It has been almost one year since I first thought about creating my own online journal. It has taken me that long to build up the courage to do so (I've had more than one person steal my ideas in the past). Four days ago, November 2, 2004, I still didn't have the courage. On November 3, the indescribable disappointment and disgust that I felt (still feel) toward half of my fellow Americans has given me far more than enough courage to do so. So, here you have it, my very first online journal entry.
If this editorial makes me seem excessively angry, keep in mind that it's nothing compared to how I felt in the two or three days after the election, not to mention the past year and a half. I reserve my truly angry language for those times that I am alone and shouting at the TV news (most of the time).
No Sympathy
I have no sympathy for people who make incredibly unintelligent and/or self-righteous decisions when there is extremely compelling evidence warning them not to do so. On November 2, half of my fellow Americans voted to reelect a pyromaniac as CEO of this giant fireworks factory that we live in. I am very happy to say that I will not feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for them when their decision blows up in their faces (and their simple-minded illusions are shattered). Of course, their decision will blow up in my face too, but I cannot help that.
Even though Bush (the aforementioned pyromaniac) will definitely be out of office by January 2009 (at the very latest), his meddling with the environment, the Supreme Court and the Constitution will be felt for decades (or even centuries?) to come. Sadly, those are disasters that cannot be fixed as soon as he leaves office.
However...
For those of us who recognize insanity, incompetence and deceitfulness when we see them, there are several bright sides to this nightmare -- if you can bring yourself to look at it in certain ways. I know it isn't easy, but it is better than total doom and gloom. Consider them for yourselves:
Certain Way 1; The Scene of the Crime
If a criminal remains at the scene of the crime for too long, there is a much greater likelihood that he is going to get caught "in the act" (take your pick of "acts"). Eight years is one heck of a long time for such a deceitful and incompetent president and his accomplices to remain at the scene of this particular crime without bungling at least once and getting caught in a way that leaves no doubt as to their guilt, a guilt that cannot be covered up or ignored by a republican congress. I don't know about the rest of you, but thoughts like that are better than motivational tapes for me (actually, I hate motivational tapes).
Unrealistic, you say? Maybe. But remember that President Nixon was reelected in a landslide in 1972, carrying 49 of 50 states. Less than two years later, he was forced to resign in disgrace.
Oh yeah... Luckily, Vice President Agnew was forced to resign a year before President Nixon. History would definitely have to repeat itself here too; otherwise, none of these bright sides will be worth the powder to blow them up.
Certain Way 2; Living With His Own Disasters
Bush now has four more years in which to face the consequences of the disasters he has wrought in Iraq, in taxation, in the budget and trade deficits, in supporting outsourcing, etc. If Kerry had won the election, then those consequences would have been blamed on him. Evangelical "hill folk" and other self-righteous conservatives would have shouted, "If Bush hadn't been defeated, everything would have worked according to plan!!" As a result, in 2008, they would have caused history to repeat itself again by electing another Bush-like conservative (maybe even Bush himself again) to replace Kerry; and democrats would have been in even greater disfavor than they are now. In short, we need to let those people who voted for Bush (especially those seemingly amoral moderates who probably helped to put him over the top) experience him to full effect, so that they can get him out of their systems, once and for all. Taking him away from them before they have grown disillusioned with him would only have made them want him (or someone like him) even more than they do now.
An analogy: All of us know at least one young person who has fallen in love with the most worthless person that he or she could ever have found. No amount of parental reasoning will convince him or her not to marry that worthless person. At some point, those parents realize that their child is going to have to learn the truth the hard way, by living it; so they back off, painful as that may be, and let fate run its course. And, true to form, their child almost always wises up, but only after having survived under the most trying of circumstances.
I strongly hope that in 2008 (and well beyond), the majority of those moderate Bush voters (those amoral people who rewarded this self-righteous, incompetent person with a second term) will think a lot harder and longer before they ever trust another Bush-like republican again. I, for one, will revel in their disillusionment, even as I rub their noses in it (yes, I believe in civil, courteous behavior -- far more than most people -- but not with people who gave the green light to such a terrible president).
Wishful thinking? I have no idea; but that's what looking on the bright side is all about
Certain Way 3; Conservative Utopians Unchecked
As stated above, there is now an even greater republican majority in congress. For the past two years, the combination of a republican president and a republican congress has resulted in unchecked spending, combined with big tax breaks for the wealthy and insignificant tax breaks for the middle class (the government is spending more, even though it is earning less). Can you imagine what all those greedy republican "kids" are going to do in the government candy store now that they have received "a mandate" from the American people? In addition, they will now get a rare opportunity to put their conservative, utopian economic theories to the test. Those theories will most likely leave tens of millions of Americans (especially the seniors, who voted for Bush in the greatest numbers) without adequate social-security and medical benefits, and the rest of us with a severely weakened infrastructure. The Bush administration, contrary to popular thought, has already weakened our military infrastructure by privatizing large portions of it (Haliburton is doing what would originally have been done by the military itself, and doing it with less-than-stellar results; but Cheney's company is sure getting rich, eh?).
If the government's bills come due in the next four years, and there is no money left to pay them off, our fearless leader will have to consider either bankrupting the government or else taxing low- and middle-income Americans to death (he will never tax his wealthy friends, since he owes his political soul, as well as that giant federal debt, to them).
Some of the evangelical "hill folk" might ask, "Where are those 'liberal, overspending' democrats in all of this? I'll bet they're to blame."
Clearer minds will reply to them, "Why, they're sitting safely on the sidelines, watching the liberal-bashing conservatives spending borrowed money like there is no tomorrow! Can you believe that? And, what's more, you and your wealthy, conservative allies cannot blame them for any of this mess you voted for! Congratulations."
And the conservatives' economic utopian theory will finally be disproven, once and for all (at least for one or two generations). We may have to suffer in the meantime, but it will be worth it.
In Conclusion
See? There you have at least three different bright sides to this nightmare. And to think that people have always told me I'm a pessimist (actually, I am -- in some ways --, but I think it's genetic, not voluntary).
Will any or all of my predictions come to pass? I don't know, but I do know that I accurately predicted all of the mistakes made by Bush in his first four years in office (no, that's not bragging, since predicting his mistakes doesn't require a degree in rocket science).
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