyone had a vote, and everyone's vote counted.

Well, the United States Supreme Court has taught the nation several life lessons this week. The first being, everyone does have a vote, but not everyone's vote counts. The second lesson being, just because you get the admiration and confidence of the majority, the popular vote, as it were, doesn't mean you'll get to be President. The third lesson being, trust no one, especially when it comes to politics.

Al Gore may have earned the nations respect and trust, and obviously earned the popular vote, overcoming many of the embarrassments he suffered as Bill Clinton's Vice-president, but being popular wasn't enough to get him the office he deserved. No matter how much Tipper my cheer him on from the sidelines, the couple's popularity just doesn't mean squat in the big picture.

George W. Bush, on the other hand, used the courts of the land to his advantage, suppressing votes which could've turned the election in Gore's favor. In doing so, he has taught the nation lies, such as denial of votes, are a way of life, and our country is nothing more than a big business boardroom where people can make a hostile takeover and oust the CEO without having majority control.

So, instead of a fair election, where everyone had a voice, the United States Presidential Election turned into a free-for-all ending in the principal's office much like any badly run high school election.

I fear much of what transpired, and much of the decision making process, was swayed by the blinded justice of stagnation. I fear many of the people who helped George W. obtain the office, for which he spent a large sum of money campaigning, did so out of a desire to re-create the past presidency of his father. No matter how many times people were told George W. was the opposite of his father, people still insisted he would bring us back to the high times of his father's administration. I hope he can distinguish which high times people expect of him.

Aside from the fact one can never go back in time, recreations of past achievements are hollow facsimiles which never live up to the original. The presidency of George W. Bush will not be that of his father's thinking, but that of a bigoted, homophobic, arrogant daddy's boy who never lived up to his father's expectations in the past and will undoubtedly not fail to disappoint in the future.

It will be interesting to see how the events of this 2000 election will effect future elections. Especially in the voter turnout. As MTV, and other youth oriented media spend millions of dollars on educating America's youth to the importance of each individual's vote, the nation's highest court has effectively stated the opposite. As for the examples set by both candidates, the nation's youth now know that not only does money equal power, but the end truly justifies the means, and if suppression of votes, a form of denial of existence, is the best means to get your way, then so be it.

So the nation's highest court advocates secrets, which always beget lies, as the means by which the United States government will be run for the next 4 years. There is so little to be proud of in the way this situation was handled, and so much of value to be lost with the message now being sent, it is yet another dark moment in the nation's history.

But hey, look on the bright side, George W. Bush can't possibly disgrace the office of President anymore then Bill Clinton did, with his lies, and the governmental system survived. Perhaps that is the important event here, the survival of democracy. Now if we could only get Richard Hatch to run for office, after all the political arena can't be as bad as time on a tropical island with a bunch of adversarial competitors fighting for one million dollars, can it?

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