Overwhelming grief

[pegkerr]

Rob, who had been watching the election returns all night, came and woke me about forty-five minutes ago and held me while I cried.

Injustice won. Now this man who has made an unprecedented power grab for the executive branch, who authorized the use of torture, who has trampled on civil rights, who has lied and lied and lied to the American people, is going to have the chance to reshape the Supreme Court for the next generation. Bigotry won. I cannot bear it that the bigot's side of the argument on a civil rights issue that I care so deeply about, gay civil rights, was what pushed conservative voters out to the polls to return this man to the White House. Stupidity won. He totally lost track of who attacked us on September 11, he has ignored the threat of North Korea and Iran, he has failed to guard the borders, he has taken us into an unjust, immoral and unnecessary war which has killed our people and a hundred thousand Iraquis, spent our resources, inflamed the world against us and multiplied our enemies a thousandfold.

And we have rewarded him by returning him to the White House.

I have never been so ashamed to be called a Christian, if people who call themselves Christian feel that they are honoring their religion by voting for him over John Kerry. I have never been so afraid and so grief-stricken for my country, no, not even after September 11, because this time we are administering the wound to ourselves.

Comments

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I remember once in an undergraduate history class my professor told us about the end of the Roman Empire, or at least the end of it in western Europe; the image that stays with me is of these academics, these well-read, cultured, thoughtful people, clinging to their books while the illiterate hoards of blood-thirsy visigoths around them burned everything in sight and swung swords around. It's such a sad image to me, these people knowing what they do, watching it all go down the drain because no one cares anymore, no one will listen to them or learn from them, no one will fill their shoes when they've gone. Standing on the brink of the abyss, into a thousand years of forgetfulness.

I'm sure that's a very bright picture for you this morning, but it seems that people who think the way you do are looking into the abyss in the US, and an abyss that just grows larger with every passing year.

[(Anonymous)]

But Bush won, so the barbarians will be held off a little longer. Though I believe our republic will continue to slide into moral decay and education of the masses will become less and less (though propped up by lots of false-self-esteem-building), it gives some hope that for now that there's an unheard majority out there who still believe in truth and decency, even if the mainstream media don't want to let it be seen.

Perhaps now that the election is over, Kerry will release his military, academic, and medical records, like President Bush did so long ago. Perhaps they'll give credit to our president for his great intelligence that's far above the IQ of the preponderance of his critics. Perhaps we will make The Federalist Papers and other great works as familiar to students as the latest Britney Spears/Madonna/Visigoth distraction?

Well, perhaps that's all bit too optimistic, but can you blame me for dreaming