Halfway down the Danube

If you're feeling lucky, now would be the time to plunk down a couple of bills on a short position in PRESIDENT.GWBUSH2004 over at Tradesports. If you're feeling lucky...

Bid/ask 95/95.5. Somebody or other must have called O-hi-o, I think.

And some of us are still hoping against hope that Kerry will prevail...

Four more years of Bush? [groan]

House, Senat, Presidency, eventually Supreme Court? Even you must admit that this can't be good, Bernard.

The dark ages have begun.

I told Doug to learn more German. I've already felt the mood swing back when we were in the States last -- as a green card holder I was treated as if I didn't have any human rights. I'll blog about it one day.

This is so depressing. I wished I could go back to bed but then I'll just lie awake, painting dark scenarios in my head...

"House, Senate, Presidency, eventually Supreme Court? Even you must admit that this can't be good, Bernard."

Hey, I wanna see the Republican party break, Claudia. I just need for the Democratic party to break _first_. Time enough to deal with the Pat Robertson's of the world once the Michael Moore's are disposed of.

You'll get plenty of enjoyment from the next round, I'm sure. :^)

Well. It's all over but the grovelling. At least things went fairly smoothly, and Bush (ack!?!) seems to have won a real majority this time, not like 2000. I just don't understand it. Am I that out of touch with most of my fellow Americans? Do I just not get it? Am I of a different species? (Don't answer that one.) I am pro-choice, pro stem cell research, feel that the environment is taking a huge beating, want small businesses to succeed far more than big corporations, want real fiscal responsibility (if we don't have the money to pay for X, then either don't do it or tighten the budget somewhere else). Not to mention education, but anti No Child Left Behind. Do you know that most of the elementary schools in my county have cut down on "non-essential activities" such as recess, music and art. For 5 and 6 year-olds? I am neither conservative nor Christian, although I am a moral person. I realize that my being pro gay marriage is not the American norm, and I'll accept that.

My government will not be representative of me. Eeek.

Natalie -- Today I want to move to California, where there are people like me.

I think America will survive. I think that we're going to be a really bad way come 2008, one that is going to take at least a decade, probably two, to really recover from.

From what I've seen, it's a victory for fear and narrow morals - the people who are afraid of non-heterosexual marriage, who think that genetic research is playing god, etc.

I really love the final news conference in The American President - there's a transcript at http://www127.pair.com/critical/food-17.htm. I just wish that the American public was more like the American public in that film.

Yes. "The Dark Ages" is not too strong a term. I find myself committing the sin of despair--and I think it's because I see the irrevocable death of *my* America in this election.

The US's slide toward theocratic totalitarianism is gaining momentum. And the endpoint I see is frighteningly reminiscent of a nuclear-armed apocalyptic Late Roman Empire.

I *hope* I'm being melodramatic, here. But I'm *afraid* I'm not.

Yes, you're being melodramatic. But hey, my guy isn't the one that just lost, so I must allow for a little bit of despair. Only fair, I suppose.

Bernard Guerrero, utterly secular Republican

This is pure curiosity and not judgmental, Bernard, but I'd like to ask you a question. Don't answer if you find it intrusive, but don't slap me. :-)

What makes you vote Republican when you are "utterly secular"? The religious tone of the Republican Party and its platform is a great deal of what scares me about them controlling the presidency, House, Senate and Supreme Court. (Not to mention I *like* checks and balances, and I'm not sure there will be any in the near future.) It would help me to understand why Bush won.

Thanks, Natalie

Natalie,

"What makes you vote Republican when you are "utterly secular"? The religious tone of the Republican Party and its platform is a great deal of what scares me about them controlling the presidency, House, Senate and Supreme Court."

The answer is twofold. I see the religious wing of the party as clearly as anybody else, but I don't really think it's very effective apart from GOTV efforts. That is, the Republican Party on a national level tends to treat the religious right in much the same manner that the national Democratic Party tends to treat minority voter blocs: a lot of rhetoric, an occaisional bone (usually near an election) and an intense hope that they'll be quiet the rest of the time. If you look at what they've actually managed to do over the last four years, for instance, it's pretty minimal. Ashcroft makes a lot of noise about pornography (a grand tilt at a windmill if ever there was one), a ban on a rarely used form of late-term abortion (immediately challenged), money for religious charities (which they tend to not want to take, anyway)? They make a lot of noise, but they never actually seem to get anywhere. Besides, I live in New York state. :^)

The gay-marriage bans might be a break with this, but I would then note that support for these actually seems to run higher than support for Bush did. The problem here is broader than one of party.

But this only explains why I'm not particularly afraid of one wing of the party. On the positive side, I suppose I have a very 19th Century view of the proper sphere for government action. Or rather, a _relatively_ 19thC view, I doubt that any real inhabitant of a "night -watchman state" would accept what I do as a matter of course.

On Nov 5th I woke up in Pleasentville. The only problem is I am in color. Here's to four more years of lies in black and white. I'll be looking for the rose.