An Analysis of the extreme right wing electoral victory in the United States

The main European news agencies which, almost unanimously had announced the possible victory of John F. Kerry, were wrong. On our side, we had stressed the fact that the Bush’s team, which got the White House once by massive fraud, would not hesitate to use fraud again to keep its position. [1].This happened indeed, even when there is no precise indication now as to whether Mr. Bush’s victory was due to fraud or this just reinforced it.

Survey results collected at the ballot box according to sex, ethnic group and political affiliation.

Lots of commentators in the United States highlight the amazing difference found in the surveys conducted at the ballot box and the official results. On the other hand, international observers are flabbergasted in light of the possibility to vote without identity control in several states, as well as by the use of voting machines that can not be verified.

Whatever the case, it is not our job to measure the magnitude of the fraud, but to interpret the image the United States has of itself. And taking into account the approval of the results by the two major parties, this image, even when false, is shared by everyone and imposed on all.
The November 2 elections were not solely related with the designation of the President, but also with a section of the Senate, the House of Representatives and governors, as well as with the exam of numerous referendums.

The participation rate reached 59.6 %, accounting for more than 5% in relation to the year 2000. This is frequently described as “exceptional mobilization”. However, what really draws the attention is the fact that within this context, 40 % of the electorate does not go to the ballot box either because they are not interested in the result or because they believe their vote is not important.
Survey results collected at the ballot box according to age, annual incomes and educational level

For the presidential election, the electorate exercised a useful vote. The left convinced that Al Gore defeat in the year 2000 was more attributable to the 2,8 million votes garnered by Ralph Nader than to the electoral rigging. The right wing electorate recalled the nine million votes won by Ross Perot, the millionaire, and lost for the Republic Party in 1992 and 1996.

Voters surveyed after leaving the ballot box indicated similar concerns. Those who voted for George W. Bush claimed they were guided by their fear against terrorism and moral decay, both closely linked since very often, terrorism is interpreted as God’s punishment for abandoning Him. John F. Kerry’s voters declared having been inspired by fear against unemployment and the loss of social benefits. Therefore, all place themselves basically at the mercy of their fears and not their dreams.

This state of mind is probably the result of propaganda campaigns launched by the National Security Department which predisposes the electorate to vote for strong men rather than for wise men. George W. Bush’s advocates equally highlight his determination in front of adversity, while John F. Kerry’s advocates stress his tenacity for a change.
While the USA Patriot Act has suspended the fundamental liberties in the Bill of Rights and the Pentagon and the CIA implement torture at a large scale [2], voters (with the exception of those of Ralph Nader) have not come out with a definition on this topic. The detention of hundreds of people at Guantánamo for unknown reasons or the fact that the FBI targets practicing Muslims was not even discussed by the main candidates.

Survey results collected at the ballot box according to religion, vote in 2000 and other factors

The various local referendums provide a more accurate idea of the American citizens’ ghosts. 11 states were consulted to define marriage as an exclusive heterosexual institution.
In 7 of them, the question equally tended to block the access of the homosexual couples to the rights acknowledge for heterosexual couples. Everywhere the electors declared themselves to be against the gays’ rights following Missouri and Louisiana, which have already amended their own constitution to prevent persons of the same sex from marrying each other. This obsessive topic was in the last presidential speech about the State of the Union, in which George W. Bush announced his intentions to amend the federal constitution in order to ensure the permanence of the biblical institution.

The results show that the supporters of the antigay discrimination are between 57% (Oregon) and 86% (Mississippi) of voters. When they are white, their intolerance conditions their vote in favor of George W. Bush. On the contrary, when they say to belong to ethnic minorities, they distinguish this position from their presidential choice.
Half of the 76 senators had to be renewed. Two new democrats were elected, one of them is Barrack Obana, a jurist from Kenya who excelled within his own party when he opposed the invasion of Iraq. Third black man to enter the Senate in one century, he had 70% of the votes in Illinois.

Seven new republicans were elected. The former Housing Secretary, Mel Martinez, was elected with hardly an advantage in the State of Florida. A visceral anti-Castro man, Martinez is known for having transferred the social housing management to religious organizations. Tom Coburn is back, he had been in the House from 1995 to 2001. He was elected in Oklahoma with a 12 point advantage over his democrat opponent. Coburn embodies the most recalcitrant right wing and is driving a campaign to expel from the Republican Party those leaders who are getting away from the moral values. A physician, he advocates for the extension of the death penalty to those persons who practice abortion.

All in all, President Bush relies now on a majority of 55 republican senators, frequently extremists, against 44 democrats and an independent. Nothing will be able to stop his nomination policy in favor of reactionary or authoritarian personalities in the different posts of the Federal State, beginning at the Supreme Court, where ad hoc trials will end up dismantling the minority rights. Therefore, we should hope for a fast and deep transformation of the whole administration.

Reasons declared by voters to justify their vote, according to survey conducted at the ballot box.

%that voted for...

The 435 members of the House of Representatives had to be renewed. Most of them remain and 39 are changed. Among the incoming democrats are Cynthia McKinney, well-known to our readers. Provisionally taken apart from the Capitol by her party as a result of a maneuver that denigrated her brave positions on the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as on the Arab Israeli issue, she is elected in Georgia with 64% of the votes.

Opposite to this, on the republican side comes in Judge Ted Poe, who fueled the judicial chronic after contriving humiliating penalties for the convicted. That way, he had a killer’s cell decorated with pictures of his victims and forced a thief to walk by the shop that he had robbed, with a placard around his neck indicating the crime and his sentence.
So, in the end George W. Bush can count in the House on a republican majority reinforced with 231 members against 201 democrats.

Eleven governors should be renewed. Utah elected the millionaire republican Jon Huntsman, also a missionary of the Mormon Church. Meanwhile, Missouri elected young reactionary Matt Blunt, who alternated declarations against gays and abortion with confidences about his three advisers : his wife, mother and God.

The geographical distribution of the votes show a great division : big cities (particularly Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York) are largely democrat, while medium cities and the countryside are republican. The pro Bush states make up a continuous group including the central and southern states, while the pro Kerry states are grouped in three zones : the Pacific Coast, the Great Lakes and the North East. In general, the majorities in each federal state are considerably strengthened and the local opposition adopts a more radical position, which brings about post American Civil War-type separations.

Definitively, the focal point of the presidential election hides a transformation in the U.S. political scenery. Not only does the Democrat Party back out, but the moderate republicans are swept away as well by extremists who denounce, with a Bible in their hands, the moral decay and advocate the need for a crusade against the “Islamic Terrorism”.
The hard right - the majority within the republican majority - is willing to sustain a neo-conservative revolution, which George W. Bush has not been slow to describe. Upon addressing the press on November 4, the elected president announced the continuation of the “war against terrorism”, but also the transformation of the tax system and the total privatization of the retirement funds.