November 03, 2024
This Nation Has the Government It Deserves
In the days leading up to the election, I looked at maps and polls that made me feel better. My armchair punditry was informed by a self-evident conclusion--how could anyone vote for this guy again? I couldn't fathom any other outcome. From policy choices home and abroad down to management skills, speaking skills, and personality, the choice for me and everyone around me was obvious.
What I'm refusing to think about right now--REFUSING to consider--is what his advantage in the popular vote says about America. In the past four years I've been able to swallow our little lurches to the right. Last night was a BIG FUCKING LONG JUMP. The southern democrats were dispatched. The state constitutional amendments banning gay unions were passed. Rehnquist can now choke to death in peace. Bush has gotten a stamp of approval on his doctrine of pre-emption. At this point, I can't imagine what might be waiting down the road. How could it get any worse? What plans might be cooking behind that vapid frat-boy grin? In the closing days of the election, he had nothing to say. Nothing about his own plan except TERROR TERROR TERROR. And attacks against Kerry. I think terror will be a prominent emotion these next four years. And a bitter me says to those in the I-4 corridor of Florida, those in rural Ohio who have lost their jobs under Bush's term, those in the red states that visually overwhelm our map like a hemorrage, bleeding their morals like blood into the Mississippi, who have given him a second chance simply because he appealed to their basest bigotries and most primal fears, this country only gets the government it deserves.
My 20s will now be eclipsed by the two terms of Bush. I have no idea what this means, what it meant to gay men who spent the best years of their lives under Reagan (oh yeah, they all DIED). In order to fall asleep late last night, the only consolation that had an affect was, "at least it will be good for your art..."