Red vs. Blue: The Aftermath (Seattle Libs in Full Meltdown Mode)

I feel like someone has died, and I guess that someone is my country and its shining ideals. The people have voted, cowering in fear and ignorance, and now retreat to their caves with the same mentality . . . playing right into the hands of this despicable bunch that will control our country for another four years. I'm shocked and appalled, fearful, and more than a little ashamed of my countrymen, and I'm worried about what the next four years will bring. Because it's "open season" now for this awful, evil administration and their radical agenda, and suddenly the kidding about moving to Canada isn't so funny anymore. We must stay mobilized—first stop, Pennsylvania Avenue this January, with a whole crate of eggs and rotten tomatoes! Then it's on to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to form a human chain around the area. Ugh. I was soooo looking forward to being able to relax on the activism, and now we'll have to redouble our efforts. Let's start with Impeach Bush/Cheney!

Look on the bright side, Seattle lefties. The election results give you opportunities for four more years of mindless protests and insipid yard signs. Now you won't have to go through withdrawal!

I'm both sad and angry that we will have to put up with another four years of George Bush—a man who clearly lost all three presidential debates. A man who has proven to show little intelligence, who is so stubborn and arrogant that he refuses to admit his own mistakes, and who has refused to work with the rest of the world. This leader of the free world can't even command the English language. I've heard politicians from Third World African countries speak better English.

But my real anger is the reasoning that so much of our country used in deciding to re-elect him. It would have been different if everyone who voted for him based their vote on the real and substantive issues. Instead, as recent surveys suggest, a significant number of people voted for him because of his stance on "moral issues." In other words, "God, Gays, and Guns." And worse, the Republican Party had the nerve to use these moral issues to pander to the religious right, thereby creating a further divide in this country that will be difficult, if not impossible, to heal.

This especially worries me because these are all issues that are really not that important to the future of our country. There are far greater issues that we should be worried about. The Iraq war has opened a Pandora's box that will only lessen the security of our nation and the world. Our economy, the environment, the national debt, Social Security, and medical care reform are much more important issues than whether or not we allow two people who love each other the ability to show their commitment; or whether we continue to debate an issue such as a woman's right to choose, which was legalized 30 years ago.

Yet there's a real contradiction here. The real moral issues we should be concerned about are economic disparity, destruction of our planet, misleading the American public and the world about an unnecessary war resulting in over 1,000 American lives and countless innocent civilians, and the unwillingness to allow basic civil human rights to U.S. residents.

The even greater irony is that instead of moving forward with the rest of the civilized world, our country seems to be moving backward, where religious fervor continues to reign in our government's international and domestic policies. Does this not sound like Iraq, the very country we are supposed to be liberating? What ever happened to our forefathers' idea of separation between church and state?

I am saddened for the future of our country. I hope that Bush is honest when he says he will try to heal the divide he's created. He certainly didn't keep his promise during his first term, and he doesn't have anything personally to lose during his second.

Somewhere in between the optimism of Nov. 2 and the disappointment of Nov. 3, America witnessed a surprising cameo from a new player on the political scene. In hundreds of exit polls across the nation, those voting for George W. Bush consistently named "moral values" as the most important issue of the 2004 election. Suddenly the war on terror, the failing economy, and the debacle in Iraq had all taken a backseat to good morals for Republican voters.

What does this say about those of us who didn't vote for Bush: no ethics? Unprincipled hedonistic atheists? It gets me thinking. Hmmm. Actually, I think that I have some pretty good moral values of my own.

My morality says that over 1,000 brave American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis shouldn't have died for an unjust cause.

My morality says that we should preserve global alliances and eradicate racism and homophobia, rather than preserving racism and homophobia and eradicating global alliances.

My morality says that we should safeguard environmental regulations and do away with extra tax cuts for the wealthy, rather than safeguarding extra tax cuts for the wealthy and doing away with environmental regulations.

My morality says that religion can be a source of great strength and inspiration, a reason to have hope in a hopeless world; yet religion never belongs in public schools, and it certainly doesn't belong in a State of the Union address.

I know that my moral values are the best ones for America. Why? Because I read about them in the Constitution. So why did the unthinkable happen on Election Day? The answer is simple: because we like to believe that someone else is going to get the job done for us. When Martin Luther King Jr. was famously imprisoned in a Birmingham jail cell, he wrote, "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."

The greatest tragedy of the next four years will be allowing the appalling silence of the good people to continue. I ask people to take a stand. Talk about your values. I've spent the last three months asking strangers on the street to vote and embarrassing my friends by refusing to leave the house without wearing my decidedly unflattering Kerry/Edwards wardrobe ensemble. At one point, I spent an afternoon alone at a road stop off the New Jersey Turnpike with a 50-year-old stranger named Barry because the two of us got lost on a Kerry volunteering expedition from N.Y.C. to Philadelphia.

Being an agent of change isn't always easy, and it's hardly ever glamorous. But it's always the right thing to do.

As John Edwards said to supporters in Boston, "It's OK to be disappointed. But you can't just walk away—the fight has just begun!"

I am sure that you will get a tremendous outpouring of letters regarding Bush's election. Let me join the throng. My sense of despair about Bush's election is not about Bush. My response to my friends is that America is now Germany in 1933. In a wave of fear and anger, the majority of citizens have expressed themselves as fascists. The outpouring of votes that were made to stem the tide of moral degeneracy is significant. These voters, who gave Bush his majority, are voting from a nonrational sense of moral and religious certitude. They are the NASCAR Nazis and Christian Crazies who are certain that they are recipients of God's direction and eager to purge the elements of sin and evil from the society. They are the most dangerous people in our country. As long as we try to "understand" them or appeal to reason, we are in decline. This is American Fascism come to term. This election was a tipping point in which the sentiments of the fascists became the will of the people. This is not a minority group of nuts; this is the American center, and they are on the march.

It is a critical period for those who value personal liberty, freedom of thought, and pluralistic tolerance. These are not the values of the majority of voting Americans. If we are to defend these values, we must join in force to combat—yes, fight—against the growth of American Fascism. In other words, name it and bang it. We can start by holding any Republican we know, if we are still talking to them, responsible for the continuing loss of freedom and the violations of the constitutional separation of church and state. We must be clear that we are proud of our liberal values and see the Republicans as the party of American Fascism. Do a Web search on fascism and attack the right like a junkyard dog. Fight or die.

To those of you who sued for the right to marry earlier this year, thus leading to the decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court to legalize it and measures on ballots in 11 states, including Ohio, all of which passed: You know, you could've waited until 2005 to push this. You didn't have to do it in a presidential election year. But noooooooo.

Are you happy now? Because if you hadn't pressed this issue, John Kerry would've been elected president. The massive turnout for Bush was largely based on "moral values," not terrorism or the war in Iraq.

Next time, can you think about someone besides yourself? Unless you're a Republican.

One can argue that the economy is in a temporary recession and by continuing the conservatives' policy it will soar, and that Kerry was not the best deal. Yet, with all the civil rights abuse facts and cases, wrong international decisions, unjustified war, and conflicts with allies, Bush still got the popular vote. I think this is a clear message to the world and to the immigrants that the majority of the people agree with the Bush administration's various unjustified policies.

It is clear that blind faith triumphed over reason in the presidential election. This blind faith was manifest in some rather striking contradictions of belief over fact, particularly in regard to the so-called moral issues that apparently were the margin that bucked George Bush into office for a second term.

In an election that carried grave consequences concerning the Iraq war, the economy, health care, the environment, and the budget deficit, large constituencies constituting "evangelical Christians" were apparently motivated to vote by their opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Regardless of how one stands on these issues, they alone do not constitute one's fitness for office when so many other issues that affect all Americans are in the balance.

In addition, one may well discern a moral blind spot—the failure to censure Bush's repeated and unapologetic refusal to confront the fallacy of his "compassionate conservatism" stance, his reliance on false and misleading propaganda in regard to Iraq, and his permitting Dick Cheney to ride his Halliburton gravy train without the slightest ethical qualm. If there is any justice in the world, Cheney will eventually face criminal charges stemming from the current FBI investigation and perhaps be forced to resign.

And then there were the "mothers with children"—mainly the majority of white female voters who in fact voted for Bush and not Kerry—who feared "terrorism." Whether or not this "terrorism" is a code word for fear of racial minorities is an open question, but it does beg the question that if they still feel unsafe, then shouldn't they examine Bush and his policies as the cause?

The election is over now, and we are hearing the same promises of bipartisanship we heard four years ago. Don't be fooled—this president, who has refused to be accountable for any of his past missteps may well feel even less restrictions to continue those mistakes. As they did four years ago, Bush's words will likely prove to possess neither honor or truth—and the country will suffer for it as it has for the past four years.

It's one thing if George Bush won the election through shady tactics, lawsuits, poor voting methods, and other illicit means. It's a completely different thing to win by popular vote.

I've always been proud to be an American. Proud of the principles that the country was founded on, such as freedom for all, equality, and justice. Now I have to come to grips with the fact that the majority of my fellow Americans are righteous, oppressive, selfish, shortsighted people. People that will rally behind a war against an abstract idea. Do they not see that terrorism is an action taken against oppression? Do they not see that you can't eliminate terror by killing people, only by providing freedom and justice for everyone? Do they not see that our own Revolutionary War, which created our country in the first place, was also a string of terrorist acts against the British government?

My fellow Americans act with fear, not bravery. My fellow Americans are people who will put their own comfort and safety ahead of anyone and anything else, including their own children. The belief that we must protect our economy, the free flow of oil and money, and that environmental issues, global impacts from pollution, or any impact felt beyond this year or next is not worth planning for or thinking about shows horrendous shortsightedness that will doom us and several generations beyond to truly terrible living conditions. My fellow Americans will not sacrifice their right to revel in riches now, because they blithely expect everything to work out fine tomorrow.

My fellow Americans are people who hold a righteous belief that their interpretation of holy scripture must be forced on everyone. Outlaw stem cell research. Deny gay people rights. Eliminate abortion. The Bible says so, and no matter what you believe in, my fellow Americans will make sure that you live your life by their Bible. My fellow Americans believe they know how you should live your life.

I always thought that the mistakes of my country were due to a few corrupt or misguided or misinformed people. Now I realize that the majority of my country is too stupid or too ignorant or too selfish or too cowardly to live up to the ideals that our country was founded on.

I'm very sad. My heart is broken. I was on the ferry when I heard that Kerry conceded. I literally got tears in my eyes. I was so optimistic about change occurring in our society. Kerry might not be the ideal president, but I envisioned a country bold enough to elect someone who was ready to chart a new and safer course for our country. I've lost any modicum of respect I had for the American electorate—how can the average thinking person ignore a deficit that has ballooned, the misdistribution of income-tax cuts, the collapse of health care, the massive loss of middle-income jobs, rampant corporate malfeasance, an incomprehensible and incompetent attempt to foist democracy on a sovereign nation (Iraq), and the blood of 100,000 Iraqi citizens on the hands of the U.S. military? Back all of this with the complete fabrication and misrepresentation of evidence as an argument to attack Iraq.

Re-elect Bush, in the face of all this? It just does not make sense. What part of the story have I missed?

These events have pushed me even farther to the left, and I think I'll become an activist with a local chapter of an environmental group when Bush decides to open the pristine Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling.

I hung out at Chop Suey until 1 a.m. on Election Day, drank a few beers and cheered for J.K. and other Dems as they won races. It was fun to chat with people that I've never met. Clearly, most people I spoke with felt strongly about the liberal agenda in this country and were very well informed. It's good to know that caring and intelligent people are living in this city with me. There was a point where the GOP spokesperson was speaking, and the sound engineer at Chop Suey morphed her voice into a possessed, demonic growl; the crowd went wild. As much as the GOP affiliates itself with the Christian right, their actions, especially internationally, seem guided by evil intent.

What have the voters told us by putting George W. Bush back in the driver's seat and even more Republican legislators and justices into the front seat with him? That he's the right man for today's America, a stubborn, ignorant, arrogant place that has, in its fear of the unknown and in its resistance to change, reverted to social and religious conservatism while paying no attention to the costs.

Bush is a father figure lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrified by the neighborhood he's taking us though, running out of gas, yet refusing to stop or ask for directions. Americans have chosen to ignore the fuel gauge, the pollution their vehicle is spewing, and the complaints of half the passengers. Blind to the resentment in the eyes of pedestrians and the ominous "do not enter" signs, they urge him to drive on.

Our only hope is that in another four years—when the traffic fatalities mount and our little detour into nation building becomes a dead end, when prayer won't pay the bills, when "shut up, you bratty kids" doesn't change the fact that we're lost, when the poor people in the backseat are hitting each other and the rich are calling for taxis on their cell phones—we'll finally lose faith and choose a very different driver.

The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the world. It was formed following a trip by Thomas Jefferson to New York, where he met in secret with Aaron Burr to form a new political alliance. Jefferson and Burr brought together the small farmers of Virginia and the mechanics (working class) of New York to create a political party based on the economic interests of the "common man."

Today the Democrats have lost their way, and their message of economic justice has become obscure in the politics of group agendas, failing to unite the American working class.

I voted for Kerry because Bush is another one of the arrogant, corrupt leaders most nations on the decline have put in power for thousands of years, attempting to recapture the glory of days gone by. In vain I looked for the Democrats' economic message throughout the campaign and found nothing.

The Democrats need to return to a message of economic hope and reform. Had Clinton's administration economically revitalized the Midwest and been more concerned about workers instead of NAFTA and shipping jobs overseas, we'd be celebrating the re-election of President Gore.

Congratulations to President Bush and the Republicans for your win in the election. You have won the day—in fact, four more years to pursue your agenda and extend your policies, potentially beyond even your term with the ability to mold the Supreme Court for a generation or more.

Your place in history will now be assured. Future generations will read about you and what you stood up for when it counted most: your work to institutionalize intolerance in the bedrock of our legal system; your use of a self-perpetuated climate of fear to curtail our most precious civil rights; your selective interpretation of a religion of peace to justify war, both military and cultural; and your decision to use an unprecedented unity of the global community to show the world not our ability to be humane and just toward our fellow human beings but rather our shocking disregard for these principles.

You have your 270 electoral votes. To the rest of us you have given 1,000 lost American sons and daughters; 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians, the majority of them women and little children; a million jobs lost overseas while you encourage more of the same; 5 million more people without health insurance; and the countless billions upon billions drained from our future for a needless war and further handouts to those who need it least. I wonder which numbers the judgment of history will remember most clearly.

My favorite examples from my "tolerant" neighbors:

This leader of the free world can't even command the English language. I've heard politicians from Third World African countries speak better English.

My sense of despair about Bush's election is not about Bush. My response to my friends is that America is now Germany in 1933. In a wave of fear and anger, the majority of citizens have expressed themselves as fascists. The outpouring of votes that were made to stem the tide of moral degeneracy is significant. These voters, who gave Bush his majority, are voting from a nonrational sense of moral and religious certitude. They are the NASCAR Nazis and Christian Crazies who are certain that they are recipients of God's direction and eager to purge the elements of sin and evil from the society. They are the most dangerous people in our country.

My morality says that over 1,000 brave American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis shouldn't have died for an unjust cause.

Absolutely correct, now just what "unjust cause" are you referring to?

Surely not the liberation of 25 milllion people and the eradication of torture chambers, rape rooms, and mass graves?

Hello Seattle-ites.

Having lived among you, I know how it is to feel like a put upon minority.

I solved this problem by moving. Perhaps I might suggest the same to you?

Canada, land of socialized medicine and Michael Moore's utopia, is but a drive away. And really, America is full of those icky conservatives you detest anyway, right? So why not treat yourself?

Then it's on to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to form a human chain around the area

oh, that should be fun to watch. I hope they combine that with the latest nude photo shoot.

Instant frozen-popsicles!

I love how they think that people who like W's policies are stupid but these people think Social Security is a good deal and that makes them smart?

Sheesh!!!

We must stay mobilized—first stop, Pennsylvania Avenue this January, with a whole crate of eggs and rotten tomatoes!

Second stop, a smelly, rat/'Rat-infested DC jail, where you will meet all your fellow die-hard DemoRats, hopefully from your backside.

My response to my friends is that America is now Germany in 1933

Can't they come up with some new rants?

Bush is Hitler is getting very old...

Bush is Stali...nah that won't work, he's a hero of this crowd!

I am so sick and tired of listening to the left wing bullshit that these individuals love to hand out.
Their idea of a perfect candidate went down the tube with SKERRY, This liar and appeaser belongs with Nevil Chamberlain and his peace in our time when he gave away half of Euope to HITLER, Who SADDAM idolized.

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