Divided States of America

BOREDOM ALERT: THIS IS MORE OR LESS THE SAME AS THE LAST POST ONLY MORE RATIONAL AND WITHOUT ALL THE "FUCK"S AND "COCKSUCKER"S AND WHATNOT

The real zinger in this election was of course John Kerry getting served by five million votes in the presidential election, with George W. Bush getting the most votes of any president in the last 30 years. But more telling were the elections for Senate and Congress, where the Republicans not only maintained their majority, but expanded upon it, unseating Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota and prevailing in many more less publicized, but equally crucial races. The president, and his right-wing, vaguely Christian, nü-moralist following now have a mandate in this country: a Republican Congress, a Republican Senate, and soon a Republican Supreme Court, coupled with the constitutional amendments passed in 11 states outlawing gay marriage means Americas main concern these days seems to be what they hear every Sunday, and I’m not talking about John Madden. America has seemingly reached a new moral pinnacle (or low point, depending) fueled mainly by the rise in non-denominational, fast-food churches dishing out moral morsels for mass consumption. Though politics and religion have always had an unspoken, if not tenuous union, the American people made it clear in this election that they, above all else, want a president who does right by the religious right, and who will shape his policy and cabinet accordingly. The seperation of church and state has seemingly taken a backseat to the seperation of man and man, through thinly-veiled actions to “save the sanctity of marriage.” Saving the lives of those being killed everyday in Iraq, both on our side and theirs, is obviously less of a priority than saving the lives of the unborn, via the soon-to-be waged battle over Roe v. Wade coming to a Supreme Court near you. Conversely, actually taking care of those same lives once they’re born is also seemingly less important to the majority of Americans than financing more death abroad. Interesting conundrums, to say the least. Americans seem to want their cake and eat it too. As President Bush has so often said about his tax cuts, he favors letting “people keep more of their own money,” that they should have the right to spend what they earn however they see fit, an idea that seems to resonate with the majority of Americans. However, this confidence in Americans’ financial acumen is offset by a lack of faith in their ability to set their own moral compass. And America has wholeheartedly agreed: “don’t tell us what to buy, but please tell us how to think!” At this point, you, the reader, might be feeling a bit of disconnect. You are, indeed, an American (or at least someone here for awhile). But you don’t feel like all that much a fundamentalist Christian. You probably even go to church, but you still don’t quite understand how the election turned out this way: no one you know voted for President Bush, except for your uncle in Gridley and your dormmate from Fullerton. How, you are wondering did this happen? How can your America be so different from theirs? If nothing else, last week’s election solidified a slowly percolating notion among those with a nose for the news, that America is in the grips of an intellectual civil war. As California, its western comrades become increasingly liberal, and the far east coast seem to grow incrementally more liberal, Middle America and the South have reacted by growing increasingly conservative. But even within this seemingly straightforward division are complicated macrocosms of ideological conflict. My current home, Chico, for example, is served by staunchly Republican state legislators, but loyally liberal US Senators. And though California overwhelmingly supported John Kerry in the election, we recalled our Democratic governor in favor of a Republican, Arnold Schwartzenegger, who then throws his support in favor of the recently passed embryonic stem cell research proposition, a slap in the face of the moral majority. And though the margin of victory for President appears rather decisive, especially in light of record turnout in some states. the fact remains that among 18-24 year olds, turnout remained the same. For all the talk about “Vote or Die,” and for all their anti-Bush rhetoric, it seems like the youth of America was too busy with their livejournals and hair-dye to bother voting. Though President Bush won the election fair and square, the notion of a unified, single-minded America has never been more of illusion than at present. One hopes that fundamentalist visions of an American theocracy can be tempered by compromising conservatives, who can see that legislating morality takes America on the bullet train to Taliban City. But who knows? Crazy shit happens. The Terminator is our governor. The most publically despised president in recent memory wins re-election by a landslide. The Boston Red Sox won the world series. Who knows what the fuck’s going to happen next?