My readers inspire me...

Two comments to my "Holy War" post have inspired me to continue the conversation, and I thank these students for their contributions:

Take a good look at this post and those articles, because they are the very reason the Democrats lost. Why did they lose the election? To many Democrats it’s simple; everyone was too stupid to know that Democrats know how to run their lives. I don't think the Democratic Party or most Democrats live in the same world anymore. They lost because they're detached from most Americans, to the point where they can’t even communicate. Most Americans are religious and I know if you're Democrats religion has become a horrible disease and I am sure one day we'll have a cure for it but until then you have to convince those people to vote for you. Calling them ignorant and insulting their beliefs translates into a lost presidential campaign, a Republican house, a Republican senate, and your own minority leader ousted. These articles just reinforce that, comparing religious Americans to Muslim fanatics, replacing keystone Democratic class warfare with religious warfare. If you really believe these articles look forward to many more years of Republican control because you don't have the slightest idea why you lost or why you'll never win like this.
Steve
# posted by Anonymous : 11/6/2004 12:48:35 PM

I don't agree with Cathy and Kerry that America needs to unite to face the next four effectivly. I think that would be BAD. If Bush bashers did unite with supporters it would be like saying Bush is tolerable. He's not. Bush has screwed up too offen and in capacities too great. Nothing he does or says can make me see otherwise or forgive him. If anything we should continue bashing him left and right and in an ideal world, convict him of war crimes. Let's interegate Bush like the Republicans did to Clinton and see how he likes it. At least the trial would be legitimate. Or even better, let's all invite Uncle Tecumseh to make a personal visit with Mr. Bush! That'll solve the problem of the administration's monsterous figure head. Hey, it's a start.
ABT
# posted by Anonymous : 11/8/2004 12:46:17 PM

Well, I am not sure what direction the Democratic Party should go in order to win the Presidency. Remember that if Kerry had taken Ohio we would all be talking about the election in completely different ways, drawing completely different lessons about the campaign and about the country as a whole. I don't know why Bush won and Kerry lost -- whether it was the women vote, the youth vote, the rural vote, the suburban vote, terrorism, religion, "moral values," stolen votes, better get out the vote efforts, the economy, the media, personal qualities.... All of these have been bandied about and this question is not really my interest or bailiwick. I was most interested in this election because I thought the Bush administration has so squandered American power and influence and the world is in much worse shape because of that. As for what Democrats should do, my instinct and political beliefs lead me to wish they would become more progressive (what Stephen might call "class warfare"); but whether that will help them win I don't know. Check out Richard Kearney's insights on his new blog Future's So Bright. He -- like ABT -- makes the case that the Democratic Party is not the only game in town.

Stephen makes a good point that at some level the liberal analysis simply says Bush voters were stupid. As the already famous London Daily Mirror cover asked the day after the election, How Can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB? The only comfort I draw is that 56+ million were "smart" enough to vote for the other guy. But I do not believe that stupidity is the reason people voted for Bush. Obviously, there are many reasons, some of them having to do with Kerry being unable to convince enough people that he would be a better leader. And I know that some of my smartest students supported Bush, and I respect their intelligence and have to grapple with that. But I do remain baffled. I have spent a few months on my blog demonstrating the mendacity, incompetance and ideological zealotry of this administration and I am frustrated that not everyone sees things my way. I remain frustrated that what I see as the overwhelming evidence against Bush did not persuade enough people to reject his second term.

I do believe people were duped -- and that does not make them stupid -- by a sophisticated public relations campaign, by an anemic (at best) media, and, above all, by appeals to fear and intolerance. Religion is not the issue. A specific way of using religion to appeal to voters and, ultimately, to reshape our nation is what is at stake. Evangelical Christians have a divorce rate of 35%, as high as any group in our country, yet apparently right-wing evangelicals believe that making sure homosexuals can't get married (and divorced) is a more important issue than security, jobs, etc. I agree with ABT that simply rolling over is not the solution right now for Democrats and others who oppose Bush. He did not receive an overwhelming mandate, and we need to continue to oppose the policies we disagree with. That, after all, is the essence of democracy.

A final note: you may have noticed a decrease in postings from me. This is not only because of my post-election blues. I have a number of other writing projects that I have been putting off (to spend time on this blog) and that I need to get cracking on. Don't despair! I am not quitting, and I am not leaving the reality-based community -- I have decided against that whole four-year-opium-haze solution despite the fact that this year's poppy harvest in Afghanistan is the largest ever. I will be posting, just less frequently. And please feel free to fill in the gaps with your own postings and comments.