Still reeling

[gwyn]

Just to clarify some of what I said yesterday about how fearful I am of the path my country has taken in this election: I'm not going quietly into that bad nightmare. I have no intention of letting right-wing zealots and bigots take my country away from me, especially when the lessons of this kind of thing are already there in front of us. I refuse to stand by and allow people to pretend that our often miserable history is meaningless, and allow us to repeat our mistakes. I grew up in a politically active conservative family, but my parents worked for very progressive causes. My dad was, at almost 80 years old, out every single day this summer getting signatures for an initiative on our state ballot. I learned from my folks that even if you get nowhere, you have to take that first step.

And I believe people have every right to feel as angry and scared and betrayed as they want to, and lecturing, holier-than-thou posts from others aren't going to help them get past it. For a lot of us, this isn't about Kerry, but about the terrible precedents being set in many states, and the candidates who won Congressional offices. Part of the process is being angry, and pedantic posts telling people that of *course* they were going to have their rights stripped away in state after state was to be expected, grow up you silly things is maybe not the best way to communicate with people who are angry and in shock.

What concerns me most, oddly, is the moderate Republicans, which used to mean my parents, actually. Yesterday my office-mate defended her straight Republican voting to me by saying that she voted for Bush only because of the tax thing and she wants government off people's backs, but she thinks he's a moron. Which, considering the Patriot Act and its shameful stripping away of our basic freedoms, whatever. But she kept saying that she would never support those anti-gay marriage bills, or any other kind of hate-based law, and blah blah. And I thought, well, that's great. But you know what? You voted into office again a man who has spent the past year trying to change our Constitution because of his hate, and as a smokescreen for his failure to protect and lead this country. You voted into office evil people who will continue to expand this fight. And now you will sit back and do nothing, because your candidate won, and now you can kick back and wait for your tax break to come in. You have no reason to do anything more. Are you going to fight from within to change your party from right-wing nutjob Christians only to one that encompasses actual thinking and caring people? Are you going to try to make the Republican party not one of hate and fear? Are you going to effect change so that you stand for something more than bigotry and tax breaks? No, of course not. You got what you wanted. And that's what scares me the most -- the moderates claim they don't support most of the Republican agenda, and yet they will not stand up and try to do something to change that agenda. That's why I'm ashamed of my country. The Democrats may be fucked up, but you know what? At least they keep trying, even though they do the wrong thing a lot of the time.

I find it odd that the all the Bushies who whined about a possible nightmare future under Kerry are now the ones talking about "healing" the divisiveness in this country. What a joke. Of course they're the ones talking about healing, they got what they wanted: four more years of the fuckwit who MADE the terrible rifts in this country in the first place. The irony, though, is lost on them as they reach out with their false concern. It's easy to be the ones talking about healing, isn't it, when you got what you wanted, and now the rest of us have to suffer with your beliefs. To the victor go the spoils, though -- as well as the right to condescendingly talk about "healing."

And for those who need a bit of good news, darkrhiannon had this wonderful note at http://www.livejournal.com/users/darkrhiannon/114470.html

And now I'm back on to fanfic and fandom, because politics is making me sick to my stomach, literally. I have to read about it all day at work, and then it's everywhere else. I want to take refuge in my crzay alternate realities now. And people fucking like bunnies, especially same-sex people who flout all the anti-gay hate laws.

Comments

[fishsanwitt]

GREAT post Gwyn!

[ac-hum.livejournal.com]

>And I believe people have every right to feel as angry and >scared and betrayed as they want to, and lecturing, >holier-than-thou posts from others aren't going to help them >get past it. For a lot of us, this isn't about Kerry, but >about the terrible precedents being set in many states, and >the candidates who won Congressional offices. Part of the >process is being angry, and pedantic posts telling people >that of *course* they were going to have their rights >stripped away in state after state was to be expected, grow >up you silly things is not maybe not the best way to >communicate with people who are angry and in shock.

Thank you for this. The election results may not be the end of the world, but they are deeply disturbing and shock and outrage are completely normal. It may not be pretty, but it is not out of the ordinary for the situation.

[superplin.livejournal.com]

But she kept saying that she would never support those anti-gay marriage bills, or any other kind of hate-based law, and blah blah. And I thought, well, that's great. But you know what? You voted into office again a man who has spent the past year trying to change our Constitution because of his hate, and as a smokescreen for his failure to protect and lead this country. You voted into office evil people who will continue to expand this fight. And now you will sit back and do nothing, because your candidate won, and now you can kick back and wait for your tax break to come in. You have no reason to do anything more.

You have articulated perfectly a serious concern of mine. I think there are lots of valid points in the "classic" (not the current) Republican stance on fiscal and domestic/international policies, points that can and should be productively debated. Those are good reasons to vote for one party vs. another, and I can completely respect someone who holds those values and makes those decisions, even when I disagree.

The real problem comes when the same group that (historically, though not presently) supports a certain basic set of economic and political principles also begins to incorporate "moral" issues, ones that reflect values I personally find abhorrent. I can respect people who believe in lower taxes, but what do you do when in order to get those taxes they have to also accept the rest of the package?

I don't know. It scares me, because this is where the real polarization lies.

[elina.livejournal.com]

I posted the text of the Dallas Morning News' article on Lupe's election here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/elina/1138789.html) in my LJ. I'm so proud of my county!

[klia.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Religious zealots should *not* be running the country. Period. The frightening thing is that this is happening all over the world, but elsewhere the fanatics are Muslim, not Christian. Oh, the irony.

[dkfeatherstone.livejournal.com]

Thanks Gwyn for this post and your November 3rd post. It helps just seeing the words that prove that I am not alone in my feelings. I live in Dallas Texas and it sometimes feels like I am living on a hell mouth, politically speaking, since Bush is from this state.

I sometimes think my vote is useless here, but I vote anyway.

Re Lupe, at least my vote did count for something.