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Part 128: The Election Campaign:
November 8, 2004:
The election has been over for a while. It's time to take a hard look at the insanity we call a political campaign and election. The rules say George Bush has won. If so, he may be the only winner. Democracy has not won. The American people have sure not won. The country is more divided now that it has ever been in its history. Hate, fear, and bigotry confront us on every side. Now both of those divisive turds are talking about healing the country. What blatant hypocrisy. George is mush-mouthing about earning the support of the opposition voters. Then his buffoons are talking about an election mandate. Is a 2% margin really a mandate?
The grossness of this election is just another example of why we need Groundswell. We need it to make the needed far reaching changes in how our government operates. Each election has been worse than the previous one. This has been the most swinish divisive election in American history. There was hatred, meanness, and outright lies from everyone involved. The great melting pot has gone bad. It is moldy. It stinks!
The estimates range from four to five billion bucks that was
wasted on this insanity. Wealth is not a personal asset or a means
to personal power. The proper use of wealth is a responsibility.
To urinate it away in swinish political campaigns is beyond evil.
If this grossness does not convince most of the populace we need
a change, nothing will. Think what could have been done. That
squandered money could have provided warm clothing and new shoes
for every desperate kid in America. Instead, most of it went into
th coffers of Madison Avenue.
I suppose we deserve what we have. We are wallowing rabble. We do not care one bit about our grandchildren or even our children. If we did, we would change this flow of emotional sewage for all time. We would repudiate our entire election system and both of the political parties. We would repudiate the candidates and all of their evil greed and power lust. We would despise every politician in America. They are swine. The rabble are also mostly swine. Integrity is completely gone. This is what will continue without Groundswell.
The rules say Kerry lost. Well Kerry has no one but himself to blame. Bush was already in the gutter. Observing the way he takes to it we might surmise he was born there. Kerry, instead of taking the high ground that was left open to him, chose to slide down into the gutter with Bush. In so doing he forfeited that small intellectual vote that might have carried him to victory. Those people probably did not vote at all, and who could blame them? Who could blame them?
Instead of telling us about himself and what he stood for and what he wanted for America, Kerry made his campaign about Bush. Of course, Bush made his campaign about Kerry. Instead of appealing to the hope and nobility of the people, Bush pandered to the fear and bigotry of the rabble. Instead of appealing to the hope and nobility of the voters, Kerry pandered to the selfishness and fear of the rabble. This is exactly the opposite of what we should expect of two honorable gentlemen. Neither of these men is honorable. They have demonstrated that.
I once said people will choose fascist stability over uncertain democracy. I believe they have just done that. What else will that bring? I think we can expect a newer and more repressive Patriot Act. We can expect Ashcroft's thugs to be out in force. We can expect a renewal of the anti Arab activities. Midnight knocks on the door will become more common. Overseas we can expect more vigorous support of Sharon's failed policies in the Middle east. If things settle down it Iraq we can also expect an invasion of Iran. And, for sure, to bring that off, we can expect a call for a military draft. None of this is new or revolutionary. These are just extrapolations of the ongoing Bush policies. It is what has already been happening.
However, four more years of Bush and the gang of four is not the worst thing to come out of this election. I speak of the so called evangelical Christian activities. A huge wave of religious bigotry is sweeping this country and it will carry everything before it. Leading the charge is the biggest religious bigot of all, our president, George Bush. The hallmark of fanaticism of any kind is the inability to leave other people alone. Their position is so fragile and vulnerable they must force everyone to agree with them. That is a result of the subconscious knowledge that their position is logically indefensible.
Consequently, at the urging of Bush and his right wing republicans the rabble in Ohio, Michigan, and several other states have passed a referendum for an amendment to outlaw gay relationships. The Ohio one is the most bigoted and far reaching of the lot. It excludes all human relationships including common law marriage between a man and a woman. We can expect this to become the model for the whole country. We can recall when Hitler drove some really talented people out of Germany with the same kind of narrow minded bigotry. Because of that, it is possible all of the thoughtful creative people of America may finally end up in Europe or Canada.
We are entering upon an era of unprecedented pseudo religious fascism in America. No one will be safe from these men of "God." In the election people voted and thought they were voting their values. They though they knew what they were doing. In a very narrow conscious sense, they did know. As we said they were voting their values. But, as Mrs. Gaffer pointed out, in a deeper sense, they had no concept of the monster they were unleashing. That Genie has been kept pretty much in the bottle since the dark ages ended. Now he is being released. The cork is out and putting it back quickly will be impossible.
Once released this tide of religious fundamentalist based hatred and bigotry must run its course just as it once did in the dark ages. These fundamentalists are all pretty much like George Bush. They hate intellects and avoid any intellectual activity. They don't bother to read so they don't know. None of them have any sense of history whatsoever. They know nothing of the dark ages or what really happened then. That part of man's psyche has been suppressed in Western civilization for a long time.
The Renaissance men, at great personal risk and sacrifice, put that genie in a bottle but they did not kill him. He has been smoldering and gathering strength for centuries. Now, like an erupting volcano, he is exploding into the human consciousness again. These so called evangelical Christians have no sense of the monstrous evil they are unleashing. They think they control him and will be safe from him. They are wrong. No human being is safe from that monster once he is unleashed. This I believe.
There is one possible good that might come out of all of this. If we survive the next four years, a great number of people, having been witness to what their stupidity caused may realize how terribly wrong they were. The ones who thought they were voting their values will have a chance to observe first hand the monster they have unleashed upon their neighbors. Especially the people who could have gone either way will realize the magnitude of their failure to discriminate. They could then turn it around. The common name for this phenomena is backlash.
The danger is, they may be powerless to act. Their acting requires first that we survive the next four years. It also requires that we remain a democracy. The more power these evil people get, the harder it will be to restore our basic principle and the rule of law in America. It is possible we will soon not have the power to do it. Let us hope it remains possible.
Four years from now, Groundswell might have its opportunity. If Groundswell can't get off the ground, the burden will fall to the democratic party. They will be the last hope for recovery. They say they are beginning a self examination. For all the good it did, they went through that four years ago. They say they want to broaden the parties appeal. I'll wait and see. I don't have much hope.
If they want to do any good, they must go back to being the
party of Truman and Kennedy, the party of the people the party
of integrity. They must begin to say and do what is right regardless
of the consequences. That is ethical. Nothing else is. They must
stop pandering to the cowardice, fear, and greed of the rabble.
They must appeal to their hope and nobility. They must demand
honesty and decency from them. They must also set the example
of honesty and decency. That is the most important thing they
have abdicated, the responsibility for being the true role model.
If Kerry did one useful thing it is that he demonstrated that
failure.
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