The Conservative Will

I heard an Interview with Jimmy Carter on Fresh Air the other day (President Carter Tries Hand @ Fiction) and learned something I didn't know. According to the former President, his Top Secret briefing book was stolen by the conservative columnist and speechwriter, George Will, who handed it over to Ronald Reagan so he could prepare for their only debate (quote occurs around 28 min in the interview). Of all the conservatives, I would have thought that George Will believed in fair play - but I guess he's just another immoral cheater who will do anything to win.

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Reasons that U.S. doesn't meet Carter Center criteria for fair elections:

1. All qualified candidates should have equal access to the public through the media and not have to pay for it. In the U.S., candidates have to solicit special interests (some benevolent, of course) for hundreds of millions of dollars to run a presidenttial campaign.

2. U.S. doesn't have centralized, non-partisan or bi-partisan, election commission. In Florida, former Secretary of State Catherine Harris, an avowed and fervent Republican activist, was largely responsible for the voting debacle in 2000 which led to Bush's victory. The new Secretary of State, again, has been appointed by George Bush's brother.

3. Votiing processes are not universal. Type of voting is dependent on county preferences. More affluent precincts are more likely to have their votes handled properly because of political will.

4. Because of modern voting techniques (i.e. touchscreen voting), there's no certain way to recount votes. There's no paper trail.


Of course, I know Jimmy Carter is biased towards the Democrats. I had nothing but respect for him until I heard him say that Nader shouldn't be on the ballot. Just can't find the quote - it happened sometime during the primaries.