(no subject)

[kelly_chambliss]

Everyone should go read Seema's open letter to America. I'm impressed by its thoughtfulness, eloquence, and moderation.  I agree with it (well, maybe not with the "rationalization" part), but I could not have written anything like it.  I'm so devastated and hopeless and furious that I can't be rational about the the Bush election yet, if ever.  (No, Kerry would not have been a panacea; he's a rich, conservative white man himself.  But he's bright and reasonable and progressive; at least he had the potential to restore America.)

I'm in melodramatic mode, I know, but I see nothing facing us in the next four years but a fascist military-police state run by a self-righteous bigot of borderline intelligence who thinks he's been chosen by God, and I can't stand it.  Yeah, I'm being self-righteous myself, but at least I don't want to make other people live their lives the way I say they should.   I just want a country that will allow people to live as they see fit.   I used to think that's what America was about.  I feel like an idiot -- what a naive fool I've been, believing that my beloved country actually stood for religious and personal freedom, independence, tolerance, liberty and justice for all.   It terrifies me that so many of my fellow-citizens -- over 55 million of them, most of them good, well-meaning people -- apparently prefer some other America entirely.

Comments

[seemag.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your lovely comments, Kelly, much appreciated. I'm just as in despair as you are, I cannot even begin to express my utter sadness. Maybe it says everything when my French professor yesterday just gave me a hug instead of her usual, "Bonjour, Seema!" She was just as overwhelmed as I was.

I've realized that when all is said and done, I'll have spent about 30 percent of my life under Bush rule of one kind of another (I'm not counting le pere, because while I didn't agree with his politics, I always respected the man). I am so unbelievably pessimistic about the next four years. In 2008, we're just going to have to work all that much harder to get our country back from this right-wing religious agenda.

[nandamai]

I liked Seema's letter. Thanks for the link.

For all of the issues I have with Kerry -- and I have a lot; as a constituent, I've been thoroughly pissed off by his swing to the right for the presidential run, and have been telling him so constantly -- I feel like, if he had won, at least he would have understood that 55 million people thoroughly disagreed with him. That is, I don't think he would have governed as if he had the right to speak for everybody.

Bush, of course, will. We've seen this for the past four years. And I have a sick feeling that that smug smile of his is only going to get worse, because as far as I can tell, it really is just a game for him. Winning the presidency is, I think, on the same level for him as getting an invite to Skull & Bones.

And I remain utterly flabbergasted that for a very slight majority of this country's citizens, dictating other people's morals is more important than foreign policy and our kids dying in Iraq. What the fuck is wrong with us?

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

What depresses me is that there'll be another Australian election in three years. And that will be marked by another Bush-appointed US Ambassador interfering in the process, accusing us of being anti-American or (better yet) un-American, and generally making the process more difficult.

Also depressing is the article (written by a Republican) that referred to the election as "a Democrats coup". Um ... that's what's called democracy. Gloating isn't cool.

*sigh*