I have to admit, I have very mixed emotions about the 2004 U.S. presidential elections.
On one hand, the massive voter turnout is inspiring; inspiring for every thriving democracy in the world today. Knowing that droves of individuals made their way through, in some places, horrendous weather and waited for hours on end to place a vote and perform their duty as a member of a free society is nothing short of stirring. Being passionate about politics, in our age of cynicism is remarkable. This wasn’t for a rock concert, a major sporting affair, a Hollywood blockbuster, or similar crowd-gathering entertainment deemed as “important.” This was for politics. That stuffy, boring, stiff-necked thing with those fellers who always make promises they don’t keep. This past year motivated people enough to get out there and show the world why the United States is the greatest democracy in the world. It’s a slogan we hear a lot during the course of a lifetime, and maybe has fractured into the realm of the mindless cliché to be used by army reservists and uninspired speech writers when trying to justify one’s faith in one’s country. But it’s hard to contest such a claim when, according to the Associated Press, an estimated 117.5 to 121 million people voted, which would represent 58 to 60 percent of eligible voters. Amazing. Truly amazing. For that reason, Americans everywhere, have something to be proud about.
BUT…
I really though the last year and a half would have taught the American population a lesson. I really believed that the better majority of Americans understood that they were struggling on the bad end of a flailing economy, that they were being lied to, that the so-called war in Iraq was wholly unjustified, that terrorism was an offshoot of American intervention in the world, that true world dangers have been overlooked in exchange for personal agendas, and that civil liberties have been warped and twisted in the name of this money-making vendetta.
If Bush’s actions only affected a nicely quartered area, I wouldn’t give a flying root beer glass what happened. But everything he has done in the past two years has affected the world order and stability, planting ally against ally. I honestly thought that the better majority of Americans would have done the right thing.
I wish I could disassociate myself and come up to you all point blank and tell you “You got the president you deserve” but I can’t. I can’t break away like that. You wanted to vote on “moral issues” like stem cells, and gay marriages, but somehow you forgot the morality of killing 100 000 Iraqi people in over a year.
Somehow I thought America would want to shake itself free from the past two years. But it’s incredible what a man, wielding the power of fear in his hands, can sway people into forgetting. Fight the Axis Of Evil all you want. I deeply hope that four years from now your next president isn’t caught picking up the pieces of your shattered economy once Dubleya Chapter 2 is done. Because I’ll be right here, with the rest of the world, telling you “I told you so.”
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