The following is an open letter that CJ Marsicano composed for Wrestling Fans Against Censorship on 11.17.00.  Bob Magee reproduced it in the 11.19.00 issue of the WFAC newsletter that is e-mailed to members and posted at PWBTS.com and WFAC.cjb.net every day.

Fellow WFAC Members,

I come to you today through this open letter to ask you one thing: In the wake of this election, have we really won anything?

More and more, as the drama from the Great Electoral Train Wreck of 2000 unfolds, it becomes obvious that George W. Bush, whose seemingly only real qualification for holding and running for public office is having been the son of a president who was in power a decade ago, will be taking power in January, barring any surprises in the continuing recounts in Florida.

I ask you, fellow WFAC'ers, did you think you were doing yourselves and the millions of wrestling fans (and the rest of the country) a favor by voting the Bush/Cheney ticket against the Gore/Lieberman campaign, simply because Lieberman is connected with the Parents Television Council?

Despite a facetious comment that I made last week in my column Breaking Kayfabe about voting straight Democrat, the vote I cast on 11.7.00 was actually for the Green Party, including the Ralph Nader/Winona LaDuke presidential ticket. I did so because I felt that voting for either of the main parties would not have been completely in my country's best interest.

The censorial climate will not go away if/when Bush takes office - it will actually increase under his regime because, in spite of/despite the fact that most Republican voters would consider themselves centrist, the G.O.P. itself is actually dictated/mandated by the tenets of the ultra-conservative Religious Right non-majority (i.e. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, etc.) seeking to drive this country closer towards becoming a therocracy - a Christian Iran, if you will. Do I need to remind readers that when this country last had a Republican regime in the oval office, we had: 12 years of artist harassment; jeopardization of not only a woman's right to choose, but her own right to live if the pregnancy was putting her life in danger; a "drug war" that made criminals out of the people who needed help getting off drugs (ever wonder why there is prison overcrowding in the first place?) Bill Clinton, for all the good that he did to balance the budget and try to undo 12 years of Reagan/Bush damage, wasn't perfect either - he practically handed America's workers and industry over to the World Trade Organization, aided by the NAFTA and GATT treaties (amongst other things).

Obviously, unless the US Supreme Court comes out and orders that an entirely new election has to be held, it's too late to change who will be president come Inaugural Day 2001, but we do have four years in which to monkey-wrench things so that after Election Day 2004, we can all breathe easier.

The first thing we can all do is stop voting for only Democrats and Republicans. There are so many viable "third" parties that do not get the press (or the matching campaign funds) that the Democrats (Demo-Crips) and Republicans (Re-Blood-Ricans) do. Obviously, since I voted for the Nader ticket myself, the Green Party comes to mind first, but there is also the Libertarian Party, the National Law party, Constitution party, Bull Moose party, etc. I would mention the Reform Party, but right now it's too early to tell if there even will be a Reform Party in a year or two. With the 2000 Reform Party split between ultra-right-wing loudmouth "official" candidate Pat Buchanan, and "alternate" candidate John Hagelin - not to mention the shadow that Ross Perot cast on it when he dropped out in the middle of his 1992 presidential campaign, and then dropped back in not long afterward, and this country's most prominent third party sitting politician Jesse Ventura disowning the party earlier this year in the wake of Buchanan's intentions - it's highly unlikely. In any case, research all of the third parties and support the third party candidate of your choice! A site called 3rd Party Central (http://www.3pc.net) is a great resource to help you find the third party most compatible with your points of view. A simple net search should help you find others.

The second thing to do is keep voting!!! One thing this year's presidential election, with its' high turnout causing such a close race, has taught us, is that everyone's vote does indeed count! Pay attention to all of your local area's city, county and state elections. Vote not only in the general elections in November, but in the primaries as well - those are even MORE important and crucial in the long run than the general elections.

The third thing to do is, if you're old enough, run for office yourself. I personally am giving serious thought to running for local election in the next year or so as a Green Party candidate. As for you, I say go for it. It's actually relatively easy to get on the ballot and run for public office, and whether you win or not, you'll make a difference anyway. If actually running for office doesn't appeal to you right now, volunteer for the campaign of someone who believes in what you believe in.

Finally, stay informed. Watch the news with a critical eye, and don't just take one channel's version of it, or even your TV's or newspapers' version of it. You're already on the Internet, so take some of your time and find alternative news sources amongst the hundreds of sites and discussion lists on Egroups and Topica that are out there for that purpose. I recently started my own alternative open news service on Egroups called Become The Media, which can be joined by sending a blank e-mail to becomethemedia-subscribe@egroups.com.

Simply put, the only way to fight the politics as usual that has been slowly asphyxiating the United States of America, is to not play the usual politics, but the unusual politics instead.

Thank you, fellow WFAC members, for letting me share my thoughts with you. We are just getting started - stay active - because TALK MINUS ACTION EQUALS ZERO!

Sincerely, CJ Marsicano "The Webmaster Of Extreme" Columnist, ScoopsWrestling.com, Piledriver Press & PWBTS.com Founder of The Outsider Edge and FrancineECW.com Member of Wrestling Fans Against Censorship