You vs. You

Here's a radical statement: I really don't think that Bush and Co. took the election under the majority that everyone is saying they did. Now I don't mean they didn't win by a literal majority, they did, a rather large one in fact. What I mean is that the pundit assessments that the election was won because the moral heart of the country spoke, becasue the majority of Americans share Bush's beliefs and outlook is misguided and I'll tell you why.

What Bush and Rove did startlingly well is to pit us against ourselves. That is the true lesson of this election and of his presidency in general, his response to 9/11, his war in Iraq, his tax policies, his foreign policy (world alienation), his proposed marriage amendment, his cheap moral facade, all of it. All we need to do is translate their Orwellian statement about him, "Bush is a uniter not a divider", translation: He is a divider by design, that is what he does. That is how he wins. Look at the reality he created, the rich vs. the poor, "liberals" vs. "conservatives", "Support our Troops" vs. "Bring our Troops Home", Us vs. Them, Old Europe vs. New Europe, and on and on and on. This is a very, very bad way to lead a free people, although it may be an excellent way to control them.

Seen on Slashdot: "Make no mistake, 1% of our population makes all the food we need and a small percent more is needed to make our housing. Everything else is just gravy. There's plenty of wealth to go around, and it's not even that rich bastards want it all to themselves. It's more complex than that. It's about power. It's about playing the rest of the poor dumb saps off each other so the Bushs and the Haliburtons of the world can continue to trick the people at large into giving them everything they want."

Families have been split over the gay issue or the abortion issue, spurred on to attack one another's religious conviction (just read the greater Ernste family mailing list between Chuck , Rich, Dad, etc, or look at the Catholics against Kerry). Americans have been sicked on one another, spurred on to attack one another's patriotism. Veterans have attacked other veterans over a war that was already a sore spot for America. And perhaps the worst one of all and most relevant to this election, the poor are made to choose between their morality and their economic interests. That's right, rural voters are being pitted against themselves by this administration. What conceivable motivation could the poor have for voting for oil-weathly corporate pricks who may just send their kids to fight his personal wars? And that, my friends, is what the truth is behind this election's "moral majority". Give an honest man a live-or-die choice between his morality and his pocketbook and he will choose his morality (note the word "honest", there are certainly those who would choose their pocketbook).

Come on, people, doesn't this all feel sort of like an evangelical housecall (don't get the door!)? Just like evangelicals, these guys will say anything to convice you they're right, even if they have to tell you that your non-beliver family is going to Hell. Like every good fundamentalist there is no comporimise, there is no discussion. And they have to think of everything as right, no mistakes because in their black/white world the only other option is "wrong", there is no grey area, no nuance, no discussion, no secondary viewpoint, nothing to evaluate, just success or failure.

But it doesn't have to be this way. It's a false dilemma, just like every other question Bush creates for himself, just like the fundamentalist faith he embraces. It was not "bomb Iraq or American's will die here at home", it just wasn't, false, bad leadership, wrong, -10 points. In reality it was probably closer to "bomb Iraq and American's will die in Iraq, as will thousands of innocent civilians, as will our good will with the world, etc, etc, but we will get Saddam out". American's do not have to choose. There is no culture war between gays and straight people, we were just beginning to get along ("not that there's anything wrong with that!"). One group's marriages will not affect the others, straight married life will go on and gay couples may just lead happy lives and raise happy children and show us all what commitment means by not divorcing every five minutes (I personally have 1 acquaintance who is still married out of a dozen or so who "tried").

So in these dark years ahead, please DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!. When Bush or one of his clan starts doing it again, starts pitting you against your sons and brothers and uncles and children and friends, don't buy it, it's a cheap sucker punch. You do not have to choose between gays getting to marry and your religion, gays don't care about your religion (what has religion ever given them but grief?). You don't have to choose between being a patriot and opposing the war, those who seek peace always transcend such nonsense. And most important to the people you know who voted for Bush, tell them they do not have to choose between their morality and their family savings, between God at the table and food at the table.