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The Last at Last on Politics This lat (hopefully) article on politics is something I just have to write down, if only to prove that there is nothing new in the political picture. During the past two weeks I became so absorbed in the Gore-Bush election for President, that I sat glued to the television. To ignore the ads between news segment I read the book I was reading, titled "Fanny Kembels, Civil Ward" by Catherine Clinton. Circa 1830 State of Georgia between December 1st and December 12th and between periods during the day the day a newsflash and/or a chapter I read in this book, the first politically related sentence in the book read as follows: "During June and July in September 1862 Abraham Lincoln drafted his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and in September 1862 offered to protect the institution 1862 offered to protect the institution of slavery of those who remained loyal to the Union." Wait a minute, with raised eyebrows I read that sentence again. Shades of the year 2000. I then began to carefully read further in the book. I read the above on page 182. The next thing I red in this book having a familiar ring was on page 188. Read this: "Election fraud in 1872 resulted in Campbells Ouster from his senate seat. He contested the election, but in January 1874 he had given up the battle to overturn the rigged election results and was concentrating on local politics in Darien (Georgia). In the political news of 1864, Kemble feared a Democratic government might derail the Republican commitment to end slavery but once Federal troops captured Atlanta, Lincoln election seemed secure. Thousands from the Union Army were offered furloughs to go home to vote." I think there would be no need to doubt who got those votes. This is Tuesday November 12th and I am glued to the TV with the Kemble book in my hand, waiting to hear what the Supreme Court decision is and I am saving the political news as told in her book. Though this political report by the writer Fanny Kemble tells of a presidential election in November 1876, I had to read it over twice to be sure it wasn’t dated November 2000 during Oct. 1876 the country was caught up in election fever. Republican Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio was pitted against the Democratic reform candidate Samuel Tilden of New York. Kemble believed that the black vote would be a deciding electoral factor. Fraud in the presidential was alleged and the controversy went on long after the polls closed. On November 8th by November 27th, it was clear the matter could not be amicably settled Kemble made two incorrect predictions: That Congress would have to arbitrate and that Tilden would prevail. To think about and realize that the almost exact patterns and ways of candidates and elections have not changed in the 170 years since Fanny Kemble wrote down her experiences. It seems unbelievable that the account of the presidential election in 1876 seems identical to that of the year 2000. She predicted that the black voters would be a deciding factor and that is certainly true in this Bush-Gore race. She also predicted that Congress might have to intervene and the Year 2000 Election was certainly headed that way. She said that fraud was alleged and that was certainly either said or hinted by many of those involved. It’s hard to believe that we live in a world of such wonders which were not even dreamed of in 1830, and yet in the one area which controls and is supposedly . Our choice, is 170 years behind. I read somewhere that some writer said we were really only three generations away from the mule and the plow. This author may have had our political arena in mind. Again it seems there is nothing new under the sun. For those who did not like the outcome of any election, that person should vote. If they don’t vote they have no right to protest. Many people will say that their one vote won’t change anything. A good illustration is the recent Mayors election in Montgomery. There are roughly 200 voters in the city limits. There was considerable interest with a mixed set of candidates. By mixed I mean some were long time residents of Montgomery, some were new-comers. The older residents were known pretty well by all of the voting age citizens who lived in the city of Montgomery. The new-comer candidates ran in hopes of being an asset to the community they had adopted. The race was so close 63-to 64. One vote decided the election. A few weeks ago an election in Waller County was too close to avoid a recount and I believe the winner got in office by one vote. We have moved forward in finally settling an election one way or other without violence, which was one way to do it, even into the period after the Civil War. Political reform, bring it on. |
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©Montgomery
County News, 2004 |
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