Dear Mr. Vice President

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Dear Mr. Vice President

November 28, 2000

The following is excerpted from a letter written by E. Calvin Beisner to Vice President Al Gore on Thanksgiving Day. Given Gore's recent determination to continue fighting after the certification of Florida's election results, Beisner's words from last week are even more pertinent today.

Dear Mr. Vice President,

Let me introduce myself. I am a husband and the father of seven and an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. I am also a professor of social ethics at a theological seminary. And I am a doctoral candidate in the history of political thought, focusing particularly on the development of constitutionalism in 17th-century Britain. I am not an ignorant, disgruntled American but a political philosopher (not a politician or political scientist) deeply troubled about the state of our nation.

For the last two weeks, I, like many Americans -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- have experienced growing concern about the survival of American constitutional government and the rule of law. Yesterday, in responding positively to your supporters' appeal to allow manual recounts to continue in three Florida counties and to require the Secretary of State's office to include those results in the final, certified election results for the State of Florida, the Florida Supreme Court exercised a breathtaking violation of the constitutional principle of the separation of powers, sweeping aside statutory law adopted by the legislature and the lawful and prudent exercise of administrative duties by the executive branch. No doubt their decision was to your liking. But it is extremely alarming to me as a political philosopher and historian of political thought. It brings us to the brink of an extraordinarily dangerous situation: the installation in office of someone whose claim to that office is not simply doubted but vehemently rejected by a huge and well-informed part of the citizenry. ...

Mr. Vice President, presently you hold office legitimately. But -- having carefully followed the details of this twisted election recount process; having carefully listened to the attorneys' presentations to the Florida Supreme Court on Monday and then read them later; having carefully considered the relevant state election laws (which are not, despite claims to the contrary, self-contradictory); and having carefully read the Florida Supreme Court's decision handed down Nov. 21 -- I am convinced that if you are declared the winner after all of this, you will have stolen this election. You will not be a legitimate authority should you be inaugurated president of the United States.

And that, Mr. Vice President, puts me in a terrible situation. It puts me in a situation of having to denounce the authority of the titular president of this nation; of having to approve of others who do likewise; and of having to admit the legitimacy, in principle, even if not in prudence, of attempts to supplant you. (I do not say usurp, for only legitimate authority can be usurped.)

But, Mr. Vice President, I have some consolation. First, I would be doing no more than what the founders of our country did when, in the Declaration of Independence, they renounced a king and a parliament that had forfeited their legitimate rule over the colonies by violating the transcendent "laws of nature and of nature's God." Second, I would be doing no more than what the opponents of James II did when, convinced of his intention to overthrow the British constitution, they sought and attained his removal from the throne and his replacement by William of Orange. Third, I would be doing no more than what David did in ancient Israel when, King Saul having forfeited his legitimacy by disobeying the commands of God through the Prophet Samuel, he resisted Saul's rule until at last God removed Saul from office and installed David, whom He, through Samuel, had previously anointed king. ...

I love America, Mr. Vice President. I love its Constitution and its Declaration of Independence. I love its amazing system of separation of powers, of checks and balances, of federalism -- so wisely constructed by men who knew their own sinfulness and knew that it affected all others. Please, for God's sake, do not sweep those things away.

Concede the election now, Mr. Vice President. You may then be able to run again four years from now not only with the high esteem of the American public, which will recognize that you have chosen the good of the country over your own ambition, but also with a clear conscience.

I pray that God will give you wisdom and humility.

Sincerely, E. Calvin Beisner

Dear Mr. Vice President

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 29, 2000


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