In an article I read a few days ago, columnist Austin Hill brought up something that up to now, I’ve never considered—the possibility of riots following the presidential election. Referencing a previous column written in July he said, “As I pointed out in that column, many influential friends of mine from both political and business circles, and from both the East and West Coasts, were telling me that they feared “trouble in the streets” if Obama lost the election. That was in July. And now, as we begin the last full week before the election, I can’t help but think that we’re even closer to “trouble in the streets,” regardless of the election’s eventual outcome.

I say ‘eventual outcome,” because I do not anticipate that we’ll actually know who the President-elect is on election night. I may be wrong about this, and the Obama camp’s predictions of a Reagan-styled landslide may come to pass. But I expect a “close score” on this one, and for election night to be clouded with claims of voter fraud, and demands for investigations and ballot re-counts, all of which will likely delay the declaration of a “winner” for several days.”
It turns out there are numerous columns that have been written about this possibly scenario coming from both side of the political spectrum. Clinton hatchet man and all-round political lefty James Carville said that Barack Obama will be the slam dunk winner of the election in November. However, he followed up by hinting at riots if Obama were to lose. His opinion is based on polls that show Obama ahead by a substantial margin and his natural arrogance. He reckons that if McCain wins, even though the polls predict otherwise, then the black people in this country will automatically think that the election was rigged and that their messiah was robbed of what is rightfully his.

Writing in Real Clear Politics, Dennis Prager said, “If Barack Obama loses the 2008 election, liberal hell will break loose.  Seven weeks before the 2008 presidential election, liberals are warning America that if Barack Obama loses, it is because Americans are racist. Of course, that this means that Democrats (and independents) are racist, since Republicans will vote Republican regardless of the race of the Democrat, is an irony apparently lost on the Democrats making these charges…..

If Obama loses, it will not be deemed plausible that Americans have again rejected a liberal candidate, indeed the one with the most liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate. Liberals will explain an Obama defeat as another nefarious Republican victory. Combining contempt for many rural and middle-class white Americans with a longstanding belief in the inevitability of a Democratic victory in 2008 (after all, everyone they talk to despises the Republicans and believes Republicans have led the country to ruin), there will be only one reason Obama did not win -- white racism.”

Of course there is the grim (to me) and real possibility that Obama will win. Such a victory will not result in riots from McCain supporters. Republicans don’t do such things, but there could well be celebratory riots from Obama fans. Police departments around the country are preparing for post-election violence from any source.  This from the US based reporter for the London Telegraph: “James Tate, of Detroit's police department, which dealt with violent celebrations after the Detroit Tigers won the baseball World Series in 1984, told congressional newspaper The Hill that problems could flare whichever candidate wins.
‘Either party will make history and we want to prepare for celebrations that will be on a larger scale than for our sports teams," he said. "The worst-case scenario could be a situation that requires law enforcement.
Other law enforcement agents indicated that this year’s presidential election has attracted a level of ‘youthful enthusiasm’ comparable to that usually reserved for high-profile sporting events, and noted that, even when a team wins a championship (say, a Superbowl, or a big collegiate competition), the hometown crowd often trashes its own surroundings in celebration.”

For folks living around here, the notion of riots over an election seems impossible. But for big cities with large black minorities, there have been riots over less significant events. Remember the South Central Los Angeles riots of 1992 when people revolted after learning that four cops were acquitted of beating Rodney king? That fracas resulted in over a billion dollars in damage and 53 people dead.

If there are riots of any kind, it means we, as a nation, are degenerating to the level of numerous third world countries. While there is widespread voter fraud on a local level in various parts of the country, elections aren’t rigged by the government as they are in places like Venezuela Nigeria or Kenya. Any rioting that occurs from the outcome of this election will be because the losers refuse to accept the truth and have grown to believe that they are owed something.