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Wednesday, November 29, 2000
U.S. election puts Perry back in court By Christopher P. Winner The weekly brief went something like this: A great society provides sure laws and firm advocates. Grievances go before even-handed judges. Murder, barbarism, corruption, excesses of passion and emotion, can all be redressed. On an enlightened planet, cool heads prevail. Real wisdom can reside in colons, semicolons, small print. If it can't be found, it can be mined. A fundamental belief in this canon (and an appetite for melodrama) has kept the U.S. public absorbed but calm in the wake of the contested presidential election. Why then should expatriates make a fuss on America's behalf? Perhaps because justice, in Perry's absence, has lost its way. Those who contend that Florida's events merely reflect the agonies of democracy at work have examined the faces of Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore, wounded and angry faces. Both men are unlikely to forget this ordeal. Each is convinced, whatever the final and elusive vote count, that they won a very close election. The failure (no, the unwillingness) of the candidates and their camps to seek compromise (or in Gore's case, to defer his ambitions), represents a cranky, post-Mason view of America. In it, no one necessarily needs to lose. The mood is ambitious and arrogant. Apologies are unnecessary. Everyone is right. In 1992, when Bill Clinton assailed then-President George Bush as America fell into recession following the Gulf War, the father of W. barked: "It's not that gloomy. We're the United States. We are the envy of the world." Now, we are now just like the world -- not bad, but humbling. The judiciary, once seen as unassailable, has shown cracks. The Florida secretary of state, Bush-backer Katherine Harris, has failed to remove herself from the partisan fracas. That has given the electoral crisis an O.J. Simpson flavor, improving its global television ratings but hardly exalting the reputation of the key players. American intellectuals cite other times of peril, the communist witch-hunt of the McCarthy period and protracted unrest during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. They note the decisive role of the judiciary in two watershed cases, Watergate and the Pentagon Papers. In both, the courts -- including the Supreme Court -- ruled swiftly and decisively, supporting the media against federal government heavy-handedness. This was the Perry Mason mold: wise men saying wise things, under the sure rule of law. But Florida is an ugly subversion of that wisdom and swiftness. It is a Latin-style spectacle that celebrates intrigue and confusion. Lawyers on both sides have played to the gray areas of unfolding events. The result has made for distasteful drama, an entertainment only an affluent, self-assured democracy might even wish to embrace. In the early 1990s in Italy, center-right politicians excoriated the judiciary during its so-called Clean Hands anti-corruption probe. The judiciary's stated goal was to expose political corruption and conflict of interest. But since some public prosecutors (and judges) were themselves left-leaning, their partially successful efforts finally came unhinged as a partisan battle witnessed shakeups and resignations. Finally, the whole Clean Hands campaign collapsed. The Italian situation showed that five Perry Masons and a dozen judges could not make consensus. Florida's mayhem echoes Italy's genes. It may be instructive (electoral reform will follow), but it is entirely without honor. Citizens feel estranged from the rules; they make jokes. Estrangement in less vigilant nations invites power plays by those who understand, and can exploit, chaos. No such concern exists in America because there is a sitting president to play custodian. Still, what America is enduring, perhaps unknowingly, is a condition of political upheaval; few parliamentary democracies and fewer coalitions could withstand such torment. That the United States can and will is cheering. Less encouraging is that remodeled and less dignified Perry Masons will finally decide this election. That, apparently, is the civics lesson of the new millennium. Christopher P. Winner's e-mail address is cpwinner@praguepost.cz
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The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.