On Thursday, November 4, the Aurora Forum for Exploring Democratic Ideals held a post-election town hall meeting in a packed Kresge auditorium. Since the re-election of George W. Bush on November 2, campus liberals have been conspicuously dejected. The Aurora Forum attempted to provide some solace and “hope,” as Aurora Forum director Mark Gonnerman articulated. But the pessimism and negative assessment of U.S. foreign policy, U.S. elections, and U.S. media swelled as the town hall meeting progressed.

The town hall meeting consisted of a conversation between Amy Goodman, the liberal host of Pacifica Radio’s daily newsmagazine Democracy Now! and three Stanford scholars. Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, discussed the prospects of democracy in Iraq. David Dill, professor of Computer Science discussed electronic voting systems. John McManus, director of Grade the News, a media research project affiliated with Stanford’s Graduate Program in Journalism focusing on the quality of the news media in the San Francisco Bay Area, expressed his disdain for the corporate media.

Mr. Diamond was highly critical of the Bush administration’s conduct of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. In his essay entitled “What Went Wrong in Iraq” and published in Foreign Affairs magazine, Mr. Diamond wrote, “As a result of a long chain of U.S. miscalculations, the coalition occupation has left Iraq in far worse shape than it need have and has diminished the long-term prospects for democracy.” Amy Goodman said, “You don’t sound like a higher-up at the Hoover Institution,” which drew bellowing laughter from the crowd. In reply, Mr. Diamond was emphatic that “there is more pluralism among Hoover Fellows than you think.” Mr. Diamond indicted Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith for gross negligence comparing them to felons, though he stopped short of calling for them to be tried for war crimes. Mr. Diamond firmly declared that he would be “outraged if these people are retained” in Bush’s cabinet for his second term.

Mr. Dill discussed electronic voting saying, “We should get rid of electronic voting, and I am not a Luddite.” In fact Mr. Dill is a professor of Computer Science at Stanford. He opposes it because “electronic voting technology is inherently not transparent.” Mr. Dill notably declined to state his personal opinion about the outcome of this election, but he was glad that Bush’s margin of victory was large enough that no one called for a recount, avoiding a potentially “unresolvable dispute.” With some types of electronic voting systems, recounts are impossible or trivial. He is optimistic that there appears to be bipartisan support in congress for bills requiring verifiable paper trails for elections. Mr. Dill suggested that precinct-based optical scanning systems that read ballots as you put them into the box is a better alternative to touch screen electronic voting.

Amy Goodman described the media as potentially the most powerful institution in the country. She also believes that the media has reached an all time low through its dissemination of lies about WMDs and connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Mr. McManus expressed disdain for the “systematic inundation of misinformation,” and “it’s not just from FOX.” He argued that since the major networks use the public airwaves, they must be made accountable and regulated. He called for regulations of political campaigns akin to those in Western Europe, which would try to take the money out of political campaigns and eliminate profiteering image makers that create illusions and play to the passions of susceptible people.

Mr. McManus cited Winston Churchill, who said that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest.” He also referenced Walter Lippman’s concern about the weakness of democracies in relying on distracted and manipulable individuals to choose their leaders. Mr. McManus was particularly concerned about the repetition of political slogans that he compared to “air pollution suffocating democracy.”

Mr. McManus further lamented, “I wish newspapers would take politics as seriously as sports.” When it came to this election, he believes that the corporate media “took the money and turned a blind eye to us.”

One audience member asked Mr. McManus what can be done when “most people are getting news passively from T.V. or Rush Limbaugh?” Mr. McManus replied, “People need to stop being passive.” He suggested that if people voice their complaints en masse, the corporate media will have to respond. Amy Goodman stated that the right wing has built up its think tanks and media machines, and “we have to build up a fair and balanced media.” She concluded by giving her support to public radio and television and mass movements.