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BLAMING THE CHAD
          The decision came down, and no matter what, it was on the wrong side for about half of everyone. Talk shows evaluated or gloated their joy or moaned their gloom. The strangest of all events, in which the last shall be first and the first shall be last.
          One former cabinet guy says that the result is God's will. Others say, “Where was God when we needed her?” 
          There is lots of blame. Hardly anyone disputes all kinds of wrong, intentional and unintentional. Blame the machines, blame the courts, blame the lawyers, blame the candidates, blame the Florida legislature or blame chad that wouldn't let go.
          Maybe its best to blame the chad.
          You are waiting to hear what I think.
          My problem is that I tend to think biblically. That doesn't mean that my thoughts are God's thoughts, but that my thoughts have been influenced by the stories of the Bible.
          Here's the scoop. The Bible is full of stories in which the losers turn out to be the survivors and winners. And the winners end up as losers. We'll see.
 
          Of course, we're talking about a nation. How will we handle a change like this? Poor losers? Poor winners? 
 
          Those of us who identify with Christianity are used to identifying with losers. In fact, there is something about this faith that always stands with the losers. So, the Christ goes to the cross, yet wins.
 
          But, what about when the loser wins?
 
          I search my mind for a biblical example. Time after time the hymn of messianic hope is sung:
 “His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting, Prince of Peace.” 
 
          We sing it again, although many sing it with a bitter tongue.
          Even with skeptical voices, we sing our hopes for peace.
          That does not prevent my writing to my congressman and senator:
          “This is a time of opportunity, a time to stand for the widow, the orphan, the minority, the broken, the poor. It is a time to affirm justice for people of color and religious difference and poverty. It is a time to stand with the aged and mentally ill and physically challenged. It is for these people that government exists.”
          I will hear that these people did not pay for the political campaigns. They did not pay the millions of dollars that bought election of legislators, senators and the presidency. Are we to sit back and allow whatever happens to be “pay-off time?”
          My inclination is to go sailing, to let whatever happens to happen. That's wrong. If we let “what happens to happen,” we will have allowed a retreat to the time when justice was what pleased those with power. Certainly, in a time when power has been achieved without the will of the majority, those who care will stand up and be heard.
          The time comes when you can't blame the chad. 
— Art Morgan, December 2000