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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Well, America, what the hell did you THINK you were voting for?
Posted by Jill | 6:29 AM
Maybe when you voted for George W. Bush in 2000, you were tired of the Clinton scandals and just wanted something new. Maybe you had doubts about George the Son, but figured it'd be OK because the old man would really be running things. Maybe you didn't even vote because you believed all the media crap about Al Gore being a pussy and a liar -- and you figured OK, it'll be bad, but we survived the Reagan years, how bad can this be?

You'd be irresponsible if you thought any of those things, but OK. But when you voted to keep this assclown in office in 2004, America, you should have known enough to realize that what little was left of your country and your future after four years would be destroyed at an ever-accelerating rate by this bunch.

And now you're waking up:

With congressional midterm elections less than four months away, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that candidates will be facing a public that has grown increasingly pessimistic, as nearly two-thirds don't believe life for their children's generation will be better than it has been for them, and nearly 60 percent are doubtful the Iraq war will come to a successful conclusion.

And there's more pessimism: Among those who believe the nation is headed on the wrong track, more than 80 percent say it's part of a longer-term decline.

According to the poll, 65 percent say they feel less confident that life for their children's generation will be better than it was for them. In December 2001, the last time this question was asked, respondents — by a 49-42 percent margin — said they were confident life would be better for their children.

In addition, only 27 percent think the country is headed in the right direction, while 58 percent say they are less confident the Iraq war will come to a successful conclusion.

And among those who believe that the nation is headed on the wrong track, a whopping 81 percent believe it's part of a longer-term decline and that things won't get better for some time. Just 12 percent think the problems are short-term blips.


So what do you think when you tuck your kids in at night, America? Do you think about the dirty air they're going to breathe, the water full of heavy metals they're going to drink, the menial jobs they're going to be working because all the high-paying jobs have been offshored to low-cost countries? Do you look around at the McMansion in which you live -- the one with the media room and the private bathroom for every child and more SUVs in the garage than you have drivers -- and wonder how they're going to adjust to a world in which they can't even afford a modest house? Do you look back on the time you went to the Caribbean and went snorkeling on a coral reef and marvelled at the huge diversity of life on that reef -- and think about how your children will never be able to see that diversity of live because that reef will be gone? Do you think about how you can hop in the car and drive wherever you want to, and your kids won't be able to do that because even if gasoline is readily available, it will be prohibitively expensive -- and we will still be dependent on gasoline because of Republican refusal to fund research into alternative fuels, instead plowing money into war and tax cuts for CEOs?

Is the reality of what you voted for in 2000 and 2004 finally hitting you, America?

Your wall of denial is finally starting to crumble, despite your best efforts to hang onto the myth that George W. Bush is a good man, an honest man, who has the best interests of the country at heart. It's crumbling despite your best efforts to believe that Republicans really, really want to welcome you into their rich-guys club, that if you just keep them in office, someday you too will be that rich CEO with the $6000 shower curtain. It's crumbling despite your deep-seated need to believe that a president would never gin up a fake reason to send Americans to war; your understandable need to believe that he is trying to keep your kids safe from terrorists instead of the reality that he's making the world a MORE dangerous place. You're beginning to realize that he WANTS you to be afraid, because he and the men around him don't want a free nation, they WANT one in which a frightened population accepts constant government surveillance of their every move so they can "feel safe." You're beginning to realize that this country's foreign policy has been taken over by religious nuts who WANT a worldwide conflagration, because they think they're going to be sitting on the sofa with Jesus and a big bowl of popcorn watching the heathen get their come-uppance.

Look at your children. Do you want them to die because of a president's religious delusions? Do YOU believe in the Rapture? Even if you do, look at your children again and ask yourself if you want to take that chance rather than giving them the long and happy life that you should want for them?

It's so tempting to smack you in the head with a frying pan, America, because I knew all these things about this bunch six years ago, and all it would have taken would have been just a TINY amount of curiosity, a TINY amount of reading, for you to realize who we were dealing with here. But OK, I understand, you were too busy taking the kids to soccer practice, and keeping them fed, and going to work every day, and fielding the calls from your mom whose health gets worse every day. But you were also too busy watching Oprah talk about Brad and Jennifer's divorce, and voting on American Idol to get the information that would have allowed you to make an intelligent decision in a voting booth in 2004 -- one that would have mattered a hell of a lot more to your children than which mediocre pop singer won a recording contract.

It's tempting, but I'm putting down the frying pan now. I'm not going to smack you. Because you still have a chance, however small it may be, given the craven nature of the entrenched Democrats in Washington, to stop the Bush Administration's relentless march towards a kind of fascistic monarchy; to stop their lust for endless war; to put a stop once and for all to George W. Bush's demented notion that he is God's Anointed Instrument of the End Times. Step up to the plate, America. Stop this the madness of this Admininstration, and demand that the opposition act like one. Because if you don't step up now, it'll be too late to save the futures of your children.
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