Posted on 08/20/2004 3:31:20 PM PDT by Chris_Shugart
2004 Presidential Election Under the Eye of
International Observers
by Chris Shugart, 19 Aug, 04
When I first learned that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had been invited to monitor our presidential election this year, I couldn’t believe it. What happened? Was Franz Kafka suddenly appointed President of the United States?
I was angry and confused. Who in their right mind would allow the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights meddle in our elections? Didn’t they have something better to do, like maybe monitor elections in, say, Venezuela where their presidential election is, as I speak, being hotly disputed? Shouldn’t they be investigating graft, crime and human atrocities in some corrupt third world country like Zimbabwe ? What’s next, for God’s sake, NATO observers at community town hall meetings? PTA elections monitored by Interpol?
Well, I took a deep breath and counted to twenty. Then I started to investigate a little further into the story. Frankly, I’d never heard of the OSCE before, so I thought it might be prudent to get a few details before I started gearing myself up for another tirade. I decided to look into this OSCE business and find out who and what they are, and perhaps learn the reason why anyone would want to give them anything more than just the time of day.
The OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization with 55 countries currently participating. Although the name of the organization implies a European perspective, membership is available to virtually any country. As it turns out, the U.S. has been a member since 1973. So has Canada .
And as the name also implies, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is particularly concerned with security-related issues. For example the OSCE just recently completed an assistance program in Italy, helping the Italian Border Police upgrade their security procedures. But the OSCE’s mission is much wider in scope. They also get involved in such areas as human rights, the world economy, and the environment.
Although the OSCE might appear in many ways indistinguishable from the United Nations, its history and purpose evolved differently. In the beginning, the Organization was primarily concerned with international relations between the Western democracies and the communist Eastern bloc. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the focus changed to establishing normal relations with the previous Soviet states and facilitating the reunification of Germany .
One of the Organization’s typical activities is election monitoring. After the Taliban was removed from Afghanistan , they sent an Election Support Team to that newly liberated country. During the past decade, the OSCE has monitored more than 150 elections in more than 30 countries. Organization staff were in the U.S, observing the 2002 mid-term elections, and they were in California during last year’s recall election.
Much attention has been paid to the fact that this is the first time the U.S. has allowed an international body to observe one of our presidential elections. No doubt that the vote counting problems in Florida 2000 had a lot to do with the somewhat unprecedented appearance of the OSCE. And the Congressional Democrats who formally requested that the U.N. get involved in our elections almost certainly influenced the Organization’s decision.
Like it or not, the U.S. is more or less obligated to grant the OSCE’s request to observe our elections in November. Not only are we a member of the Organization, and therefore subject to certain diplomatic commitments, the U.S. is also one of the signatories of the 1990 Charter of Paris which explicitly allows for OSCE members to observe the elections of other member countries. However, by the end of November, this whole thing may turn out to be a tempest in a teapot.
Should our November 2004 election be as razor close as it was in 2000, the OSCE will be the least of our problems. The Organization has no authority to do anything more significant than publish reports and make recommendations. Meanwhile armies of lawyers might be filing briefs, requesting injunctions, and challenging any precinct’s election results that have even the slightest possibility of being overturned. That is what should concern every voter in this country: An election decided not by voters, but by the legal wrangling of partisan attorneys and judges. It almost happened in Florida, so we already know that it can happen here, because it has happened here.
My main concern is not the OSCE, nor is it the eventual outcome of the election. My concern is what could escalate into an internal crisis we haven’t seen since the Civil War. We might be facing an election that could end up so tangled up in legalities and technicalities, that our ability to elect a president could be neutralized by an excessive legal system. If lawyers end up choosing our next president this November, our Republic will be in grave peril. It’s a worst-case scenario, to be sure, and I really hope I’m wrong about what might happen. But the way I see it, it’s better to be prepared for the worst while hoping for the best, instead of the other way around.
Re "2004 Presidential Election Under the Eye of
International Observers"
Well, if these are John eFing Kerry's foreign buddies, he has the election in the bag...
Best reason ever to get the vote out - for Bush. I believe the majority of Americans, if they get up off their arses and go to the polls, would vote for him.
WTF ! what a freaking travesty.
the decline of the Republic has begun !!!!!!
Umm I think you are taking this a bit toooooo seriously....
We watch them....no problem with them watching us....
I am indifferent too it because Bush invited them first....had it been Kerry, the OSCE people would have been overstepping their bounds by accepting the challenger's request....that would have gotten me going...
Bush inviting them is what makes it all the worse...
I see it as Bush keeping the screamers from saying he is trying to steal another election....he can point to the fact that an international "impartial" body will be observing the election....
"the decline of the Republic has begun !!!!!!"
You're more than a century late in your lament.
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