Entries from November 2004 ↓

…as my mother often says.

I’m still trying to make sense of Tuesday’s election, but in so doing have found some articles that made quite interesting points.

A Blue City (Disconsolate, Even) Bewildered by a Red America
The Unbearable Darkness of Being
The Values Ploy
Martin urges caucus to refrain from Bush bashing
Kerry should be glad he lost

Read them yourself. Let me know what you think.

I�ve spent most of this day after in a state of depression. I certainly knew Bush�s election was possible (I refuse to call it a �re-election�) so I was not at all shocked as much as disappointed.

I am saddened and disheartened by the hypocrisy, mean-spiritedness, out and out racism and homophobia, and abject stupidity and pandering to fear that has swept over this nation. Narrow-minded bigots who have barely seen the world nor interacted with anyone who didn�t look like them, speak the same language or believe as they do, have acted on their base insecurities and returned to office a man without an enlightened world view, who sees other nations and people only as potential conquests or insignificant bumps in the road.

Yesterday�s elections will only empower them to move further towards a theo-political fanaticism the likes of which we may not have seen since Nazi Germany. Those who voted for this administration themselves may be totally unaware of how far this bunch will go, nor the full ramifications of their policies. Heaven help us all.

But now that the election is over, this is truly no time to sit dazed and confused. Progressive people mustn�t allow our disappointment to paralyze us. As sure as I write this, the other side is already strategizing for how to turn this year�s win into more wins over the coming years. We must do the same.

Keeping in mind the off-repeated refrain, �All politics is local� 2005 will see local elections all across the country. Lacking the national spotlight of a presidential campaign, they often suffer from lower voter turnout. But we must begin to plan now to avoid that type of occurrence, because these are the elections that lay the groundwork for national campaigns every four years. The newly registered who showed up this year have to be convinced of the need to vote every year, and for the right causes.

Progressives must organize and mobilize candidates and voters to win city council races, mayoralties, and county and state seats next year, as a way of putting in place the foundation that delivers direct governmental services to the people and lobbies the feds to shape national priorities. I am heartened by a race up in my old stomping grounds of a reform-minded District Attorney candidate who ran and won Tuesday against a strong local political machine. His victory has allies preparing now to win more seats next year.

Here in New York City, 2005 will see races for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, the five Borough Presidents and most of the city council slots. The year after that, we will vote on a new Governor.

If we are angry and disillusioned by the Bush win, we must channel it into action and that has to begin now. If we want to influence opinion and redirect American thinking towards a more inclusive and just agenda, we must counter top-down public legislation with bottom-up grassroots efforts.

Inaction, passivity, and apathy at this time, will only result in more defeats.

The people in the Midwest and Southern parts of the country wonder why we Easterners always look down our better-educated and more culturally sophisticated noses at them.

Because you are stupid, beer drinking, pick-up truck driving, high school educated assholes, that�s why.

What else would explain why major regions of the country–the hardest hit by the failed economic policies of the Bush Administration, where factory closings, farm failures, job outsourcing to India, poor access to health care, not to mention a high percentage of your sons, daughters, wives and husbands dying needlessly in a war that never needed to happen�would vote overwhelmingly for the status quo.

You are all the gullible rubes and hayseeds we always knew you to be.

You fell hook, line, and sinker for Karl Rove�s carefully crafted campaign message. You voted for fear. Fear of gays and lesbians gaining the right to marry, despite the fifty percent divorce rate among heterosexual couples. Fear that a Kerry administration would be weak on terrorism, despite the fact Osama bin Laden, the real culprit behind 9/11, is still free to record video messages while Americans are dying in Iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with the attack. Fear that the so-called Liberals would ruin the economy, despite the fact Bush came into his first term with a federal surplus (left by Bill Clinton) and within a year turned it into the largest federal deficit in this nation�s history. And it�s still growing.

There is no logic to the thinking of the red state inhabitants. One can only surmise all that inbreeding has weakened the gene pool so much you lack the brain cells to analyze and reason.

We blue staters�the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, Upper Midwest and West Coast�who contribute more in federal taxes than we receive back in services and thus work to support your stupid country asses�probably need to think about seceding from the union. Then we could get the kind of government WE deserve, and wouldn�t have to live with backward bumpkins like you.

I have waited four years for this day.

At about 7:59 AM, I cast my vote and I happily waited in line several minutes to do so. Many of my neighbors in Harlem/Hamilton Heights were voting for the first time and needed assistance from poll volunteers. Many seemed not to care about any of the local elections (we are also picking congressional and state legislative races) but came to vote on the presidency. That to me was a beautiful sight, because at least they understood the significance of this election and their need to get involved.

Today, America will either elect George Bush, for the first time (he was illegally appointed by the Republican-dominated Supreme Court in 2000), and continue to
- move in the direction of religious and political extremism, waging open-ended wars against nations that pose no immediate threat to the U.S. while allowing real terrorists to escape and make videos;
- alienate our overseas allies;
- give tax breaks to those who don’t need them (thus driving up the federal deficit) and large no-bid defense contracts to companies with personal ties to the administration; and
- overturn laws that protect our individual civil liberties, while creating policies that pry, snoop and impose a rigid conformity to their limited definition of patriotism.

Or we can vote for Democratic challenger John Kerry, and put in office an administration that
- demonstrates an understanding of complex world issues and avoids quick simplistic absolute responses;
- is willing to forge better relations with other nations and position the United States as a partner among international coalitions, not a heavy-handed bully only concerned with getting its own way;
- grasps the consequences of neglecting domestic issues and shows a receptiveness to finding solutions from a variety of sources;
- but more importantly, won’t insulate itself from differing opinions, or refuse to admit when it is wrong.

If the heavy turnouts I am seeing in New York are any indication, a clear and unambiguos message may be sent to whomever wins. Ten million new voters registered across the country. Black voters, and many Muslim and Arab Americans who have felt the sting of Bush anti-terrorist/anti-Arab rhetoric, may very well spell the margin of victory should Kerry win. Disaffected moderate Republicans who feel their party is being highjacked by fanatical conservative religious fundamentalists, may either switch parties or stay home.

Today, and tonight will be nerve-wracking. I pray America comes to its senses and ends this four year nightmare.