i cant think: The Occupation Will Not be Televised

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July 03, 2004

The Occupation Will Not be Televised

During the past week, while we were otherwise occupied by our endeavors to remain a good cog in the corporate machine, an exceptionally nutritious nugget of news nearly escaped our notice. On June 25 our good friends at The Associated Press published a story concerning a press conference given by the head of the Federal Election Assistance Commission, DeForest B. Soaries, under the headline "Voting official seeks process for canceling Election Day over terrorism."

Cancel Election Day?

Isn't that what happens in third world dictatorships?

Surely we must have mis-read that.

Sadly, no. Mr. Soaries went on to further explain his position that the government needs to establish guidelines for cancelling or rescheduling elections in the event of a terrorist action in the United States on or before Election Day. He also noted that he had contacted National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to voice his concerns, saying "I am still awaiting their response. Thus far we have not begun any meaningful discussion."

You can read the entire article, scant though it may be, here. And also, in case you are wondering, you can find more details on the Federal Election Assistance Commission in the ironically named Help America Vote Act of 2002.

At this point it seems that the prevailing speculation throughout this country is no longer 'if' but 'when' a terrorist attack will occur. Political and intellectual luminaries ranging from former Nixon speech-writer William Safire (Salt Lake Tribune) to former Clinton administration official David Rothkopf (Washington Post) agree that a pre-election terrorist attack is inevitable.

If that is indeed the case, then what might be the ramifications of such an attack? And for that matter, what would constitute an "attack"?

In the present atmosphere of hysteria, we believe it to be entirely within reason that an attack such as the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole on October 12, 2000, less than a month before the previous Presidential election, or even something as ephemerous as the anthrax mailings of 2001 would be enough to give the present administration reason to suspend the elections. And it is a very short step from that point to the declaration of martial law, for whatever length of time would be deemed necessary for the President to restore order and security to the country.

Picture your neighborhood on November 3, 2004. As you drive down the street toward the local polling place, the neighborhood seems unusually quiet. There seem to be fewer people out than is usual. You begin to notice military humvee's parked beside the road, some with uniformed National Guardsmen standing by with weapons. As you reach the polls, you see armed Guardsmen at the door searching all who enter and scrutinizing each voter's identification papers. The radio informs you that the nation's threat level is at red, it's highest mark. No surprise, the country has been at red alert for the past month.

Seem far-fetched? Perhaps. However, it is not at all outside the realm of possibility. The United States has been under a State of National Emergency since President Bush issued a Proclamation on September 14, 2001. Under the terms of the National Emergencies Act:

Any national emergency declared by the President in accordance with this title, and not otherwise previously terminated, shall terminate on the anniversary of the declaration of that emergency if, within the ninety-day period prior to each anniversary date, the President does not publish in the Federal Register and transmit to the Congress a notice stating that such emergency is to continue in effect after such anniversary.

On October 29, 2003 President Bush issued a Notice of Continuation of Emergency Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, extending for one year a State of National Emergency under the terms of Executive Order 12938. This, of course, leaves us under a current State of National Emergency.

Essentially, under the terms of the National Emergencies Act, the President has enormous powers at his disposal including the power to declare martial law and, presumably, the power to suspend a national election. And all the President is required to do is to notify the Congress that he intends to invoke those powers.

Of course, no President has ever made full use of those powers; however, some, such as Lincoln during the Civil War and Roosevelt during World War II, have come very close.

And that brings us full circle to the state in which we now find ourselves. As long as the President continues to invoke the magic word "war" we are at the mercy of the administration. And as long as this administration continues to issue vaporous terrorist alerts with no substantive intelligence with which to back them, we remain a frightened nation willing to follow whomever issues the toughest rhetoric.

Posted by bcoffee at July 3, 2004 02:14 PM