Reply #27: Always A Pleasure, My Friend [View All]

[The Magistrate]

To me, stolen in this context refers to actual alteration of the results, as or after the votes themselves are cast, a thing always involving unambiguous illegality. It is a seperate thing from the preparation of the battlefield by letter of the law in opposition to its spirit, by gerrymander, and deniable "miscalculation" of requirements in particular localities. This is just one more area where the enemy has learned to play the game better than we who invented it, and doubtlless in large part from the influx to the Republicans of a number of Southern Democrats during the past several decades; they were easily the match of our metropolitan bosses up here at the art.

The question of management of the debate is a vexed one, on which we will probably continue to have some real disagreement. Electoral politics is the business of building group identities, and making these as large as possible, since the largest such will produce the greatest number of votes. This acts to reduce the range of debate quite independently of anyone's intent, in my view, though of course this imperative of the thing may be useful and desireable to some. Where there is broad agreement on many basic questions, as there is among the people of our country, for well or ill, attempts to form large groups must remain within the broadest consensus shared.

We are in agreement that the status quo in our country does not benefit the great mass of the people, or at least does not benefit them as much as it could and should. But electoral politics will never bring about any great repudiation of a social and cultural order. It is not a system designed or intended to do that, and change in such degree always proceeds from extra-electoral processes. Things must reach a sharp, and generally disasterous pitch, before the mass of the people will alter their views to the point that an electoral sytem can reflect that change, and see it become a policy of government.

"Just because they're dead don't mean they stopped being Democrats."

"Americans looked into the abyss, and fifty-one percent siad: 'Hmmm...I wonder what's down there....'"