I pit myself, or my country...I can't decide

The BBQ Pit
1

I have been trying all day to get a handle on my reaction to the 2004 elections. I can’t seem to sort my thoughts out at all, so pardon the incoherence. With every previous election, regardless of whether I thought my candidate had a hope of winning, there’s always been kind of a little endorphin rush for me that came with the sense of doing my civic duty, making my voice heard, etc.

I didn’t get that this year, just a sickly queasy feeling in my gut.

At first I attributed this to the fact that I was, after all, voting in Florida, recently the nation’s poster child for electioneering shenanigans, and I frankly had less than perfect faith in the integrity of the system. But I went ahead and cast my vote anyway, doubts nothwithstanding. It didn’t help.

The thing is, even during the 2000 elections and their concomitant fallout, I never felt as low as I do today. I don’t doubt the validity of the election, as I did last time. This time, it seems that the majority have indeed voted for Bush, and that’s the thing that I just can’t wrap my head around. If this administration can actually be endorsed as the preferable choice by the majority of Americans, then…

I don’t know. I keep trying to gain some kind of perspective, to see how my countrymen could possibly look around and imagine that Kerry could have done a worse job as president. I couldn’t before the election, and I still can’t. Which makes me think that perhaps it’s my own judgement that is warped somehow, and I’m just not able to percieve the arguments for Bush as sensible. Previously I could at least sort of understand the concerns of the opposing side, but I am drawing a total blank with this one, and it frightens me.

And it’s not just the presidency, of course; it seems like the elections reflect another sharp national shift to the political right, and I’m not sure what to think about that, either. I keep trying to tell myself that it’s not as critical as I imagine it to be, that the country has been in worse condition politically and has still maintained its progressive vitality. We survived Vietnam, the Cold War, the Great Depression, even a bloody civil war. Things have been worse. This is not the end, we are not about to start repealing the tradition of liberty that we are so justly proud of. It’s not the beginning of the end.

But I can’t shake that feeling off today. I keep thinking about historical turning points, the sort of events that set the tone for a generation to come, that historians later point to as being the inception point of changes that reverberated for decades. The Treaty of Versailles. The Hiroshima Bomb. And I can’t seem to help thinking that just possibly the September 11 attacks will turn out to have been the biggest of them all; where 19 evil men with boxcutters managed to kill the most powerful nation on earth, by convincing its citizens to destroy their own country.

I can’t stand feeling so ashamed of my country’s leaders. I worry that my nation has in some sense been driven insane by the events of the last four years. I worry that the condition may not be treatable at this point. I love my country, and to watch this administration at work here and overseas has been like watching a loved one whose personality has been twisted into hatefulness and spite by a brain tumor, to the point where they are practically unrecognizable.

I’ve never felt so twisted up like this. I hate myself for hating my government so much, and for having no idea what I should be doing about it. I hate myself for feeling like the act of voting is worthless at this point. I hate myself for imagining that the America I knew is already dead, and no one else has noticed yet. I hate myself for believing the worst is yet to come.

I want to be wrong, so badly. I’ve been listening to the radio…not the news, but the oldies stations, trying to feel better. I smiled a bit at that one song from Rare Earth:

“I put my faith in the people
but the people let me down
So I turn the other way
And I carry on
Anyhow.”

That’s where I want to be. I apologize for the rambling, the ranting, and the negativity. I just needed to vent today, and I’m sure there is plenty of that going on everywhere. The SDMB BBQ Pit is such a blessing, much more cathartic than primal scream therapy (I would imagine so, anyway). Thank you, Cecil Adams.

2

Hugs to you Terrifel.

You are not alone. As I am typing this Bush is making his acceptance speech on the TV downstairs. Why do the sounds of the hysterical chants filtering up to me at the computer bring the words “Nuremburg Rally” to mind?

We have already moved further to the right here, with no checks and balances left in the upper house and the queasy feeling you speak of has intensified immensely this morning with the news out of the US

3

Thank you muchly, auliya. I needed that.

Sigh. The one thing I’d find worse than other Western nations holding America in contempt would be if they were instead inspired to follow our lead. As an American, I sincerely apologize for my nation’s recent disgraceful actions. Ordinarily I would be pleased at the suggestion that other nations were being swayed by American values, but that was before I woke up in a country whose citizens tolerate a government that imprisons people indefinitely without trial and tries to justify torture. It’s like the Body Snatchers came in the night.

4

What I find disgusting is the lack of effort from the young voters. 17% of 18-29 year olds voted this year, which is exactly the same as in 2000. I think the youth of America needs to be drafted. Maybe if they get scared about their own bloody lives they’ll get off of the fucking couch and do something. :mad:

5

I’m 20 and I voted.

A drop in the bucket, I know. :frowning:

6

The youth of America will be getting off their butts and serving in the Bush Youth Corps.

7

According to what I heard today on NPR, specifically WHYY in Phila, the young vote did come out in significant numbers, and they voted for the incumbent. Make of that what you will.

8

It’s not who they voted for. The numbers on NBC news in the morning and the evening said that only 17% of 18-29 year olds voted. It didn’t say who they voted for, and to be honest I don’t care. Numbers that low are simply disgusting regardless of who or what they voted for.

9

I didn’t want to start a new thread, and I thought this was the best place to post my sadness about today.

My friend Gary is a 38 year old man who has suffered for many many years with MS. two years ago his wife gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy I’d ever seen, and as the child grew, Gary got worse, to the point where he could barely walk, hold the baby or see out of one eye. He had to give up his acting career, cancel vacations, be supervised around his child, and all of their money went to various treatments of this untreatable disease.

Many months ago, he was accepted into an experimental treatment for MS, which, in the 16 patients that have been treated, HAS CURED 100% of them for at least 4 years (that was the earliest patient, they assume they are cured for life).

Gary was treated and PRAISE EVERYTHING, he was cured. He will be able to watch his child grow up, perhaps have more children, and enjoy a long life, healthier than he began. It was a grueling process which involved the removal and ‘washing’ of all of his blood and various other horrible things involving thick tubes and solitary confinement.

The bottom line? It was all thanks to stem cells that he will be alive ten years from now. Adult AND research on embryonic stem cells.

It pains me that now, with the outcome of this election, including the Senator from Oklahoma who believes even pregnancies that could KILL THE MOTHER should not be terminated, that this research and this cure will be stopped. The cure will never reach approval, and men and women who suffer like gary will never be able to enjoy his joy at being cured.

He’s alive but weeping for everyone else today. More than angry or scared, I’m sad today. Sad at where our country is headed.

10

One should not count on the young to be enlightened, compassionate and make intelligent decisions. My husband’s college classes are full of mindless peons. They do not even understand the simple notions of the electoral college or much of anything (of course there are some exceptions). He offered an “A” to any one student who could identify a single U.S. House Bill, U.S Senate Bill, or State Bill from the previous four years and describe it and tell the class whether it passed or not. They could not do so.

11

jarbabyj, thank you for posting this. This is actually the best, most uplifting news I have heard in quite some time. A cure for MS? That’s incredible, and I can’t find the words to express my joy that your friend is doing so well. Score another one up for modern medicine! Go science! I’m sorry, MS, but this seat is taken; go to the back of the class and take your place next to polio and smallpox, please. :slight_smile:

And I have to say that I think your analysis of the current situation is too pessimistic, at least as regards medical research in general. There are plenty of other nations only too willing to take the lead in this field; the US isn’t the only player, and once an advance is made it can’t be undone.

I’d even go further than that, and say that if MS has indeed been well and truly cured using stem cell research, and the politicians here in the US continue to stonewall that research, then they are doomed. Because one thing Americans have been conditioned to accept for decades is that fighting these sorts of diseases is a truly virtuous goal. If stem cell research has resulted in such a major breakthrough, once the word gets around, I can’t imagine that it will be possible to turn the tide of opinion at that point.