Election 2004

After the debacle in 2000, many of us believed Bush “stole” the election and finagled his way into the seat of power. That led to some hard feelings, and the criticism since then has been visceral to say the least. While I am no fan of the President’s policies, I have to admit I’ve been embarrassed by the anti-Bush community. Notice I didn’t say the Democratic Party. I don’t consider the two categories to be synonymous, but by now I’m sure a lot of people do.

I believe in equal rights for all individuals, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. I believe in secular government, sex education and environmentalism. I believe patriotism does not demand blind faith in leadership. These things, and a dislike for Country music, prevent me from being Republican. When Bush says he acted because God spoke to him I cringe and fear for our future. However. . .

In the last few months I’ve seen ads comparing Bush to a chimp, Hitler and a Special Olympian. Such comparisons are meant to be derisive, I suppose. They are hateful and pointless, undermining the Left and send sensible moderates running into the arms of the Republican Party. If we want to turn things around, we should focus on policy rather than personal attacks. The Civil Rights movement didn’t make inroads by attacking Whites. Gays haven’t earned mainstream tolerance (acceptance hasn’t come yet) by bashing straights. What are we trying to accomplish through ridicule? Whatever it was, it didn’t work.

When did “Liberal” become a bad word? Conservatives stand up and proudly proclaim themselves to be conservative. Call a politician a Liberal and he’ll bob and weave. It seems to me we should start by cleaning up the word “Liberal,” if that’s possible. Maybe it’s not; maybe the word’s too politically charged to be of any use. Maybe it’s time to come up with a new term.

The polls are closed, the votes are (mostly) counted. Four more years. This time, Bush won the popular election. Yes, it was very close. But he won. We can be mad we lost. We can learn lessons and take positive steps towards change. Or we can throw rocks and eventually go the way of the Whigs.