Posted on 11/07/2004 6:38:47 AM PST by John Thornton
John Kerry supporters such as Rhonda Morton of Corning woke up depressed Wednesday. It got no better after Kerry conceded the election to President Bush.
"Part of me wants to just give up on the whole political process," said Morton, a writer, artist and longtime peace activist. "Part of me just wants to go live in Europe. Truly, that is something I'm considering."
Mansfield University student Adriel Chaney, 31, of Philadelphia, isn't moving to Europe, but he was angry Wednesday with some voters.
"I voted for Kerry," he said. "I just knew that Florida would go the opposite direction. People need to keep themselves better informed.
"I can't believe the younger people didn't come out (and vote)," he said. "I'm sure that Bush will do the best he can for our country.
"I'm just mad that the young people stayed home. I'm angry with U.S. citizens as a whole, particularly those who didn't want to vote."
Morton, who operates a communications firm and organizes the Peaceful Gathering coffeehouse series in Corning, has a plan to swing those nonvoters or non-Kerry voters into action.
"I feel like not only now do I have to save my own country, but I have to save the world from my country," she said. "My first thing is maybe we should move to the middle of the country and start educating people, getting the literacy rates up and get people to stop watching Fox TV."
She's not optimistic about the Democratic Party's prospects of rebuilding itself following Tuesday's sweeping election losses.
"It's nearly impossible to fight Bush and that Republican machine he now has," Morton said. "Maybe we hunker down for the next four years."
Morton, who contributed to MoveOn.org and other anti-Bush organizations, said there is minimal good news in Bush's victory.
"He's going to have to clean up his own mess and the economy and the environment and the fact that everybody in the world hates us," she said. "You wanted it, you got it. Now get out of this."
Morton is also concerned about the increasing influence of religious conservatives.
"I'm really afraid that the religious right and the fundamentalists and the anti-intellectualists are filling those red states," she said. "I used to be afraid of the big global corporations, whose allegiance was to the almighty dollar. But now I realize that in order for that to work, they have to have an ignorant populace."
She said education may be the key to rejuvenating the Democratic Party.
"We need to funnel more dollars to education so people are taught analytical, critical-thinking tools and being creative -- all those things that are central to my value system," she said.
Kerry supporter Frank Anastasio of Corning, a retired educator, said the Bush victory left him sad.
"I'm ready to cry for this country," he said. "I'm very upset. I think we're in for four years we're going to regret. As an educator, I'm so depressed. I'm not impressed with the intelligence level of a lot of people. But I guess I have to be forgiving as a Christian."
He also thinks education could be a key to rejuvenating the Democratic Party.
"I don't know what the Democrats can do besides hoping to improve the educational level of voters," he said. "I sometimes think we are a more feeling people than we are a rational people."
Anastasio finds little to be cheerful about in the convincing Republican victories.
"I feel like a doomsayer right now," he said. "I don't know where people get their optimism."
The retired teacher scoffed at the exit polls showing that "moral values" were a major consideration for many voters.
"Cliches like 'moral values,'" Anastasio said. "What the hell does that mean? We're going to kill for peace. We're going to cut back on domestic programs because we kill for peace. We're going to deny people domestic relationships because we have an ideology we feel should be imposed on a minority."
Joe Tellicano, 26, of Sayre, another Kerry supporter, was more philosophical about the loss.
"I would have liked to have seen Kerry win, but you know, life goes on," the Army veteran said. "It's not that terrible. I liked Kerry's social policies, economic policies, better. I think the war in Iraq was kind of a bad decision."
Star-Gazette reporter George Osgood contributed to this report.
Can we make you a good offer on a burqua--it will be required dress there shortly, and we wouldn't want you to be caught without.
Dude, do it. France welcomes you!
....Please, if you want to move to Europe, by all means do so.....
And take several friends and family with you!!!!
I see lots of "threats" to leave the USA. Don't these dolts know that's exactly what normal Americans want them to do??
That's exactly the attitude that will create more 'red' states.
Middle America IS SMART, that's WHY they voted for BUSH.
Hey, lady, that's been the RAT gameplan for the past forty years---funnel more money down the rathole of public education in order to brainwash kids to vote for RATS.
It would be your downfall.
I like the babe who said she has given up on the political process....? She should have lived in Iraq when Saddam had elections....he got 99% of the vote. Now THAT is a political process she would be happy with! LOL
And we, little one, have to save you from yourself. As if the "middle of the country" is uneducated and illiterate... And, oh yes, that eeeevil Fox News. We can't have an opinion contrary to ours out there now can we? These people disgust me.
"I don't know what the Democrats can do besides hoping to improve the educational level of voters," he said. "I sometimes think we are a more feeling people than we are a rational people."
Ummmm...correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the libs pretty much have the run of the educational system? Gee...where did they go wrong?
Don't t let the door hit your big fat liberal ass on the way out. Toodleoooo
"I feel that we are a more feeling than thinking people right now."
That is it in a nutshell. The screaming, kicking babies who are reacting like someone took their lollipop and dropped it in the dirt have been taught that what they feel is way more important than what other people think. One of the worst feeding of this is the government Grief Counselors rushed to schools to encourage children to have hysterics and even worse, to believe that only the government understands their pain.
More critical analysis and critical thinking skills will only help if the children are given back the classical diet of material to feed on that they used to have in the one room school in Wisconsin where my father learned literature and history far superior to what my neices and nephews are learning today. If they learn to critically analyze "Sex in the City" and "Everybody Lvoes Raymond" or the wit and wisdom of P.Diddy, the exercise is pretty much a waste of time.
"We need to go down south and *make* those ingnorant rubes watch Dan Rather and CNN every night."
You lost.Now get over it.
Please, move! Its not going to get any better for you, so why prolong the pain before its too late!
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