Anger
It’s so disappointing (though sadly, not entirely surprising) to find out that half of the people in our nation are so ignorant, misled, or just plain stupid that they would vote to re-elect George W. Bush.
I don’t see how anyone who has paid any attention to the news can believe that Bush actually deserves to be the president. Shame on anyone who voted for Bush out of blind loyalty to their party or religion.
I think Dunstan does a wonderful job summing up the feelings shared by most of the rational people in the world.
November 4th, 2004 at 10:42 pm
I’m living in Toledo, OH which as you can imagine makes me feel like I’m surrounded by a bunch of ignorant degenerates. This was the first US election i’ve witnessed first-hand and I can’t say I feel very positive about the way ‘democracy’ works over here. Can’t wait until kids are no longer allowed to learn about evolution, or gay people are arrested for kissing in public. Ugh.
November 8th, 2004 at 1:06 pm
Well, at the risk of getting into trouble…
I think there are rational people in the world that believe in general conservative beliefs. It is the heritage of our system and our market economy. I believe in lower taxes, not unfairly taxing those who have more money than others, keeping health care private, holding schools accountable, keeping America making decisions on its own terms rather than in the court of European opinion, and recognizing that the moral values of most of America don’t line up with the values of the minority in the large cities of this country. Oh, and I support the old-fashioned American work ethic, instead of the Lyndon Johnson bastardization of democratic principles which suggested that everyone who wasn’t affluent was entitled to handouts from their government.
That said, I have reservations about GWB. I always have. But those reservations were not enough to trump my deeply held conservative beliefs (which you are free to call irrational, but I disagree) to vote for someone like John Kerry.
He is a career politician, has never made a cent in the private arena, and cares so much about this country that the most significant of the 5 bills he’s written and passed was a fishery/hatchery bill. There are democrats I respect. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is a good example. There was a man who cared about his country, and worked himself hard to write legislation and bring people together to get things done. He was a passionate person. John Kerry is not a passionate person. He has not worked hard. And IF he has a vision for this country, he doesn’t have the skill to articulate it. He campaigned on “the other guy sucks.” This worked out well, as he never had to articulate a plan, simply tell people that their lives would be better with him and that every problem in their lives was caused by GWB. If there are any misled, uninformed people, its the significant part of the 48% who simply believe that John Kerry would have made their lives better in four years.
The country is not in bad shape. All the economic doom that Kerry campaigned on is an illusion. Unemployment is near historic lows (in the seventies it was in the high double-digits, it’s now around 5.4%).
Campaining by convincing impressionable people that their lives are terrible and that “help is on the way if you vote for me” is pandering to a really low denominator.
I’m not saying GWB is a gem. He’s puts me off a bit sometimes. But the apocalyptic bull that is being tossed around by such people as Dunstan is just way off the mark. The world is not going to end. Life will go on. And the democrats have four years to try to figure out what they actually do believe in, and come up with a candidate who isn’t so unimpressive.
Oh, and I hope you don’t get your view of the state of the world from the news. If you did, you’d think that kidnappings happened with regularity, shootings were on every corner, etc…”if it bleeds, it leads.” We don’t know what Iraq, for example, is really like. We know what gets reported. But for Kerry to stand up there and say that the American people know better, Mr. President, because they see the headlines, is to put way too much faith in the media. And it’s not just Iraq — the media has done a great job painting a picture of economic despair, in the richest country in the world, with low unemployment and high wages. The steel mill closing makes the front page. The rest of the people employed in the city never get in the paper.
You left comments open
I haven’t responded to any political blog entries yet; this is the only one for me this year. I am just tired of the rhetoric that if I hold one set of beliefs I am ignorant or stupid. I’m neither. And my belifs are very well thought out. Just because I voted for Bush doesn’t mean I agree with him on EVERYTHING. Just as most people voting for Kerry didn’t even like the man. I just think he was the better choice.
November 8th, 2004 at 2:19 pm
Hi Eric, thanks for your well-thought out comment. I’m afraid I just didn’t have the energy to do so myself earlier.
Let me say a couple of things. I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Republican either. Generally I’m not in favor of big government, or of handouts, or of affirmative action, etc. And I used to view many things as strictly black-and-white: smoking, alcohol, and drugs are bad, etc. However, as I’ve gotten older, and seen more of the country and the world, I’ve developed a more open mind about a lot of things. Handouts are bad, yes, but then again, it’s really hard to get by when the cost of living is so high and so many jobs pay so poorly. Not everyone has family or other safety nets to help them out.
Now, it seems this election was partly decided on the issue of morality. And you’re right, much of the country has a somewhat different set of values than those in the bigger cities and the media. That’s fine. But is it really the job of the federal government to force these values on those who don’t agree with them? I thought Republicans were against big government! I thought Republicans were against trying to baby-sit the American people. If you’re against abortion, don’t have one. If you think homosexuality is wrong, don’t marry someone of the same sex. Spread your views to others. Fine with me. Just don’t try to pass laws against it.
So anyway, I’m not against all Republicans. I wanted Dole to win, actually (I guess I’m good at picking losers). I’m just against Bush and his administration. I really don’t want a president in office who doesn’t listen to all options before proceeding, who surrounds himself only with those that agree with him. I don’t want a president who makes decisions based on prayer or by simply delegating them to his advisers. Who jumps into wars willy-nilly, getting people killed. Bush gives Republicans a bad name.
Yes, the economy is recovering. But really, presidents don’t have all that much effect on the economy, though both sides like to take credit for it when it’s doing well or lay blame at the other’s feet when it’s doing badly.
Kerry may not have been the best president in our history, but he would have been a great deal better than Bush, I’m sure. He’s a career politian, true, but couldn’t that mean that he really cares about serving our country? Bush failed at the oil game, tried politics for a while, failed at that, tried oil again, then finally came back to politics, succeeding because he has charm, a powerful father, and because so many born-again Christians blindly vote for one of their own.
Kerry may not have made our life any better in four years, but I doubt he would have made the mess of our country that Bush has. Certainly most of our lives will go on as always - 8 years of one bad president will not bring the end of the world. But I still think it’s a shame.
February 17th, 2005 at 11:58 pm
are ….. are y… are you single??