Life After the Vote

So here we are into the end of February and it’s time again for me to express myself and offer up my 2 cents. It’s been awhile since I wrote anything and no, I haven’t moved to Canada I just needed some real time to process what this country decided back in November.

I have come to realize that Bush won the election and is now our President again, that he actually won a second term in office still escapes me, but I’m realizing that it is true. I thought I was in some dream sequence of something but the reality is that for reasons beyond comprehension, George W. Bush has been elected to a second term as President of The United States.

I may realize it and I may know it to be true but there certainly are ways in which I’m refusing to accept it or believe it. I have decided to leave my “John Kerry” bumper sticker on my car and am also keeping the headline from the Daily Mirror firmly posted on my bulletin board at the office, the headline reads: “How Can 59, 084,087 people be so DUMB?” I think it’s a great headline and actually I don’t have an answer to that question.

What I do know is that this recent election brought out more voters than any other recent presidential election.

As my favorite jailbird, Martha Stewart would say, “That’s a good thing” however we also know that by placing moral value deemed issues on the ballot, Rove and his Republican base were able to call on evangelical voters and bring them to the poles solely based on a polarizing issue such as Gay Marriage. Is it ridiculous? Of course it is. Did it work? Of course it did.

People didn’t vote based on the fact that Bush lied to everyone regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, they didn’t vote based on the fact that our national deficit continues to grow at an alarming rate, nor did they vote on the fact that Bush is looking to overhaul Social Security by establishing private retirement accounts, that even the most seasoned of financial advisors realizes is too risky to really be worthwhile.

No, these voters simply went to the polls to say no to Gay Marriage and somewhere in those tiny closed minds of theirs also decided to cast their vote for George W. Bush, the man who they believe will preserve traditional marriage rights by corrupting our Constitution. Never mind that such heterosexual individuals as Brittany Spears abuse those marriage rights on a daily basis. Instead of viewing all the issues such as Iraq, the economy, the environment, choice or pro-choice, these individuals decided to take one polarizing social issue and vote with the candidate that best suited their views on this topic.

I’m glad to see we’re such focused voters on such important topics. I guess I won’t worry about the rising number of soldiers killed in Iraq. Or the fact that in order to get the budget back into balance part of Bush’s ingenious Budget Plan is to cut the program that funds elderly people who need assistance with their heating bills. Yeah, that ought to give the budget about 2 cents. Glad we worked that out. Yep, it seems we have much more important things to worry about then for the reason I voted on November 2nd. I guess there’s always 2008, I can’t wait.