The moral issues I was referring to here are ones related to God, abortion, gay rights, etc. and all amendments and laws passed regarding them. That is, people who voted for Bush because he would appoint pro-life justices, or because he's a fundamentalist, or because he's against civil unions and all forms of non-traditional marriage. All of those issues are strongly antithetical to my beliefs (and yours, as far as I know), so I'm somewhat confused-- unless you're separating the people in power from the issues they believe in that elected them, which I'm not sure can be done. I can't fault people for voting their fears, but I personally believe that we're *less* safe under Bush rather than more. That's a difference of opinion in force versus conflict resolution that stretches far beyond American politics, but seems to always be part of the undercurrent. I wish people would look more critically at what causes our country to be vulnerable to terrorism. It's not a lack of missiles or troops or hard-nosed military resolve, that's for sure. Anyway, that's what I meant when I said I felt powerless to help (or dissuade) that opinion. I think where I find myself hanging is on that feeling that the "majority of the people" literally DON'T agree with me. Certainly the rhetoric is not helpful, and I agree that it (and the two-party system) does divide unnecessarily, but in 2000 and today, 50% or more Americans voted consciously for Bush. I can't believe that most of them were tricked into doing so by rhetoric. I would hazard that most of them truly believe the same things Bush does. Either that, or they're all stupid spineless nothings with a Voter Registration Card. I'm really not sure which option is more depressing.
I don't want to give up because of this. And I likely won't. But Mom just left me a message this morning saying her second interview was successful and that I need to call her. I can take no more punches to my reality at this point, and I'm sure that's a large reason why I can't process this productively and move on. I've been asked to process too many Wrong things productively, and I'm going to be asked, quite soon, to process another one. I have no resources to be a good citizen at this point, so I think I will abdicate in favor of the prevailing optimism. It's probably the right thing to do... I just can't do it.
no subject
I can't fault people for voting their fears, but I personally believe that we're *less* safe under Bush rather than more. That's a difference of opinion in force versus conflict resolution that stretches far beyond American politics, but seems to always be part of the undercurrent. I wish people would look more critically at what causes our country to be vulnerable to terrorism. It's not a lack of missiles or troops or hard-nosed military resolve, that's for sure. Anyway, that's what I meant when I said I felt powerless to help (or dissuade) that opinion.
I think where I find myself hanging is on that feeling that the "majority of the people" literally DON'T agree with me. Certainly the rhetoric is not helpful, and I agree that it (and the two-party system) does divide unnecessarily, but in 2000 and today, 50% or more Americans voted consciously for Bush. I can't believe that most of them were tricked into doing so by rhetoric. I would hazard that most of them truly believe the same things Bush does. Either that, or they're all stupid spineless nothings with a Voter Registration Card. I'm really not sure which option is more depressing.
I don't want to give up because of this. And I likely won't. But Mom just left me a message this morning saying her second interview was successful and that I need to call her. I can take no more punches to my reality at this point, and I'm sure that's a large reason why I can't process this productively and move on. I've been asked to process too many Wrong things productively, and I'm going to be asked, quite soon, to process another one. I have no resources to be a good citizen at this point, so I think I will abdicate in favor of the prevailing optimism. It's probably the right thing to do... I just can't do it.