Gore should concede

I am a Republican who voted for Al Gore, despite the fact that this decision earned me the half-joking anger of some family and friends. Generally, I support Republican views on the economy and business, but George Bush’s views on Supreme Court nominees and school vouchers pushed me to Gore.

That having been said, I think Gore should concede the election. Bush has responded poorly to the concerns of the voters in southern Florida; instead of further dividing the country by making veiled accusations about vote-counters during the recount, he might have extended an olive branch by acknowledging the strength of the Gore argument even as he held to the rule of law as a governing standard. The governor had little to lose by doing so, because the courts are likely to rule in his favor.

Gore, however, is the only one who can settle this, and the only way he can do so is by conceding. If no further revelations arise, and if the absentee Florida ballots favor Bush, then technically Bush will have won the election. Any court-imposed solution that reverses the vote in Florida will only fan the flames of the hatred.

On the other hand, the moderates and liberals among us probably have little to lose by Bush being president. Nothing drastic is likely to happen in the next two years, because Congress is so evenly divided. Off-year elections favor the party not in control of the White House, so the Democrats are likely to control Congress in 2002. Furthermore, in the other historically close votes, the losing candidate came back later to win by a clear majority and the winner was not re-elected. Charlie McAlpin Calais