Election results

I guess it's time I addressed the catalyst for the creation of this blog, which is of course the re-election of George W. Bush. There's a lot of vitriol flying about, and plenty of soul-searching on the part of Democrats as to why Americans would prefer him over anyone else. I've certainly done my share. Until yesterday, this is a man who is a quintessential example of failing upward. He failed in the oil business, he failed as owner of the Texas Rangers (the list goes on, but I'll stop here), but throughout it all he has exuded an appalling sense of entitlement. His father pulled strings for him whenever it was necessary and possible, and he got pretty much whatever he wanted, right up to his first term as President. The only thing he's been consistently successful at is politics, so chew on that all you politician-hating conservatives. This is a man who had the power to stay a woman's execution and save her life, and mocked her for begging him to do so. I don't know if she deserved to be executed or not, but to behave in such a way is the opposite of Christian.

I don't believe people who voted for Bush are stupid, or ignorant, or even necessarily uninformed. But they were lied to by him and his administration, and they voted for him anyway. Maybe they said to themselves, he's a politician and all politicians lie, but he's better than the other guy. Just because I don't agree with them doesn't make them fools, or imperialists, or anti-America. But I would ask them to look at what he and his administration have done over the last four years, and ask themselves if they really believe he's done a good job. He has the Congress on his side, the Supreme Court on his side, and holds the highest office in the country. Yet we're facing the biggest deficits in history, the most dangerous world climate in history with the fewest allies, and a deteriorating global environment.

I believe people voted for many reasons this year, but based on the evidence my feeling is people voted out of fear. They feared that they, the country, even the world would either be worse off with Kerry than it has been with Bush, or that four more years of Bush would be worse than anything Kerry could do. The difference between the two is we already know how Bush handles the office, and it isn't pretty. When someones says Kerry would do this, that, or the other, it's only speculation. I for one was voting out of hope that he could do better.