Clear? Crystal.

At some point last night, I saw Barack Obama say, on television, that the American people are not an ideological people. He said they were a practical people. I don't know what America he was talking about, but I wish I lived in it. Certainly, we were told resoundingly last night that this was not the case here.

Ideologues are frightening, of whatever stripe. They cannot be reasoned with through logic, they are not pragmatic, they do not look after their own best interests. That is who we are living among. It is not even the fact that the Democrats lost both the house and the senate last night that concerns me, it is the manner in which it happened. People do not care about scandals, or stupidity, or bigotry. People last night emphatically voted against their own economic interests. The majority of Americans voted for the religious right, because of 'social issues'. Because they wanted to support a 'wartime president'. Because they think that gay people, brown people, liberal people, non-American people are sub-human. Those are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed.

I want to live in a nation of practical people. I do. They might be evil, I might disagree with their policies. But at least I would understand them. It would make sense in my head.

The Republicans have figured out, (or genuinely believe, which in my opinion would be worse) that by espousing the ideals of the Religious Right, they can sweep the board. They get the centrists, and the 'moral majority'. The Democrats have not been able to do so, despite their move to the center and their attempts to woo the religious which continue to alienate true leftists. I see one of two things happening in the near future. Either the Democrats will have to join the 'moral majority' even more publicly and vocally then they have already. Or they will continue to be shunted off to an increasingly thinner border on the (slightly more) cosmopolitan coasts of the country. Either way, we lose.

I am not going to make any large statements about leaving the country: it would be ridiculous melodramatic grandstanding. But understand, it is not out of any patriotic alignment, or feeling that we need to heal the wounds, or any faith in the democratic system. What this election has further confirmed for me is that I do not know this country at all, besides the small corners in which I live, and the small groups of people I know personally. The rest of the country is apparently full of ignorant backwoods bigoted cretins, and apathetic assholes. This was always my fear, and it was proven to me last night. And I suppose that means they deserve what they get, though I am truly sorry that they are dragging us along for the ride. Last night I was filled with outrage, this morning I am cold.

I am not leaving the country - it would not be practical. I am staying here, in my city (which is not nearly as frightening as the rest of the country, admittedly), in my life. I will go to school, I will study, I will see my friends. If the situation deteriorates significantly, I will of course rethink. But till then, I'm staying right here. Those of us who care for one another, will look after each other with compassion and support. That will have to be enough, because it was made obvious last night that no one else will.

(no subject)

Wallow In Chaos, And Laugh
A pro-Bush outcome and one enormous bitter pill and you without your vodka
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

Oh dear God please not again.
Oh dear God please don't let it be all convoluted and depressing and messy and stupid and please don't let it all embarrass us on an international level all over again even more than it already has and even more than it already is and even more than we've endured lo these past four debilitating and soul-crushing years. Hello? Please? Is it already too late?

Why yes, yes it is.

And lo and behold, it was apparently another completely tortuous and entirely knotted presidential election, unfinished until the wee hours and reeking of E-voting suspicion and exit-poll miscalculaton and it all came down to, what? Ohio? Are you serious? What a thing.

And now Kerry's conceded and the white flag has been raised and we are headed toward the utterly appalling notion of another four years of Bush and another Republican stranglehold of Congress and repeated GOP chants of "More War in '04!"

...
Maybe, in fact, we're regressing, back to the days of guns and sexism and pre-emptive violence, of environmental abuse and no rights for women and a sincere hatred of gays and foreigners and minorities. Sound familiar? It should: It's the modern GOP platform.


Read the rest of the article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/11/03/notes110304.DTL

Things heard outside my window this morning

"I'm so disappointed, I think I'm going to die".

"What are we going to do?!"

People crying - like, literally sobbing in the street.

do NOT tell me it doesn't matter

I am an unhealthy person dependant on prescription drugs in a country that doesn't give a shit about healthcare. I am a person of colour in a country of people who support lynchings, metaphoric or otherwise. I am a queer person in a country run by the religious right. I am a woman in a country that wants to deny my right to birth control. I am a middle-class person in a country who gives increasingly less support to anyone who's not a millionaire. I am a person who will need social security in a country whose deficit is so huge that when it comes my turn, they will have probably gotten rid of the institution. I live in a metropolis, when the fate of the country is determined by the rural ignorant uneducated church-going populace. I attend a public university in a country that does nothing for education.

It matters. This is my life.

To clarify:

I feel I must add, that when I said that I, personally, would not leave the country or discuss doing so, I meant at the present time. My life is still far too deeply rooted here for me to think of moving. So, for me to claim that I was leaving, would be ridiculous and melodramatic for me. I think it's a perfectly rational response for other people who have a more fluid situation at the moment.

And while I always thought that I would settle in NYC for the rest of my days, I am re-thinking that. I doubt that I will want to stay for longer than I have to in this jingoistic place.