PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE

An American Style Coup d'Etat

A coup d'etat occurs when one group seizes state power (illegally takes over the government) from the previous government. Generally coups occur in countries with little or no democratic tradition and many times through the use of violence. A revolution in which a rebel army gains support of the populace and overthrows the existing government may or may not be a coup d'etat, as a coupusually means that a smaller interest group gains the support of the military and removes the existing government leaders.

There are many different types of coups and they need not occur through the use of violence. In my opinion, the ascension of George W. Bush to President of the United States is in reality, an American Style Coup – a peaceful one to be sure, but nonetheless a coup d'etat. It challenges the very fabric of our democratic republic and means that we may be experiencing the same kinds of things that caused the conversion of the Roman Republic to a system of despots.

When we evaluate what occurred here, we see a popularly elected candidate (Gore received over a half million more votes than George W. Bush in the popular vote) defeated by a Republican state apparatus in Florida (presided over by George W's brother and political machine) which did everything it could to make certain that many thousands of votes — which would probably have switched the Florida result to Al Gore — were not counted.

When the Florida Supreme Court attempted to interpret Florida law to guarantee that the "intent of the voter" be properly ascertained, the standard created by the Florida State Legislature, a group of right-wing Republican appointees on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Court decision and elected their party's candidate over the wishes of the American people and the people of Florida. In doing this, they altered existing precedent, redefining what "irreparable injury" is in order to halt the vote count ordered by the Florida Supreme Court (as if counting votes which would be counted after the election anyway was irreparable injury), and intervened in a manner which stripped the Florida Supreme Court of its right to interpret State law.

It is especially shocking that they did this when the Florida Supreme Court ordered that all of the "undervotes" and "chadded" votes from all Florida counties be counted. It is also shocking that this Supreme Court — which is supposedly opposed to the judiciary deciding cases in a manner in which it legislates rather than interprets and is committed to the right of states to determine their own destiny and opposes federal intrusion into matters which have been historically determined by state legislatures and state courts — would have intruded in this matter. And finally it is shocking that the votes of five politicos could override the popular vote in the U.S. and probably in Florida and decide the winner of a presidential election.

As the Supreme Court defines legality under the Constitution of the United States, it has the right to break the law, defy the Constitution and then pardon itself by simply changing the meaning of the Constitution and the law. This is the reason why people argue that George Bush's election was not a coup. The Supreme Court said that the winner of the popular vote did not have the right to have an accurate count in George W. Bush's brother's home state and therefore their party's nominee, George W., is President.

In my opinion, that's simply an American-style coup. The Republicans and the wealthy, anti-labor allies they represent used the trappings of legality to strip from the American people their chosen president and make someone the Republicans and their wealthy, anti-labor allies like as president. In effect, these five Republican appointees supplanted the American people to annoint and appoint the loser as the president. In doing so they forever tarnished our international image as a nation of laws – the example of democracy to the rest of the world. In the minds of the rest of the world, we have demonstrated we are not a democracy or a republic – just an oligarchy that allows coups to occur and then calls them legitimate elections.

There was a great deal at stake in this election for labor in general and the BMWE in particular. As I pointed out when BMWE endorsed Gore, our endorsement is not about gun control, abortion rights or the environment. It was about making certain that we elected a president who would look after the needs of working people in general and BMWE members in particular – who would assist in making certain that when we bargained we had a level playing field.

Although there were areas that we felt Gore could have been better – fairer towards working people – he was clearly head and shoulders better for working families than the person the leaders of the coup made president. When we look at the transition team for transportation which includes no one from labor, but includes John Snow from CSX and Dick Davidson from UP, we are given a clear signal of who the beneficiaries of this coup are, and it isn't working people and it isn't members of the BMWE.

In addition to who benefits from the coup in terms of appointments to executive agencies, we are already starting to see a change in the public discourse. Even though there are no signs of a recession, the coup leaders are making every effort to create an appearance of one. Growth has dropped from over 3.5% per year to 2.5% per year. This does not mean there's a recession. But if you want to make an argument to enact a tax cut for the wealthy when there is no popular support for such a tax cut, you argue there's a recession on the way. The whole dialogue is already changing to create a public environment for the kinds of anti-labor, anti-working family program that Bush ran on and was rejected by more American voters than those who accepted it.

The months ahead will be hard for labor in general and BMWE members in particular because of the policies the coup leaders intend to implement. Hopefully democratic forces will fight this every step of the way and not simply knuckle under to the program that was rejected by more American voters than those who accepted it.

Even though we recognized there was a great deal at stake and pushed as hard as we could to elect Al Gore, we would have accepted the result if it was legitimate. Instead, our side won the election and had the benefits of victory stolen from us. There was much more at stake than I ever thought on November 7, 2000. Our whole way of life, our democracy and everything we have fought for as a people has been challenged by those who led this coup. We must work together with the rest of our allies to see that the coup leaders cannot consolidate their power or implement their program. We must defend ourselves and our members.