Reply #65: Isn't a lot of this just a bit premature? [View All]

[starroute]

It's a long, long way from here to November. And the most important battle isn't Us vs. Them -- it's the battle for the hearts and minds of the American people.

If the American people become convinced that postponement of elections in the fact of terrorism is both acceptable and necessary, no amount of marching or resisting will have any effect. It will just place those who engage in it outside the circle of normative behavior.

On the other hand, if the American people are convinced that any tampering with our democratic system would be just one final outrage on top of a whole string of outrages, then the Bushies might not even dare to mess with the elections. Or if they did, they would have the entire nation against them.

At present, geting semi-hysterical about something that may never happen isn't going to win any recruits to our side. It tends to make us look like a bunch of kooks. And it may even, paradoxically, make the idea of postponing elections seem more respectable.

That is, if we spread the idea that elections are likely to be postponed, the debate then becomes one of whether or not this would be a good thing. And the Republicans have every chance to bring in the weapons of fear, group-think, and the-authorities-know-best to support their position. By the time they got around to actually doing it, the idea would have become familiar and at least semi-acceptable. It would seem like the American thing to do.

But if we can put across the attitude that idea of tampering with elections is completely ludicrous, so un-American as to be almost inconceivable, something out of a bad sci-fi movie, then we are the ones who control the discourse. We back them into a corner where they can act only by undermining themselves. And that is just where we want them.

Never hand your enemy a weapon that can kill you, folks. That's just common sense.