Yesterday was a SuperBad Day. In many ways.
Bad Things
Apart from re-electing the most divisive, incompetent, lying, dangerous administration since
Ming the Merciless took over Mongo, 11 states voted for marriage to be strictly defined as
being between a man and a woman - in other words, most definitely not between a man and a man,
or a woman and a woman. Banning gay marriage was vital to "protect the sanctity of marriage",
apparently. Presumably voting will soon take place to ban divorce, frivolous
24-hour celebrity marriages, and Las Vegas. That such a vote even took place staggers me.
That it passed just makes me even more depressed. A gay couple expressing their love for each
other does not harm your marriage in any way, unless one of them is your former spouse, lured
away by the evil gay's sneaky homo-charms.
Republicans increased their numbers in the US Senate, including such cuddly old fuddy
duddies as Tom Coburn, who believes that abortion doctors should be executed (pro-life, eh?),
and Jim DeMint, who believes that single pregnant women and homosexuals are not fit to be
schoolteachers (but apparently bigoted, narrow-minded idiots are perfectly fit to be
senators).
Bush now has another four years to mangle the constitution, give more tax cuts
and war tenders to his rich friends, and start more wars that the US can neither afford nor get
out of cleanly. To all those offering historical comparisons, and so on - puhlease...
Bush is not FDR. Saddam is not Hitler. FDR didn't support Hitler, help
him get started off, and sell him weapons and gas chambers to kill Jews with. FDR didn't start
off with a huge budget surplus, and turn it into a massive deficit - he inherited a terrible
economy, and turned it around, doing a lot of good work. FDR believed in peace, in working with
the world to eliminate poverty and war - Bush believes that would be giving into terrorists.
Nobody blamed FDR for Pearl Harbor, because he didn't spend 3 years using it in speeches and
campaign adverts as proof that he was keeping the country safe. Bush and company completely
ignored quite specific warnings about 9/11. FDR didn't attack someone else altogether for no
reason, those countries were working together in the war, and were quite clear about it. And the
Japanese internment was as wrong then as Guantanamo Bay is now. The differences between World
War 2 and the Iraq war are so staggeringly huge, I'm insulted that you would even try to justify
it that way. "Ooh, this situation sounds a bit like that other one, if you phrase it properly -
therefore it is exactly the same." Sure it is.
Kerry conceded, despite promising that every single vote would be counted. I
realise it was highly probably that he would have lost Ohio anyway. But I wanted all the votes
counted. He promised they would all be counted. After Florida in 2000, we all expected all the
votes to be counted. You let them pressure you into conceding. Shame on you.
There was only a 10% turnout of 18-24 year olds eligible to vote. Fair enough, I guess the
election doesn't affect you either way, right? Right. Have fun in Iraq, kids. Watch out
for those 380 tons of explosives that were stolen thanks to the administration's lack of
foresight. By the way, good job on spinning that one - first they weren't there, then they were,
then the Russians took them, then Saddam hid them, then they were never there, then they were
but we took them, now they're saying that the place was overrun with looters. Another week, and
nobody will remember the story at all.
I gave up on politics yesterday. After everything that's happened - all the lies and corruption
that have been exposed, after two wars, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, the torture (or abuse),
ignoring all the warning signs of 9/11, the stonewalling of the 9/11 commission, the
god-complex, the surplus that became the largest annual deficit in US history, the millions of
jobs lost, the Patriot Act, the WMD lies, the over 1000 troops killed and the cut in pay for
veterans and active troops, the 10-15,000 Iraqi casualties, the "bring it on", the laws amending
the constitution, even after looking and acting like a shaved monkey in the debates compared to
Kerry - Bush still got the majority vote. Barring voting-machine fraud on a massive
scale, of course, which I'm not ruling out, but something tells me that no, lots of people
didn't care about any of that unpleasant stuff, they just went and voted for the man who would
protect the sanctity of their marriage from the evil gays, or genuinely believed he would keep
them safe from terrorists, or believed he was the stronger leader. I'm amazed that anyone would
want him staggering through the Oval Office, representing their country, I really am. So I've
had enough. I want nothing more to do with political protests or activism. There's clearly no
point. The bad guys win, the innocent keep getting killed, and nobody gives a damn about the
ordinary people of the world. You want Bush in charge? Fine. Happy birthday. I'd say "on your
heads be it", but most of you didn't even vote for him, and anyway, it'll be on all of our
heads, really. So, to those of you who voted for Bush - thanks. Thanks a lot.
Come to think of it, I've lost any enthusiasm for voting, too. Here in the UK, it's Labour or
nothing. The Tories are the same as Labour, only more incompetent. The
Liberal Democrats will never, ever get in. Neither will anyone else. Labour seems to be a
carbon copy of the Tories. I find myself in arguments with strong right wingers here, who are
defending Blair and his policies. That's all wrong. I'm supposed to be defending the looney left
and their unrealistic naive promises, you're supposed to be justifying the evil right and their
warmongering, privatising, bloated agendas. It's all gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Good Things
The stem cell initiative passed in California - $3 billion of funding for something that
could help cure diseases. A very, very Good Thing.
There was a massive voter turnout. Still way below what it should be, but it was higher than
it's been since 1968. It didn't go the way I wanted, but at least a hell of a lot more people
came out to vote.
The turnout was still lower than it should be - reports say turnout was 70-80%. If it was 75%,
then effectively, only 37.5% of all registered voters voted for Bush. Taking into account the
number of people who are of voting age but did not register, the figure drops even lower. Same
goes for Kerry, of course, but Bush cannot in any way claim to have won in a landslide. Bush got
59,108,395 votes (as of Wednesday 3rd 2004). Yes, it was more than any president in history -
but Kerry got 55,554,114 votes, which is also more votes than any president in history.
Just think about that. John Kerry got more votes than any president in history. It doesn't feel
like such a loss that way.
At least it's over. And the catbox, hopefully, will have a lot less election talk. I'm sorry if
I contribute to more of it, but hey, some of you can't help making fools of yourselves, and
sometimes I just have to jump in (and will probably continue to do so). But for now, you can go
back to the boobies/monkey chat, or simply talk incessantly about yourself if that's your
particular thing.
Bush and company will now have to clean up their own mess. Whatever happens in the next four
years, they can't blame it on Clinton anymore, whether it's the war or the
economy or whatever. And they will most definitely have to clean it up. Even they can't leave
Iraq in ruins for another four years, and surely our soldiers will be coming home sometime
before then. Also, it would be quite nice if Bin Laden - the guy responsible
for 9/11, let's not forget, and not Saddam Hussein - was captured and tried in public. Although
Bush said he doesn't really care about him anymore, so that may not happen. And let's not forget
all the unpleasant, unpopular stuff that's been pushed back or won't be ready until after the
election, which will all start coming out in the wash - a CIA report on 9/11 that apparently
names names, which was written in June but suppressed; the Valerie Plame investigation; the
Abu Ghraib court martials; more tax cuts for the rich; the no-bid contracts for Halliburton and
their ilk; possibly a draft - it's all starting to unravel. And I will greatly enjoy watching
their faces as they try to lie their way out of all of this. Because a day will come when they
just can't wriggle their way out of it, it'll all get too big to plausibly deny. And on that
day, we'll be coming for them, with handcuffs and eviction notices.
And last, but by no means least, Barack Obama became a senator. If I have any hope left for
American politics, it lies in the heart of this man.