Now, the second element at work seems to be the 26th Amendment itself. To deny any form of mark, if it's identifiable and verifiable, seems to be an abridgment of the right to vote. And since the areas of Florida in question are heavily populated by senior citizens, it seems even more probable that the 26th Amendment is active here.

And that takes us on to the various deadlines, county counting boards, and the remainder of the idiocy the beast has been spreading around. If the constitution, arguably the final word in the land, tells us in various amendments, including both the 19th (women's right to vote) and the aforementioned 26th, that voting rights shall not be denied or abridged, then they shall not be denied or abridged.

In reading this, you might think I'm siding with Al Gore. Sadly, I'm not. While I'd like to think that our current Vice President is fighting for the right of each and every vote to count, it's clear he's not. It's just that his team thinks if the votes are recounted completely in that predominantly Democratic region, he'll win. So, in this instance, he's on the side of right, but not for the right reasons.

And interestingly, our battle over ideology has become a battle over right and wrong. Unlike November 6, 2000 and all the days before, we're no longer really concerned over which of these two indistinguishable politicians will score government housing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead, we're concerned over just exactly what the right to vote really means.

And, herein, lies the beauty.

America, and Americans as a people, often do the right things for the wrong reasons. We're a pretty self-centered lot. We were bred to be so. Yet our system is set up well enough (at least, it seems so, so far) that everything tends to self-correct. That's the system of checks and balances (and paranoia) that our founding fathers, and their elected descendants, inculcated into our political system.

Al wants to be president. He thinks recounting votes will work for him. Wrong reason. But we're now in a serious debate about votes, counting methods, and machinery, and all of us are much more aware of our vote and whether it counts. We may not choose to vote, but damn it all, we sure as hell expect it to count if we do. Right result.

George wants to be president. He thinks preventing recounts, going with the current results, and arguing for machine accuracy will win it for him. Wrong reason. And yet, the Supreme Court will look at the problem, various lower courts have looked at the problem, and we've all seen the Herculean efforts of the unsung and often denigrated vote count workers in Florida. Right result.

On November 6th, I decided to send out a mailing to all our readers, regardless of party affiliation, reminding them to vote. I decided that, as a citizen, a patriot, and someone with some influence, I owed it to all my misspent karma points to do something good, in my own small way. And so hundreds of thousands of vote reminders greeted readers throughout the world on the morning of November 7th, election day.