Greetings from cold grey rainy Washington DC.
I usually love coming here, but obviously, felt a little more circumspect this time.
I haven't had the heart to watch news, read it online, or even listen to it on the radio. I saw a little of the press conference today, and that was all I needed to go back into my hole. Bush waited about 5 seconds to lay things out fairly plainly. He has clearly misread the mood of the country. 51% hardly is a mandate for the kinds of things he is talking about; but then again, given his handling of Iraq, I am not sure the opinions of others really factor one way or another, or if he might not have read the mood right after all.
I will give him credit, he is honest about what he plans to do. In the 2000 debates with Gore he said he did indeed plan to give a tax break to the rich without the slightest embarrassment. Now he basically says he is gonna cue up Social Security first thing. Good. I never planned on seeing a penny, and hopefully he can stick it to the pricks that voted for him, be they old now, or the kids of old people who will need to move in. Then it's on to the tax code, medical malpractice, and who knows what else.
There is no constitutional mechanism for states or citizens to secede. That certainly is an attractive idea, at least as pure fantasy. While one can't quit the US, they can quit a state. Maybe blue state voters should give up on living in red states. Living together in all-blue states would give us enough clout to run a good chunk of our own lives as we saw fit. With the increased population, we might gain some house seats, and who knows. Maybe the blue areas of red states can create new states (and senate seats!) Something needs to be done.
We have a dangerous man running loose in the world with the leash off. I feel as if I have done what I can, and I do not intend to give up my citizenship without fighting. This land is no more theirs than mine. It is worth a good fight, but only to a point. There have been many times where we have lost our way as a nation or made mistakes, but I think this is different. I think it is time to ask whether or not we, as a nation, are able to work together to solve common problems. I am no longer as sure as I was. From now on, when outsiders label us a rogue nation, or W a war criminal, I will be much less dismissive. If our nation cannot field a viable opposition to the right-wing anymore, then those without effective representation or power should not then feel immediately obligated to also surrender our the last of our dignity to boot. There must be checks-n-balances, and if we can't have them internally, I begrudge no one outside our process the right to defend themselves from us and him. If you don't fight to maintain your rights, you lose them. Those not on the right in this country have effectively lost ours, but I don't expect those outside our process to also concede theirs.
Oddly, I feel a different kinship with people in the immediate wake of this. I never have had the feeling in my life to take politics personally, but this time feels different on that score as well. Again, time will likely moderate my point of view, but I am genuinely angry at my republican friends, and don't see how they could do this. In many cases though, these are the people I know with big houses on big lots, with several gas-guzzling cars. They like "law-n-order" and think the military can do no wrong. They also seem to have never have gotten over a genuine dislike of gays (the real-world effect of which we are now living under.) These are dear friends, but I feel alienated from them too. Can you seperate these things from everything else? Can you do it forever, for every single thing?
Maybe. I hope so. I hope I am just bitterly disappointed, and that this will change, but it hasn't at all yet. There are two Americas, and I want nothing to do with the other. I take no responsibility for what it does, and have no bond other than a tacit agreement not to un-bond. Bush is my president to the degree that he won the electoral contest in which I freely participated, but he does not represent me, nor act in my name. There is no way to "make nice" out of something not nice.
Posted by rudayday at November 04, 2004 09:32 PM