[foltgee]

(A word of caution, this letter is written by a strong John Kerry supporter, so the information may be considered biased)

As no doubt most of you already know, the current US President, George W. Bush, has won his bid for a second term after a very close and bitter election. Those of us that voted against him are angered and fearful of the coming four years, especially since the President has expanded his influence in both Houses of Congress.

I would like to briefly explain what the heck happened on November 2nd, especially to my friends in the international community who felt that getting rid of the current President was a "no brainer", as most of us in the Northeastern part of the country felt.

What the Election of 2004 came down to was two basic issues. Do we vote for a President with our hearts, or with our heads?

Those of us who vote with our hearts attempt to look deeply into the soul of the man running for office, and ask themselves, "Is this a man that believes in the same things I do?" They approach life with a basic belief that there is "good" and "evil" in the world, and assume that "we" are the good guys, and "they" are the bad guys. They don't trust the Government, so anything said from Washington is suspect if not straight-out lies. In truth, if you asked them if they truly believed everything George Bush says, they would tell you that they only believe about 20% of what he says. After all, he did invade Iraq under false pretenses, and now over a thousand soldiers are dead, and tens of thousands of Iraqis are dead. Those who voted for Mr. Bush will not deny that. What they will insist upon is that Mr. Bush's passion for "doing the right thing" in that face of a disagreeing world is endearing. On the domestic front, they will insist that the President was protecting the values that we hold most sacred, namely marriage between a man and a woman, protection of the Right to Bear Arms, maintaining Judeo-Christian values in our public institutions, etc.

Those of us who vote with our heads attempt to gather as much of the facts as possible, and then base our votes on what we can conclude from those facts. We ask ourselves, "Which candidate will provide a better future for our country, and the rest of the world?" We try not to get bogged down with notions of "good" and "evil" believing that people are all basically good and that with hard work and compromise, a peaceful solution can be found to every problem. The problem for this group of voters was the information we were given, especially toward the end of the campaign. As the attacks each candidate leveled against each other got more and more vicious, it became harder to sort out the facts from the rhetoric, so all that was left was how people felt about each candidate, and when the American people only had their hearts to listen to, the only choice they had was to re-elect the President. You could say that we were the victims of our own outrage at the President's actions over the last four years.

In conclusion, I wish I could offer some amount of comfort to my International friends out there that President Bush will somehow learn from this contentious race and seek to find ways to build new bridges, but I don't think I can. He honestly believes that 52% of the Popular Vote is a "mandate from the masses" to continue with his radical conservative agenda now with the assistance of a stronger majority in Congress. He will continue his unilateral foreign policy in the Middle East, and back home he will run even higher deficits while pushing through an agenda imposing his radical Conservative values on all Americans. The result, I fear, will be a bankrupt theocracy of the Christian Right who will continue to cling to power simply because Americans will be too afraid of any alternatives.

I hope I'm wrong.

[foltgee]

I would like to add a quick observation from the past week in order to futher illustrate the rampant fear among American Liberals since the election.

Prior to November 2nd, it was considered "impolite" to talk politics in mixed company for fear that what we had to say might incite a bitter dialoge, which most of us would have very much wanted to avoid. In other words, unless you were either directly or indirectly connected to either campaign, you simply avoided the topic of politics. Since November 2nd, that has changed dramatically, at least in the Northeaster US, where I live.

Now is seems that everyone who supported Kerry is talking about the election. My wife & I were shopping in Philadelphia and the shop-keeper, a complete stranger, felt a need to talk to us about it for two hours! The truth is, Liberals are scared out of their minds! Despite the President's assurances that he'll "reach accross the isle" to appeal to Liberals in his second term, we're not buying it, and some of us have even gone as far as talking about fleeing to Canada!

Now these fears may calm down in the coming months, provided that the President doesn't continue to fuel them. Not since the Vietnam era have Liberals felt so frightened by their own government. Let's hope it's unjustified.

[foltgee]

Postscript: February 2, 2005

American Liberals have stopped talking among themselves again. A few vocal Democrats have voiced their opposition to the President's radical agenda of overhauling the Social Security System and the over $600 Billion budget deficit, but they are but lonely voices singing in the dark.

The "successful" elections in Iraq leaves us quietly skeptical, because we now believe nothing the President or the Media says. Even the "Liberal" press has had to tone down their criticisms of the Administration for fear that such reporting will brand them as "un-American". So instead they complain about the lavish spending at the President's second inaugural when thousands continue to suffer in aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Let's work and party a little harder, America. Hopefully it will let truth go away.

The American economy continues to erode, but the larger American public is blissfully unaware. Our infrastructure continues to crumble as needed funds are diverted to the military and tax breaks are diverted to private consumer spending at Wal-Mart. It reminds me of when Constantine the Great made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The early Christians went forth to destroy all that was not Christian, and convinced that the Book of Revelation was at hand, allowed their mighty Empire to crumble. For Rome, the fall took over a century, but then again, they didn't have the mass media and a global market to accelerate the process.

If I sound pessimistic in otherwise optimistic times, I offer my sincere apologies. I'll just keep my mouth shut. After all, that's what the rest of us are doing, isn't it?

[Lost Snail]

Unfortunatley so. Well, I'm not, but then again I'm not American (read my rant poems about it!).

[psycosis]

You can post a letter from a Kerry supporter and it will always tell a different tale than one posted by a Bush supporter but the truth is that if you think either party is a bigger liar ar less evil than the other then you are extremely naive.

I know that our society is messed up and the government leaves alot to be desired but it started a long time ago and if you think that all this was created by George W. Bush you are sadly mistaken.However, this is still one of the best countries to live in in the world. People think that just the word freedom implies free that it is free....Its not, there is always a price to pay and I dont think the price we pay is as bad as we make it out to be


I am guilty of this also....I love to rant about the government but when asked where would be a better country to live I am hard pressed to come up with one

Anyhow, enough rambling.....I enjoy reading peoples rants and I respect everyone's opinions

[Epsilonist]

Has anyone read the Green Party Platform? I'm not trying to push my political views...I'm not really even a GP member yet, but after my first time ever voting in a presidential election ended in such disappointment and anxiety, I found reading the views of the Green Party to be a restoration of hope. I did not vote for the GP candidate last fall, but I look forward to voting my conscience from here on out.