Wednesday, November 10, 2004
So…Now What?
It’s taken me a bit to gather my thoughts about the election results. I easily could have written a book-length diatribe here immediately on November 3, but certainly those were prevalent throughout the blogosphere. But now that I have moved through the 12 steps and gotten mostly to “Acceptance,” I figured I could put together something a little more meaningful to write here, knowing that whatever views I wrote would be closer to my true nature rather than a knee jerk bitch session.
It turns out, my views haven’t changed a whole lot.
There were a number of reasons I can name for wanting John Kerry in office. I had hoped that we would have someone in office who would approach an issue more thoughtfully and who would hopefully temper this “with us/against us” attitude in this country. However, it would seem that there were more people that disagreed with me.
Frankly, it frightens me a bit to think that people have validated this “Speak loudly and swat with your big stick, especially if you don't subscribe to my belief or faith" attitude that Bush personifies. Bush knows it too, saying that he's "earned political capital. And I intend to spend it." To me, that's a very ominous statement.
Our country seems to relish in this “big bully” role we have in the world and, more alarmingly, against each other here at home. And still more crazy is that this validation has come in the guise of “moral values.” I don’t know how any sort of moral system can justify treating someone who thinks, acts and/or worships different from you with hostility.
So off we go for the next four years, or at least two depending on what we can do to make congressional and senatorial changes and reduce the influence that W might have. I just can’t help but think things are just going to get away from us even more. It’s amazing to think we live in times where Americans are seriously considering fleeing this country because they feel so helplessly out of tune with it.
