[Justin Raimondo has some interesting comments on this in his column today.]
A Scheme to Cancel the Elections?
by Justin Raimondo
We're fighting a war to export "democracy" to Iraq – as U.S. government officials openly discuss the possibility of canceling the November elections. While it's no surprise that a government official of any nationality would talk out of both sides of his mouth, in the Bizarro America of the post-9/11 era a distinctly double-jointed rhetorical style seems to have become an all-pervasive aspect of political discourse.
In late June, DeForest B. Soaries, Jr., head of the freshly-minted U.S. Election Assistance Commission (USEAC), started talking about "reviewing" possible scenarios in which the November elections would be canceled, or delayed, in response to a terrorist attack in the U.S. "Guidelines" for dealing with such a situation "do not currently exist," bemoaned Soaries, provocatively pointing to the example of the terrorist attacks on the eve of Spain's elections. According to the neoconservative party line, the Madrid bombings handed the victory to the antiwar Socialists, and this proved the Spanish to be a nation of "appeasers," in spite of polls that showed the Socialists pulling ahead before the bombs went off. Never mind that such an attack on American soil would almost certainly ensure Bush's reelection. If the Spanish reference didn't set off alarm bells at the time, then surely the breathtaking assumptions contained in Soaries' comments might lead us to wonder what they're smoking over at the USEAC:
"Look at the possibilities. If the federal government were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political implications. If the federal government chose not to suspend an election it has political implications. Who makes the call, under what circumstances is the call made, what are the constitutional implications? I think we have to err on the side of transparency to protect the voting rights of the country."
Yes, George W. Bush and his minions putting the kibosh on their upcoming landslide defeat certainly would have "tremendous political implications." It would usher in an era of political instability such as accompanied the rise of Caesarism in ancient Rome, marking the transition from Republic to Empire in a formal sense.
As for the constitutional implications, Soaries' concern is vastly understated. Since there are no provisions in the U.S. Constitution providing for the cancellation of elections by the federal government, Soaries is asking us to consider "under what circumstances" the Constitution ought to be overthrown. His proposal amounts to a usurpation of power: in effect, a coup. ...
<http://www.antiwar.com/justin/>
Carl
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