Taking Back Liberal, post #2

The right has stolen liberal terminology while maintaining the same old agenda. Regarding the election results, of course we could expect a godly state like Utah to keep the Bush faith, but perhaps this time the Southern-state Republicans should celebrate their victory by changing their name to the Redneck Christian Fascist Party (RCFP) or the Ditto Head Party (DHP), with apologies to our academic colleagues who are not part of the problem.

I would include as part of the problem, in addition to those demographic groups that did not vote, those who advised others not to vote, or to vote for hopeless third party candidates. But American voters, the majority of the Bush supporters, are not blameless dupes. There has been a deep division in the U.S. on social issues and religion since the social movements of the 1960's and the Vietnam war, a division that resurfaces dramatically from time to time. There is still a large segment of the U.S. population that would like to return to a pre-1960's America, before the civil rights movement, women's movement, peace movement, and environmental movement. These movements were strongly opposed in the South forty years ago, often on religious grounds, and the same sentiments exist today--only the examples have changed (gay marriage, stem cell research, etc.).

This election proves that the American government did not learn the lessons of the Vietnam war, and if a new draft is instituted, the youth of America will again rise up against another murderous foreign policy. A little foresight on their part in this election would have helped. Another reason I thought Kerry had a chance was that the parents of near draft-age children would remember that the Vietnam war lasted for ten years, and they would oppose the permanent-war mentality of this administration. I guess memories
are short in popular culture, and we may have to re-live some of the 1960's.

In this election, facts did not matter, but "faith", "instinct", and "belief" mattered (as in, "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts!"). Underlying the freedom and democracy rhetoric, most fundamentalist Christians believe that the Iraq war is a religious war. Facts and faith do not mix very well. Anything can be justified if God is on our side. Today it is not "godless communists" who are the enemy, it is the terrorists with the wrong God. Hmm, at the presidential inauguration, perhaps the music played should be the old song, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition"?