For better or for worse, truth or fiction, ballot spoilage or fair election, George W. Bush is all set to be the President of the United States of America for another four years. In a rare press conference, President Bush expressed that he has earned “political capital” and that he intends to put that capital to use. Apparently he is under the impression that he has a mandate from the people this time around.

If you look at what are increasingly referred to as the Red States and the Blue states on the maps that the major media outlets are presenting, you can tell that an overwhelming majority of America voted for Bush. This simply isn’t the case. Of the 217.8 million people in America of voting age (over 190 million of whom are eligible to vote), 59,424,706 of them cast a vote to grant Bush another 4-year term. If my math is right (it is, I used a calculator), that’s less than 1/3rd of the people that had the option to grant their approval of his rule.

But Americans don’t vote, so that 1/3rd figure doesn’t mean a heck of a lot. Of the people who bothered to participate in the process this time around, 3,519,683 more votes were cast and counted for Bush than were cast and counted for Kerry. This is less that 2% of the population of the country. It is less than three percent of the votes that were cast and counted. The margin of victory, in relation to the number of people being governed, is minuscule.

It’s that time again, time for Americans to stand up and not be counted. Get yourself off to your polling place and pretend that you matter. Throw your integrity and better judgment out the window and vote for one fool or the other. Nevermind that other candidates are better qualified, have better ideas, more faithfully represent your political and social opinions, and throw your vote away on a major party candidate that will provide us with another four years of corruption and status-quo thinking. Go now, and settle for the evil of two lessers. May the Mighty Cthulhu guide your hand in the voting booth, America, for we are truly doomed.

It must be the season. With the 2004 election bearing down on us, I’ve been seeing Barry Goldwater quotes, references, praise, criticism, and such all over the place. Deguia.net recently quoted him. Repeatedly. Chris Matthews has been digging up his bones on Hardball almost every night. Even Mori has returned from a 10-month posting freeze to pontificate on the significance of Goldwater’s 1964 campaign. I wonder if he’ll get his own Saturday-morning cartoon by November?

Anyhow, State of the American Political Landscape is a worthwhile read.