My post-election rant
I considered responding to various posts individually, but by this point I’m seeing some trends, so I figure I should just add my perspective here and let you pick and choose what may or may not apply to you.
Anyone who knows me personally has inevitably heard me say that people are stupid. Little secret: I don’t enjoy it. I don’t like being the token cynic, the group’s “curmudgeonâ€, the bitter old man in cargo pants and a Gap t-shirt. About two weeks ago, I had a little dream/idea. I thought that what Kerry really needed was to unload a 30-second music video/ad, backed my 10,000 Maniacs’ “These Are Daysâ€. In that 30 seconds were clips of Kerry with a sense of humor, Kerry rallying union workers, Kerry in town hall meetings. It was a projection of a leader who could bring hope and a future without fear. But no. There was one anti-negative ad, but that was about it. It still resorted to scare ads about why the other guy is the worst possible person for the Oval.
Now, that hope is trounced. It’s easy to be bitter, pissed off and pessimistic, and I’m seeing a lot of people picking up that sword that I know so well. Part of me wants to pick up that sword, too. However, something everyone should consider is, this is what we get. As my Dad said to me yesterday, whatever happens to the people in this country, they fucking deserve it. It still boggles my mind that 59 million people are that naïve, ignorant, misled, or brainwashed. But they are, and they’ll get theirs, despite the fact that they probably won’t even know it when it hits them. On the other side, Kerry read the writing on the walls yesterday morning. Problem is, we the people don’t see many of the walls that he sees, and he gave up “earlyâ€. We invested all of our hope into one guy, and in the final seconds of a knockdown dragout that he was losing, he threw in the towel. That’s what we get, too, for putting our stock into that one person.
Now for a little perspective. I’ve seen a few people suggest that the fight’s just begun, or that we’re slowly engaging into a sort of civil war. Bullfuckingshit. This specific “fight†began four years ago. Welcome to the party. Kerry joined it two years ago. Face it: the Republicans beat the Democrats at their own game and mobilized the vote. Wave a sign in front of the White House all you want, but the adminstration still won’t give a shit, because they don’t need to. As far as I’m concerned, this “fight†can only improve with the addition of a 30.06.
Nov. 2 was just one battle in a long war. It was initiated by a war machine that goes back to a day when Joe McCarthy started a reign of terror and hired some thugs to general for him, notably a vice-president named Nixon and a California governor named Reagan. Both of those cocksmacks served double terms, and whoever worked for them and didn’t go to Club Fed now works in the West Wing. The silver lining is that McCarthy had his Murrow, Nixon had his Watergate, and Reagan (though he used his teflon superpowers to mostly escape it) had his Iran-Contra. Moral of the story? The price of leading by fear is falling by hubris. If we should put stock in anyone, it’s that someone in the media makes it past those afraid of the witch hunters. But don’t think that this fight is just now starting.
For those who think that the Democrats need some reform… um, duh? Now you know why I’m an Independent. Don’t get me wrong; I really grew to like Kerry. A lot. I think he was the best Democratic candidate since RFK, even better if you consider that Kerry can survive bullets. But the Dems have always been a limp and fractious group at best. What united them this year was Dubya.
What really pisses me off is that the “center†point is now on the far right side. W. is the norm, and he convinced the majority that Kerry is a flaming, waffling liberal. If Kerry is a liberal, that makes me a radical anarchist, or depending on whom you voted for, a terrorist. By European standards, I’m politically moderate, maybe even conservative, but in the land of the free, I’m a freak. In a perfect world, the Dems would make that point, and bring some Republicans to their side to show what moderate really is. That’s the best that the Dems can do, but it’ll never happen, because the Reps know all about party loyalty. McCain is the model Republican, not Bush, but you didn’t see him taking issue playing follow the leader at the RNC.
I’m glad people are starting to realize that the two-party system is what really fucked us in the end. Problem is, the Democratic party is made of little groups, and the Republicans unite behind a solild banner and keep their infighting behind closed doors. It reminds me of 18th century rules of war, when two armies would line up and walk forward, shooting muskets point blank at each other. Last army standing won. It was a coin toss victory, just like our voting system. Whoever had the most numbers was typically the victor. Just like our voting system. Worked well for the Brits, until some crazy American said, “fuck this standing in an open field shit. I’m hiding behind that tree.â€
I don’t know how to translate that into real politics, but that’s what needs to be done. You can’t go head to head against these people. They have the money, the army, and the numbers. They have proved that you can’t win the old fashioned way. I’m not saying do something illegal. I’m not calling for assassinations and riots (though I still think the latter would do this country a good venting.) But don’t put your stock in one man. Don’t put it in one party for that matter. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. If we can’t win by the rules, change the rules. Use your head. Be realistic. Don’t be surprised when all the vehement, crying and irate motherfuckers forget about this next week, because they’re too excited to see who some talentless, plastic looking, lip-synching twat married.
Don’t forget how pissed off you are. Don’t forget your hope either. Just don’t let one dominate the other. You are up against 59 million fuckheads, but almost all of them are really, really stupid. Sit down for a minute. Lick your wounds. Drink a beer. Think. Acknowledge that you’re an underdog, get used to being kicked in the groin, and do what our founders did: change the rules and get subversive.
