From:
"So this is Christmas, and what have we done?"---John Lennon
I haven't had much faith in our elected officials for decades, but I
always had faith in American voters. 2004 changed all that. 58
million people voted for George W. Bush. Despite the irrefutable
evidence that he lied about the reasons why we invaded Iraq...they
still voted for him. Many of my liberal and left-leaning friends and
acquaintances have made jokes, threats, and insinuations that folks
who voted for Bush are idiots, inbred morons, and from the great
unwashed South. Apparently they take their analysis from Harry
Truman, who once said, "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you
were a Republican. But I repeat myself."
Undoubtedly, there were many idiots, inbred morons, and those from the
great unwashed South who did vote for Mr. Bush, but to explain that as
the sole reason he won is too simplistic. A majority of Bush voters
knew exactly what they were voting for...and they did it anyway. They
knew that there weren't any WMDs, or high-grade uranium, mobile
chemical labs, advanced nuclear facilities, or tubes from Niger...and
yet, despite the carnage inflicted upon Iraq from America, and well
over 1000 of our armed forces killed in a war being fought for Bush,
and not to keep America free...they still voted for Bush. And that is
immoral.
So, let's review our scorecard for a moment. Of the millions who cast
their ballot for the former chief executioner from the state of Texas,
1/3 were idiots, morons, and Dixie-flag wavers, and another 1/3 voted
in favor of inflicting death and destruction upon Iraq. That leaves
another 1/3. Where do they fall in? Well, the rest of Bush's votes
came from ordinary citizens, who may or may not have voted for Dubya
in 2000. These folks can be partially forgiven in voting for the war
criminal residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They were totally
confused by the campaign...and ultimately voted for the unelected
victor of 2000 because they didn't want to change horses in
mid-stream.
And really, who can blame them for being confused. I mean, look who
their other choice was.
Senator John F. Kerry, the Democratic "challenger", believed the lies
of the Bush administration, and in 2002 voted for authorization to
invade Iraq based on those lies. Almost two years after that vote,
while at a campaign stop in Arizona, Kerry declared that had he known
the reasons for invading Iraq were a lie, he still would have voted to
go to war. Is it any wonder that many of those who punched chads,
touched monitor screens, and pulled curtain levers on for Bush on
11/2/04 did so because they saw no difference between the two
candidates? To quote Truman again,
"Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a
Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time."
And that brings us to the Democrats. I'm more disappointed in
Democratic voters than their Republican counterparts. They should
have known better, yet nearly 58 million people voted for
Republican-lite, John Kerry. Many were against the war, but they ran
scared...believing the lie of the lesser evil. Throughout 2004, my
well-meaning friends argued with me when I reminded them of the
inadequacies of Kerry and the Democratic nleadership. "But," they
insisted, "He's not Bush".
Certainly, by now, whether they are willing to admit it openly or not,
they must know deep down inside that "Anybody But Bush = Bush". The
Democratic challenger was not worthy of their votes, and yet, out of
fear, they voted for him anyway.
All the hard work of the antiwar movement, since the Fall of 2002,
went
down the drain when its followers stopped all their activity, and
devoted themselves to the candidate who wasn't Bush. Instead of
holding both candidates' feet to the fire, they gave John Kerry a free
ride. Imagine if the Democrats had nominated someone who actually
articulated ideas different from Bush. A candidate who spoke about
the
illegalities of the war, and about Abu Ghraib. Maybe, they would have
lost, but they would have built a base for future endeavors and
campaigns. Now, the Democrats are dinosaurs wallowing in the tar pit.
They spent so many millions trying to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot.
He was never a threat, or an enemy. Just think if those millions had
been used to stake out a message in opposition to the Neocons.
And alas, we come to the Greens. Let's face it, the party formed to
challenge mainstream Democrats sold out to the Democrats in 2004.
They
allowed centrist Democrats to take hold of their presidential race,
and
ran a wishy-washy campaign in "safe states". That misguided strategy
made the Green Party a non-entity. Now, the party is in tatters and
ruin...leaving their supporters in disarray and confusion. They also
knew exactly what they were doing, but they did it anyway. One can
only hope that the party can be put back together again, and become an
independent party, free from Democratic control. At this writing,
that
task seems tremendously daunting.
That so many people voted for the Tweedle-Dee-Tweedle-Dum parties in
2004 is depressing enough, but the message it sends to the world is
far
more disturbing. I have been against war since I was a child, and
fervently antiwar since my teenage years during America's military
misadventure in Vietnam...yet I always felt that the American people
could not be held accountable for those decisions. They, in good
faith, elected leaders, but then those leaders made very bad decisions
and went to war. There was always a separation between the wishes of
the American public, and those of the American government. Certainly,
the rest of the world could see that there was a distinct difference
between the average US citizen, who often protested military actions,
and the U.S. government itself. That's why I was so heartened by the
massive protests in the United States against the invasion of Iraq
prior to the pre-emptive attack of that nation. I hoped that the Arab
people would be able to discern that difference. I had faith that
they
would come to see that the American people were not their enemies. I
prayed that thousands of young men and women, who practiced the
Islamic
faith in the Middle East, would realize how wrong it was for al-Queda
to attack the World Trade Center...how it was immoral...how it
accomplished nothing...except killing thousands of innocent people,
and
causing nothing but heartbreak for their friends, families, and
America
as a whole. I imagined what it would be like speaking to a
contemporary in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and even Iraq, "See, it's not
us...it's our government...they've gone mad...please don't blame the
American people". That all ended on 11/2/04.
What kind of message is sent to the world when almost 120 million
Americans voted in favor of the invasion of Iraq, and its continued
occupation? How can we look at the rest of the people of the world,
and say, "Hey, it's not us...it's Bush...it's Kerry", when in a
national referendum, the vote for either candidate was a vote for
war...a war based on lies? My fear is that this ill-conceived war
against Iraq will be a major recruitment incentive for Islamic youth
to
join the crazed bands of their religion's fundamentalists. And, all
of
this is happening on our watch. How do we explain why we voted the
way
we did to our children, grandchildren, and generations yet to come?
"So this is Christmas, and what have we done?"
We haven't done what the namesake of the holiday would want us to do.
.
|
