Election Reflection

In the movie Shawshank Redemption, an elderly man who has spent most of his life in prison is finally released. He enters free society and is astonished at how fast the pace of life is. Cars speed past him. He can't bag groceries fast enough. Passers-by yell at him for walking too slowly. Summing up the experience, he says, "The world went and got itself in a big goddamn hurry."

With the re-election of Bush, I feel like saying the world went and got itself in a big goddamn mess. Technically I voted for Kerry, but mentally it was not a vote for Kerry as much as a vote against Bush. I voted mainly on the issue of Iraq. I think we need to get out of that country as soon as possible, and I am deeply grieved by the loss of life on both sides, which only increases as time goes by. I believe the invasion was a mistake.

I heard a story on NPR that I think put its finger on at least one reason Democrats lost this election. They are out of touch with most Americans on issues of morality. Most Americans, it seems, are pro-life and do not support gay marriage. Since Clinton, Democrats have not done an adequate job of articulating their nuanced positions on these issues.

I also think that the natural response to terror, any terror, is to run for safety, and many see conservatism as safer than liberalism. The conservatives understand this, of course, which is why we saw a Bush/Cheney ad that symbolized terrorists with wolves stalking their prey. Who were their prey? We were. The wolves looked out of our TV sets at us, and a voiceover said something about predators looking for weakness. Pretty scary stuff. Such messages as this were effective in pushing many in this nation to the right.