goodbye liberal democracy

A freind from Florida emailed me this eloquent and passionate response to the election result.


"John Kerry has lost, and my worst fears are realized. As an American, it is quite simply beyond my comprehension that 53 million fellow citizans saw fit to re-elect George Bush. It was difficult enough to understand how he was elected the first time, but I can conceive of the convenience of voting along party lines, however arbitrary the selection of your chosen party may be, or perhaps genuine hope or sheer ignorance of an untested candidate. But after four years of the most blatant disregard of domestic freedoms and liberties, the most glaring atrocities committed abroad and a conscious and utterly sincere contempt for anyone who holds a belief different from your own, I simply can not fathom that so many tens of millions of people agree with those decisions. How can so many millions not be outraged? Are they even paying attention?
But with Bush's re-election, it is not simply a victory of an ideology. The Republican party has gained seats in both the House and the Senate, and are only 3 senators away from having an uncontestable majority, where they would possess a 3/5 majority and can pass ANY legislation they desire, rendering oppossition hopelessly impotent. One of our Supreme Court justices is on his deathbed, and two others are in their mid-eighties. At present the Court is divided 5-4 on most issues, but with the almost certain turnover of 3 justices, all 3 branches of power will have become evangelically conservative.
What may be even more chilling was the passage of a referendum to actually rewrite the constitution in 11 states explicity declaring that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, and the outright prohibition of civil unions and any benefits that go along with it. That means that a homosexual couple cannot share life insurance, possess no visitation rights to see a partner in a hospital, cannot even have joint custody of an adopted child. And the votes weren't even close. In Georgia, like in most states, the referendem passed with almost an 80% majority. In Oklahoma, it was 90 %. Nine out of ten people in clear conscience steadfastly deny such a basic and humane right. I truly did not believe that my country was this deeply bigoted and cruel.
And that, to me, is what lies at the core- plain meanness and cruely. They speak of family values. I don't even know what the fuck that means. Tell me , just what the fuck are you talking about. You say you value family? Whose fucking family? The homosexual family whose rights you have just taken away. The families in Iraq and Palastine and all across the globe whom you have just bombed the fuck out of, or the families of the working poor who have no access to welfare or to healthcare.
And perhaps what is most ominous is that this time, after all that has passed, Bush and the Republican party has actually strengthened. More people, not less, believe that this is the way things should be. This is when the realization starts to set in. I say that I can't comprehend that so many millions, the majority, in fact, decided that Bush should be re-elected. But ultiamtely,the undenieable truth is that they agree with him. It is not that they were mislead about the war in Iraq, they heartily support the bombing and the massacres of people whose language they don't understand, whose color is different from their own, no different from the gooks before them. They take comfort in knowing that fundamental human rights have now been taken from homosexuals. It makes them feel good.
And I look around, with the knowledge that so many millions and millions believe these things, and I am consumed with blind rage. And it is no exageration to say that the worst has not yet come."

I am now going to the library to borrow lots of comics and regress further into the comforting realms of fantasy.