It is disturbingly apparent that the flow of court battles and political aggression erutping from the 2000 presidential election is leading the majority of the American people to the inescapable conclusion that Gore Democrats and Bush Republicans have engaged America in what amounts to a "Civil War."

Driven by the mass media, a regiment of reporters and a battalion of pundits, hostilities broke out using ballots instead of bullets, lawyers instead of bayonets, and a cavalry of black robes on white horses instead of cannons.

Indeed, it's difficult to find a particle of patriotism or a shred of statesmanship amid the partisan power plays, legal lances, demagogue daggers and electoral guerillas.

Lest we forget, such selfish, shallow interests can only worsen our nation, already steeped in political alchemy, deepening division, and the atrophy of democracy. America is better than being remembered by the "dimpled chad" heard around the world.

Daniel B. Jeffs, founder
The Direct Democracy Center