by Bruce Gold
bgold@alumni.uvic.ca

It's sometimes the small things that speak the loudest.  After a military funeral, the family is given the flag from the casket.  The handing over of a piece of cloth – a small matter.  When the French Revolution overthrew the Monarchy and the corrupt Ancien Régime it sent the American Congress the keys to the Bastille, a bit of metal – a small matter.

In Florida, we see a Presidential Election in turmoil and a country's future at hazard over the inability of a voting system to record a vote.  Seemingly, America can build the best fighter-jets in the world; launch fleets of nuclear submarines and put a man on the moon.  But it can not design a voting machine that reliably and unambiguously punches a hole in a piece of paper.  But then, – it's a small matter - this punching a hole in a piece of paper.

Of course, we know perfectly well that if America  - really, really  - wanted to make a foolproof voting machine, one that left no hanging chads or dimples or "lord it's your guess on this one" indentations, well it could.  Surely, this now qualifies as a dismal realization; that this has been going on for years and has just been ignored.  It's a thought isn't it?  Thousands and tens of thousands of spoiled ballots, in every county, in every state, in every election - millions, over the years.

But we know the answer don't we.  It's the attitude.  There are millions of votes.  Why should a few problems, or a few thousand problems, or tens of thousands of problems justify investing in improved technology?  After all, millions don't even bother to vote.  As for the Military vote, isn't that something best handled by a junior officer – working off the corner of his desk - in his spare time?  I mean really, in a country of hundreds of millions, what's a few thousand dimpled, hanging, "don't knows" more or less.

There's also the money of course.  America is too poor to invest in serious voting machines.  What with the hundreds of millions for prisons and the hundreds of millions for Brady Bills (how much does that turkey cost?).  And the hundreds of millions for BATF troopers to slam down on meaningless technical violations.  How can any reasonable person expect money to be "wasted" on voting machine technology when we're so busy militarizing the police?  You'd think that Americans have no sense of priorities – just no sense at all.

But then, perhaps this is one of the small matters that speaks loudly.  Perhaps we're under-investing in government?  Or is it democracy and the Republic that's suffering from under-investment?  Perhaps, simply handing over a piece of cloth can speak words that only the heart can hear.  Perhaps, a small and useless piece of metal can carry a profound truth.

And perhaps, a hanging chad can speak volumes.

Bruce Gold is an issues analyst and author of the book "InfoWar in Cyberspace: Researcher on the Net," currently available at http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/brucegold01.html.