Wed 3 Nov 2004
I’m tired of the election, and I’m glad it’s over so that the free world can get on with their lives. Of course I’m so sick of it that I am going to dedicate this post to it.
Once upon a time, I cared about politics. I held a membership in a political party, donated to their cause and voted along those lines. Since then, I’ve realized that the political process requires deep though every step of the way, not just once when you form your allegiance, and then never again. Partisan politics, and especially the way in which the two parties and the media polarize everything, makes me want to throw up.
Maybe I’ve been in too many bad arguments, but I feel like every political discussion is one wrong word away from an emotionally charged argument. Today of course, those “discussions” were all over the place. One of my liberal-minded friends jokingly said to a pretty level headed Republican, “we’ll be praying for you.” I leaned over to her and said, “You can pray, but I don’t think God cares.” Pretty blasphemous words, I know, but if there is no power except that which is instituted by God, that that’s as true with Bush winning the re-election as it would be had Kerry won. It was as true when Bill Clinton was not having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky as it was when GWB overlooked the death of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq.
This Republican, at some point, said, “You can’t blame me, I’m a fifth generation Republican.” Maybe that shouldn’t have sounded as dumb to me as it did, but it made me wonder, “has nobody in your family done any independent thinking in four generations?” If a large number of people always vote a certain way regardless of the candidate, you can’t have a fair election. If entire states always vote the same way, you don’t have a fair election process, because opponents are discouraged from even letting their votes count.
I really do believe on a spiritual level, that the results are meaningless. I know that Bush will take a re-election to mean that all is well, and he’ll continue war-mongering and neglecting the poor in his midst. If Kerry had gotten in, he would have stirred the proverbial crap, just to flex his political muscle, and no good can come of a politician exerting power for the sake of exerting power.
To my pacifist friends, neither candidate was going to be a harbinger of peace. To my pro-life friends, abortions will continue under both candidates, until American culture changes enough to dissuade unwanted pregnancies from happening in the first place. To everyone, pro- or anti-Bush, Christian or non, American or Gentile, I say this, live your lives. Bush and Kerry were not the polar opposites the media and their respective campaign advisors painted them as. Life goes on, oh bla di, oo bla da. Let’s move on to more important issues, like the NHL lockout, what’s up with that?