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Speak Out
Election Boycott
I am reaching out to share with you my family's sadness. For the first time in our nation's history, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the counting of remaining presidential election ballots and, in a split decision divided along partisan lines, awarded the Presidency to one of the candidates. We are still in shock.
Imagine the end of a Superbowl football game, where Bush is ahead by one point, with only five seconds remaining on the game clock. Gore has the football and is about to kick an easy 20-yard field goal. If Gore scores the goal, he gets three points and wins the Superbowl. If he misses, time will run out, and Bush will win. Bush is afraid Gore will score the goal and win; so, instead of letting Gore kick, Bush clandestinely tells his fans to rush onto the field. Bush's fans refuse to leave the field, thus preventing Gore from ever kicking the ball. The nation watches to see if Bush has the courage and integrity to tell his fans to back off and let the game finish. Bush does not. Times passes by, and Bush is declared the winner because he had a one point lead just before his fans stormed the field, preventing completion of the game. Such an ending to a contest would strike most Americans as illegitimate.
Looking forward, we see a President Bush for four years. Nevertheless, we should gather together to protest the methods he used to attain the Presidency. Perhaps we can boycott the inauguration ceremonies as a show of support for our democracy based on our values of honesty, selflessness, and integrity. The next presidential election comes in 2004. Our power to protect ourselves from men or women who inappropriately attain public office lies in our votes at the ballot box. We Americans should come together in 2004 to vote Bush out of the White House, on the grounds that he was not properly elected to office in the first place.
At our home, we fly the Stars and Stripes, and teach our children the Pledge of Allegiance. Our flag and our hearts shall remain at half-mast until a rightfully elected President, be he or she a Democrat or Republican, is seated in the White House.
Robert Kwok and Family
Saratoga
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
