ELECTION 2004
November 15, 2004
Let's face it, the election was dismal. Could fifty-seven-million voters be wrong? Well, as a matter of fact, I think they could, and so do at least fifty-four-million others. I fear the worst. I mentioned it before. We're living in a country that supported the television show Hee Haw for twenty years. That fact alone pretty much sums it up for me.
I truly don't hold much hope. Republicans typically don't give a damn about people. If they have their way, and it looks like they will with control of both the Senate and the House, by the end of the next four years I'd be very surprised if we hadn't taken some dramatic steps toward becoming little more than another third-world nation. The gap between the rich and the poor will surely widen causing the country to be even more divided. The obtuse, homophobic, conservatives will continue to obsess over their fears of turning queer. (I can't think of any other reason they'd care so much about whether two people of the same sex would want to marry each other. It's a variation of that argument against legalizing drugs; you know, the one that holds that if we would, the number of drug addicts would skyrocket.) The deepest cut of all will be felt when the moron in residence gets a conservative judge or two added to the Supreme Court. Basically, the evangelical christians and gun-toting rednecks (along with corporate America) are running the country. These are not the kind of people who have vision, and...
There is a good explanation for why they have no vision. They're conservative! Just think about it. It's not rocket science. The word conservative means exactly what it suggests. Conservative types, like evangelical christians and gun-toting rednecks, are followers. They embrace the customs and traditions handed to them virtually without question. They don't truly think for themselves. If they did, they wouldn't be evangelical christians and gun-toting rednecks. If they had the chutzpah (the "balls" in more common vernacular), they'd take the package of religious beliefs which their parents handed to them and throw it in the trash. We are a slave to what we believe. Most evangelical/fundamentalist christians don't really have a religion. The religion has them. If you are chained by a set of religious beliefs, well...what can I say? You are chained by a set of religious beliefs! It means you lack the power to escape your constraints. You are a follower. And as long as you insist on holding on to your religious chains you will always be a follower. And last time I checked, followers do not have vision. They're too busy milling around in the crowd with all the other followers.
On balance, however, I must say that there was one bright spot in the election. We now have fourteen women senators and one black. I have argued for years that it should be a law that the Senate and the House be truly representative of the population. Half the Senate should be women and approximately twenty-five percent minorities. Same with the House. And it shouldn't be a matter of "should." It should be the law. Now there is a constitutional amendment worthy of the name and everyone's support.
We also need to do something about the fact that the poor and middle class are not able to serve in these high offices because they can't afford it. Somehow, that doesn't seem like a good enough reason. I went over this idea in my book, Tao, An Enduring Ancient Wisdom. I proposed as a possible solution to the problems of running this country, the implementation of some kind of system that would ensure that the poor be enabled to acquire positions in the legislative branches of government. The current process simply forbids their participation and thus true representation. You have to be virtually rich to run for office. The system seems to require it. What's wrong with this picture? You shouldn't have to be rich to run for a public office, simply worthy. And that worthiness should be based on your citizenship, age and willingness to serve, not on whether or not you have enough money to run a campaign, or certain qualifications the powers that be might ordain, qualifications designed to keep their own kind in office. I don't even believe a criminal record should be a factor in someone's right to obtain a public office. The crimes, remember (Crime 9/24/04), are created by the laws in place, many of which wouldn't even be in place had different people been in the legislative positions that manufactured them. If the Republicans had their way, it would very likely be a crime to be poor.
Of course I don't believe that any measures that might enable the impoverished to serve in public office will ever be implemented as long as Republicans are in charge. And they'll do it all in the name of freedom. It's their favorite smoke screen to hide behind. I view them as the greatest abusers of freedom because of the way they manipulate it.