Disasters beyond the control of local election officials are one thing. But, if large counties with hundreds of thousands of votes choose a method of counting them that they cannot or will not complete within the deadline, does that give them an automatic extension to take however long they want? Or however long judges want to give them? Why then does the law give discretion to the Secretary of State? The point here is not just that the judges made the wrong decision. It was not their decision to make.
The Constitution gives different powers to different branches of government for a reason. "Separation of powers" is not just some arcane phrase used by constitutional lawyers. It is what keeps us free. Power is too dangerous to all be in one set of hands, whether judicial, executive or legislative. But the Florida Supreme Court has a history of usurping powers belonging to other branches of government. Now they have given us a civics lesson in corruption -- how the use of arbitrary power from the judicial bench can even determine who becomes President of the United States. But we have gotten used to judicial despotism and some even confuse the fiats of judges with the rule of law -- which is the real danger for the future of this country.
The media have covered all this as a horse race between Bush and Gore, with very little attention being paid to what it means for the country and for the future. Some seem to think that it makes them "objective" if they condemn "both sides."
Just what is it that the Bush side has done? They played by the rules. When the Florida votes were counted in the way prescribed by Florida law, Bush won. When the votes were automatically recounted because of the narrow margin of victory, Bush won again. Only after Gore's operatives came up with another way to count votes -- or dents on ballots that could be called "votes" -- did Bush go into court. Meanwhile, the state governor recused himself from exercising his own right to vote on the decisions being made because his brother is a candidate.
If those who play by the rules are to be equally condemned with those who make up their own rules after losing, are we not in an Alice in Wonderland situation? Or is it just the land of "Ploys R Us"?