Okay, I've gotten the pettiness out of my system now, I hope.
The irony is that at the end of the day, my life probably won't be significantly disrupted by the results of this election. But many of the "heartland" people who voted for Bush--they're the ones whose children will die in the war, whose health care will be stripped away, whose jobs will be at risk. And the people most likely to be drafted into this war didn't care enough to vote--youth turnout was no higher this year than it was four years ago, it seems.
Yes, I know that many people who didn't vote for Bush--whether here or abroad--will be affected, as well. I'm not trivializing that. Just noting the irony that here in the US, Bush's "base" is likely to suffer more than many of his detractors.
Viewed through the filter of my recovery process, it feels as though the democrats are the co-dependents in this country, and the republicans are the addicts. We keep thinking if we just tell them they're doing the wrong thing that they'll see the error of their ways and change their behavior. But they won't--at least not through our sheer forces of will or displays of rationality.
Hand-wringing will get us nowhere. Lessig is right...we need to let it go, and move forward. We need to fix ourselves before we try to repair those we see as misguided. We need to understand how we encourage and enable what looks to us like insanity. (One of the things that people in Al-Anon come to realize is that they often end up looking far more insane than the addict in their lives.)
So, what happens next? Me, I'm taking a break from political thought for a couple of weeks. And then I need to think hard about how I become a force for positive change, rather than simply a shrill critic of what I see that's wrong.
You hit the nail on the head with why I am so baffled (let alone angry and depressed). A large portion of those that lose personally by Bush getting four more years are the the ones that turned out in droves to vote for him. Having friends in some of the areas Bush (Rove) targeted tell about the fear and lies about the opponent that got these people out to vote. There was no focus on what Bush would do for them or to them.
That last paragraph, yes. That's what we do.
Liz - I have to admit that the first place I looked for this morning in search of perspective was your blog - and this is good perspective indeed. I'm afraid my take on it wasn't anywhere near as philosophical, but angry and afraid - my comments are at http://www.whisperingj.addr.com/weblog/mt/archives/2004/11/the_morning_aft.html
cheers and thanks - Oren
Hi Liz - I feel like our side would have voted for a man who would have been fair to both sides. Their side chose the bully. When I saw the expressions on the faces of Bush supporters at rallies on TV, I saw the faces of the kind of people who report their neighbors as terrorists, simply for sporting bumper stickers saying, "King George - Off With His Head." I saw the faces of overgrown children standing behind Daddy, waiting for the "bad" children (us) to get punished, eager to gloat about it. I am not only angry at Bush. I'm angry at the people who voted for a bully. I'm also trying hard to come to terms with the fact that America is apparently a lot more dumbed down than I had thought. And I still can't wrap my mind around my own family members belief that when they listen to "the heart of God", it tells them that Bush is a godly man. They have considerably lowered my estimation of the reliability of heightened/religious/spiritual states of consciousness.
I want to say to you conservatives - Way to go! You just sent a loud and clear message that it's fine and dandy to be lied to and to be led by an incompetent fraud who lost all three debates. Enjoy your victory, folks. You will have to live with the consequences for the next four years. You may find that there are other things in life to be feared, besides gay people and terrorists. You will get the government you deserve. But I and a slight minority of the rest of the population will not. We will have to live with the consequences of your poor decision, too. I will probably be less affected personally than many. I have no children yet. I have technical skills; and that doesn't make me invulnerable to unemployement anymore, but it makes me less vulnerable. But I wanted a president who would care about what all Americans want, not just the ones who most rabidly support him. I wanted a president who was reality-based. I wanted a president who deserved his office - who earned it. It pains me, in a deeply existential sense, to lose hope that there can be something other than injustice, unreason, absurdity and meaninglessness... in the highest office of the most powerful country in the world. And it also pains me to face the fact that a slight majority of the country finds impressive and devastating, that rhetoric which I find utterly stupid, lame, trite and transparent.
Liz - All of our lives (and our childrens,' and beyond) will be significantly disrupted by this election, just down the road a bit. Bush and the Right have just been handed a blank check that won't expire for 20-40 years: he will nominate at least one Supreme Court judge, (enough to tip the scale over the edge for the conservative agenda)and more than likely 2-3 more within the next four years. Given that these are life time appointments, that's a lot of havoc that they can create! And with no means of challenge. Now that's scary.
One more comment: Did you know that there is an organization called Blackboxvoting.org that is looking at all logs for all evoting machines, to check for discrepancies. They are entirely citizen funded and are in need of donations, quickly.
Yes. Yes, it's scary.
So we can sit here wringing our hands about it, or we can roll up our sleeves and DO SOMETHING for the people and institutions about to get slagged.
I'm not pretending there's a win anywhere much, mind you. Even so. I know which side of that decision I'm taking. You?
And the people most likely to be drafted into this war didn't care enough to vote -- youth turnout was no higher this year than it was four years ago, it seems.*
Thankfully the only party to propose reinstating the draft lost seats in both houses.
Belief that Bush would even consider reinstating the draft is a sign, IMHO, that the person has bought into an extremist Democrat perception tunnel of FUD which lost its grip on reality when its hatred overtook its objectivity.
The primary grounds given by exit polling for the way in which people cast their vote was "morality". When Kerry stated during the debates that he personally believes abortion is murder but will not impose his moral worldview on others he surrendered all moral authority. How can Kerry hold anyone accountable for committing crimes if he will condone what he believes to be murder? More people die from abortion every day than die in Iraq. Perhaps the majority is voting with the numbers.
* I am able to use <i> but not the semantically more correct <cite>.
Quote: "Thankfully the only party to propose reinstating the draft lost seats in both houses."
Yeah! Whoohoo! We're on our way to being a one-party nation of Banana Republicans.