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If you're not for Bush, you're French ... or al Qaeda
John Kerry is a totally typical candidate.
He is remarkably rich, boring as hell, and he seems to be a man of no particular character, with no particular beliefs.
There’s no evidence that he has any sincere interest in keeping his campaign promises, or any honest concern about average Americans.
In short, Kerry is an absolutely typical politician.
He is pure “politics as usual,” the living embodiment of a yawn.
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by Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News
Aug. 27, 2004
Up to and including Bush vs Gore in 2000, there have always been plausible reasons for average, well-informed Americans to support or oppose either major-party candidate in any presidential election.
We've always been pretty much non-partisan, or anti-partisan, or bored silly. Reagan vs Mondale? Clinton vs Dole? We barely cared. We’ve never seen a standard-bearer from either party who seemed worth supporting (or worth opposing) with real enthusiasm.
Until now. But this election is different from any election we've seen before.
John Kerry is a totally typical candidate. He is remarkably rich, boring as hell, and he seems to be a man of no particular character, with no particular beliefs. There’s no evidence that he has any sincere interest in keeping his campaign promises, or any honest concern about average Americans. In short, Kerry is an absolutely typical politician. He is pure “politics as usual,” the living embodiment of a yawn.
George W. Bush is terrifying. Virtually every policy his administration has pursued has reduced civil rights, punctured America’s international stature, endangered national security, loosened oversight of giant corporations, jeopardized people's health and lives, weakened the economy, and made life worse and death come quicker for all but the very richest Americans. He believes in the apocalypse and seems to want it now.
This election will decide a vitally important question that neither candidate will ask -- whether Americans really believe in "liberty and justice for all."
If he were in the employ of Osama bin Laden, Bush could not stand more opposed to basic American principles -- freedom of expression, separation of church and state, open and honest government, the Bill of Rights, and Constitutional constraints on presidential powers.
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George W. Bush is terrifying.
Virtually every policy his admini-stration has pursued has reduced civil rights, punctured America’s international stature, endangered national security, loosened oversight of giant corporations, jeopardized people's health and lives, weakened the economy, and made life worse and death come quicker for all but the very richest Americans.
He believes in the apocalypse and seems to want it now.
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The ballot will simply list Kerry and Bush. But the choice is between “boring” and “tyranny.”
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Simply put, a vote for Bush is a vote against the very concept of America.
Yet amazingly, heartbreakingly, polls report that Americans are split pretty much evenly. About half of Americans want Bush to be “re”-elected.
Half the American public is unable to recognize a coup followed by four years of treason. Half of Americans support the Bush-Cheney foreign policy of death, and domestic policies best described as robber-baronism. Millions of flag-waving people, calling themselves patriots, are happy to be led by fear and falsehoods.
Who are these people? Well, we've been engaging strangers and acquaintances in conversation about Bush for months. We're always polite and soft-spoken, we never interrupt, and we try to honestly hear what Bush-supporters are saying. And it's appalling.
They admire Bush because he's a Christian (my ass) or because he's decisive (facts won't change his mind) or because he's tough (though my grandma could kick his ass).
They honestly, fervently believe true Americans should shut up and support the president: "Well, 'free speech' is all fine and good, but we're at war."
They know that huge stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction were discovered in Iraq (which is, of course, untrue).
They tell us that any Iraqis who were tortured deserved it, and anyone who has a problem with that probably deserves to be tortured too.
"Geneva Convention, my ass."
"We ought to nuke Baghdad" seems to be a common sentiment.
"If you're not for Bush, you're French ... or al Qaeda."
Those quotes are exact quotes. The arguments cited are the arguments we've heard. We're not making this crap up. These are the Americans who plan to vote for Bush-Cheney, and there are lots of them.
As a general rule, we try to refrain from broad, sweeping generalizations, and hypothetically, there may be supporters of Bush-Cheney who aren't bastards or retards. But we haven't come across any. From what we've seen, almost all of Bush's support comes from people with a Dukes of Hazard view of current events.
So the 2004 presidential election will be a test of America’s famously underfunded and mismanaged public education system. Has it graduated enough voting adults with no ability to think clearly, that national elections can be won solely on "Swift Boat" lies and Karl Rove smears, while actual issues are completely ignored?
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"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part.
"You've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you've got to make it stop.
"You've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."
--Mario Savio
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Half the American public is unable to recognize a coup followed by four years of treason.
Half of Americans support the Bush-Cheney foreign policy of death, and domestic policies best described as robber-baronism.
Millions of flag-waving people, calling themselves patriots, are happy to be led by fear and falsehoods.
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Will Americans care only about such crazy questions as whether John Kerry “earned” his silly war medals thirty years ago, or the often-asked but completely idiotic question of which candidate the “average American” would rather have a beer with?
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As if either candidate would voluntarily spend five minutes with any average American, without cameras rolling and clicking. That's a laugh.
But it's really not funny. It's dreadfully important.
The vast majority of Americans call themselves Christians. And half of them support a man who calls himself a Christian, but works against every principle of Christianity. Is there any way to reach the consciences of such “Christians”?
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Virtually all Americans consider themselves patriots. And half are proud to see American soldiers killed for nothing.
Questioning this war, or any war, is basically blasphemy to these people. Is there any way to make such “patriots” give a damn about their country, their soldiers, often their own loved ones?
Bush describes himself as a “compassionate conservative,” and his supporters applaud. But will their compassion ever be seen? Already tens of thousands of non-terrorists, non-soldiers, just ordinary men, women, and children have been killed by Bush’s foreign policy. The number could easily reach into the hundreds of thousands if Bush gets another four years. Is there any number of foreigners killed for their own so-called “liberation,” in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bush-only-knows where else, that might eventually seem “too many”?
It might be fun to drive that souped-up red Charger from Dukes of Hazzard, but Luke and Bo are not on the ballot. It's not about rooting against Boss Hog. This is for real.
In this election, “we the people” will decide between Kerry's boring “politics as usual” and the Bush administration’s politics of utter destruction. We will decide whether or not this nation deserves the freedoms bestowed upon us by generations of American soldiers, statesmen and women, and activists.
When (or if) the votes are counted, we will know the answer.
© 2004, by the author.
What do you think?
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