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Wow. How did this happen? I’m so filled with mixed emotions right now that I don’t know what to say…or how to say it.
Similar to the various stages of grieving, my first feelings were anger. I was angry at the whole south and middle of the country for making the electoral map so red. Then irrational thoughts of secession came to mind (based on the maps it would be easy to see which states would become the United States of Red or the United States of Blue).
Then the news this morning reported that although more younger voters than ever registered to vote this year, only 17% of the under 30 (registered!!!) crowd actually bothered to vote in the end. So, my anger has shifted to the younger, newly-registered voters. And it is there that my anger will remain.
I’m just terribly concerened for this country now because exit polls indicate that Bush led the national popular vote as a result of his stance on “moral issues”. No matter what your party affiliation, I just don’t think moral issues should be government mandated (and I find it incredibly ironic that the Republican party – which claims to pride itself on small government – is the entity allowing government to be in more control). It’s up to your parents, your community, your church and, most importnatly, yourself to determine what you find moral. It’s not up to the government to determine. Government’s role is to protect and ensure freedom. And I’m scared, with four more years, that the Bush administration will continue to erode freedom. I mean, the religious-right is growing stronger by the day (as evidenced by yesterday’s election) and their Christian-based, holier-than-thou mentality is using fear and damnation to coerce people into thinking the world will end if people don’t follow their beliefs. This church/state combination is just too similar to what’s going on in the middle-east for me. It’s turning people away from each other and more strongly dividing this country into “us” (the northeast and coasts) versus “them” (south and heartland). And now I fear I’m guilty of being of that mentality.
I’m reminded of that old poem by John Collins Bossidy, Boston Toast:
So this is good old Boston,
the home of the bean and the cod,
where the Lowell’s talk only to the Cabot’s
and the Cabot’s talk only to God.
Only know, it’s a century later and that mentality has spread nationwide.
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over and over and over i heard the same stream of quotes as to why people voted for bush: BECAUSE OF HIS MORALS
as if these people didnt pay very close attention, mr BUSH LIED to the american public repeatedly about the ‘reasons’ we went to war and the downward spiral that weve been enduring ever since. if these morally-driven christians didnt hadnt been paying attention to their bibles either, LYING IS A SIN.
is the middle of the country morally confused? were these people merely paying attention to the gay marraige issue, and basing mr bush’s morals on that? what gives? why the insular attitudes?
the NE and the west coast and illinois seem to be the only Enlightened places in the country…maybe like Quebec, we should threaten secession!
Um, pardon me, but THIS state (Illinois) in the Midwest went BLUE…AGAIN, thank you very much.
david: i did mention illinois in the last line. :OP silly
I know Karl I know….but at least Ron Crews got pummeled my Mcgovern.
And that is a good thing.
They don’t care about Bush’s personal morals, they just care that he tows the line on all of the radical christian crap. They’re all just tickled pink he’s a born again christian who sits there and has conversations with god and is attacking everything that is ‘evil’ in the world, including just about every social issue at odds with the christian agenda.
Damn, they talk about the ‘homosexual agenda,’ people need to start talking about the ‘christian agenda’ if they really want to be scared.
I am stunned. Just now saw the news on cnn.com that Kerry conceded. I just want to go away now. I think I’ll join you in Canada, Karl.
It sucks major suckage. But the US isn’t a total lost cause.
Just thinking about the youth vote actually, I realized: The youth turnout may not have been as strong as expected and hoped, but the youth did swing towards Kerry. Our future is more progressive than our present. Someday this’ll turn back around and people will look back with wonder at the fact Bush was ever elected.
Hello from the big red middle of the country. Don’t give up on the rest of the country. Down here, 2.8 million Texans voted for John Kerry. That’s a million more people than did so in Massachusetts. There is a strong and consistent anti-Bush sentiment hidden under all the red on the electoral map, but the vagaries of state borders, partisan redistricting, and the electoral college.
Speaking of redistricting, the real horror last night was what happened to the Texas delegation under Tom DeLay’s gerrymandering plan – the one that the Supreme Court has thrown back to the state. The Texas delegation now looks nothing like the actual population of Texas, and the Republicans are doing their best to make sure that the many Texas Democrats and Independents get no voice in governing.
Look, not everyone in a red state is a Nazi. It only takes a simply majority to make a state red. We need to spend the next 4 years debunking the Christian Taliban in this country; making sure our national direction is set by a compass, not chicken entrails.
Chris: that was for cutie-pie Karl, not you. 🙂
To assume that only the so-called Religious Right is responsible for the re-election is to ignore the entire demographics of those who voted for him. So, yes, you are guilty of the mentality you accuse the country of being enveloped in.
Here’s another opinion: perhaps the DNC has tooled it’s message to the wrong people. They’ve already won over the big cities, but clearly their message is lost in middle America. Is it the people’s fault there message is lost? Sen. Zell Miller has put forth a statistic that states soother states had 20 Democratic Senate seats in 1984. Today, it is the Republican’s that hold those 20 seats. Why is it so hard to accept that one party is addressing the needs of the people in those areas?
karl rove hammered the message home time and again that bush had to appeal to his base, the evangelical or religious base of voters. was it only this group of people that voted him back into office, no. but they may have been the largest group of people he was trying to appeal to, and in the end it worked.
if you dont live in an area of diversity of ethnicities cultures religions or sexual orientations, then your tolerance for these people will be lower. there are a majority of americans who still cannot fathom that there are people living in the USA who are not like them (white, christian), and thus have a lower tolerance for these differences. some people cannot imagine that there are people who have opinions different from their own, and i will venture to call these people Conservatives.
the question for the DNC in 2008 becomes: How do you teach conservatives that people other than themselves have basic human rights too? blacks jews latinos muslims gays et al arent Special Interest Groups, but Americans too?
Hi, Charlie – thanks for commenting on here.
Oh, I agree 100% that it’s not the religious right’s fault. I was just saying I’m scared of how that faction is spreading. My anger, based on what I’ve heard about voting statistics is towards younger voters that never voted (or anybody that didn’t vote – whether Republican or Democrat (though, you can probably tell which affiliation I’d prefer).
But I do find major faults within the Democratic party, too. I’ve blogged about how I’m not a fan of Kerry – but, like many, my vote for him was simply a vote against GW Bush. The Democratic party definitely needs to straighten itself and put forth candidates that can relate to all demographics.
But, you asked “Why is it so hard to accept that one party is addressing the needs of the people in those areas??. I don’t find that hard to accept at all. But, like Kerry wasn’t able to address their needs, GW Bush is incapable of addressing “our” (northeast, west coast) needs. It’s a two way street.
Karl,
Your point is well made. I think I may have missed it earlier because while I now live in a rural community, my family moved from the heart of Queens, NYC, so I can see the views from both sides.
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