Wednesday, November 03, 2004
A couple of observations. First, I think this election shows that the United States has passed its peak. We are on the downhill slide, slipping down that slope faster and faster. I look at the future- more and more jobs outsourced overseas and the subsequent shrinking of the middle class; fewer people with health insurance, pensions, and the ability to buy affordable housing; the triumph of the irrational and unscientific- none of these things bode well for this country. I see a future of Walmarts and dirty skies and metal detectors and Under Gods.
Secondly, I feel alienated from my fellow citizens. The passage of anti-gay laws I guess wasn’t a surprise, but the number of people who placed “moral issues” as the main reason they voted was. These moral issues were more important than terrorism or the economy. More important, that’s pretty stunning. And so now the president will be placing people on the Supreme Court who view me as something second class, something obnoxious and hateful because I want what Britney and Rush and Liz Taylor have had over and over again. In Nazi Germany the first repressive laws against the Jews were the marriage laws, followed shortly thereafter by property and inheritance laws. History has a tendency to repeat itself in broad, inexact strokes.
Lastly, I surprise myself by the feeling of hatred I feel for those people running this country. An unhealthy hatred I must admit. Now I never cared for Reagan or the first Bush, but then I never felt threatened personally by them. At this moment I worry about my life in very basic terms and I place the blame for this on the people running the show. It surprises me because I’ve made a point of not focusing on hate, that was something my father did. And now the blind rage I feel consumes me.
I wonder whether there will be a time in the future when I think, “I should have left when I could.” Isn’t that a strange thing to worry about?
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Secondly, I feel alienated from my fellow citizens. The passage of anti-gay laws I guess wasn’t a surprise, but the number of people who placed “moral issues” as the main reason they voted was. These moral issues were more important than terrorism or the economy. More important, that’s pretty stunning. And so now the president will be placing people on the Supreme Court who view me as something second class, something obnoxious and hateful because I want what Britney and Rush and Liz Taylor have had over and over again. In Nazi Germany the first repressive laws against the Jews were the marriage laws, followed shortly thereafter by property and inheritance laws. History has a tendency to repeat itself in broad, inexact strokes.
Lastly, I surprise myself by the feeling of hatred I feel for those people running this country. An unhealthy hatred I must admit. Now I never cared for Reagan or the first Bush, but then I never felt threatened personally by them. At this moment I worry about my life in very basic terms and I place the blame for this on the people running the show. It surprises me because I’ve made a point of not focusing on hate, that was something my father did. And now the blind rage I feel consumes me.
I wonder whether there will be a time in the future when I think, “I should have left when I could.” Isn’t that a strange thing to worry about?
