After watching “Recount”

“Recount.” You know, the infamous story of why ultimately, Bush was appointed, rather than voted, the 43rd President of the USA. I had heard about the movie when Kevin Spacey promoted it on the Daily Show, CNN, etc., and knew it would be worth watching. It was. It felt a lot like “Good Night and Good Luck,” in the sense that the protagonists were fighting the “powers that be” – in the case of “Recount,” the infrastructure of the republican party, lobbyists, and the courts – for the cause of justice. By the end of it, though, I was so angry that I actually had to binge eat and go shopping. I need to find some better ways to relieve stress…

I was so surprised throughout the whole movie, wondering what would happen next. Obviously, we all know the grand ending. But I was hanging on the intricate, sometimes little-known steps along the way. The vain but harmful escapades of Katherine Harris (Secretary of State FL), the Republican lobbyists and lawyers, the back-and-forth, the true flaws in the voting system in Florida’s “in-question” counties, and of course the dedication of Kevin Spacey’s character… whose name now escapes me. Oh well, you get the point. He was the good guy. I have heard in interviews that the film-makers went to great lengths to make the film true to the real sequence of events, and although there is usually an agenda with films like these, I feel they did a fantastic job. A lot of real news media footage was woven into the film as well, which enhanced that sense of “reality.”

The thing that gets me the most: What was I doing in November, 2000? I was 16. I had just started my junior year at a new school. I went to church for all those fun “youth” activities. I had a boyfriend. I took my mom’s car out with my friends as often as she would let me. . . that’s about it. Can’t think of much else I was thinking about at the time. WHAT THE HELL? Why didn’t anyone around me bring up the election? I am serious – I don’t remember anything being said at my house except a vague memory of Al Gore being hated on for being so liberal. My family voted for Bush because he claimed to be a “Man of Prayer” . . . something he said once that really stuck with my parents. I don’t even remember any conversations at school – not in history class or anything. It worries me that NO ONE in my immediate community seemed informed or concerned at the absolute horror show that was going on in Florida… I mean, I don’t care who you support politically – every vote should count, as Spacey echoed over and over throughout the film.

The whole thing got me reflecting on my “political awakening,” as I affectionately call my journey to from a completely evangelical, Bible church-informed perspective of politics to a peaceful, politically/culturally-informed view of the Bible. I ask myself, how did I not even think about politics until my study abroad trip to Ecuador in 2004? Why did I have to travel to a third-world country in another hemisphere to get a real perspective on my own country, and the true injustices that exist here, among the privileged? I know why: Because I was totally immersed in a theology that told me everything would be okay as long as I had Jesus in my heart… I don’t want to diminish the theological idea of a personal relationship with the Trinity… but it doesn’t make everything alright. We are here, living in this world, and no one is going to make it better but us – the ones living here. As Ani’s song, “Up up up up” says, “Up up up up up up points the spire of the steeple, but God’s work isn’t done by God, it’s done by people.” (I think there are Ani lyrics for every situation in life.) I believe we are called by God to political action.

Watching “Recount” just reminded me of that conviction and of how important it is for the American people not to be comfortable with “politics as usual” as Obama says. We must not allow these types of injustices to happen again… if we can help it. And we should.

I think this entry will have a part II. . .