In response to: http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-3-2194.jsp Mr. Barnett, Regarding your column that Bush will lose even it he wins, I agree with your sentiments. However, as an American, I am here to tell you that if he wins by just 1 percentage point, he and the news media (the mainstream media as well as the right-wing media) will turn this narrow victory into a coronation. Moreover, it will be seen as a ratification of what the Supreme Court did four years ago and of everything the Bush Administration has done over the past four years -- including the war. Whatever courage the news media has mustered in recent weeks to challenge the Bush Administration, and it hasn't been much, will be buried amid unbridled glee over Bush's "victory." And the Bush Administration, now unrestrained by the fears of an upcoming election, will be free to do whatever it wants -- without any check whatsoever. If you shutter for the rest of the world under a continued Bush Administration, be thankful you're not an American. For us, it will be the end of democracy as we have come to know it. Some people over here believe that it might be best if Bush wins, for he will savage the country so much that next time around the voters will embrace Democrats and usher in a new generation of Democratic leadership, much like FDR in the 1930s. I guess that is a kind "destroying the village in order to save it" mentality the some people believe is what is motivating Ralph Nader. However, others, less optimistic, believe that a Bush victory will trigger the beginning of such a tight Republican control over America that we will effectively become like Mexico under the PRI. Thank you for your intelligent commentary and for taking the time to listen to me. Phil Hall