The People Have Spoken

I figured I let a couple of days pass before I put down my thoughts on the election. Needless to say, I am very disappointed and am dreading what's going to happen to this country in the next four years.

But the people have spoken, loud and clear. President Bush got the most votes an American presidential candidate has ever received in any election. Why, the closest runner up in history is -- John Kerry in 2004! That's right, if you combine population growth with a good turnout, it's not all that hard to make some new records.

So after crying into my beer (figuratively, since I don't drink beer, nor did I actually cry) and wringing my hands a little (also figuratively, since I'm not quite sure what hand wringing looks like) I decided to enjoy the beautiful fall we are now having and lightening up.

My initial reaction was shock and anger at the red-staters for being suckered into rewarding the president's abysmal performance with four more years. I figured that it serves them right if they get laid off, if they see their kids sent off to the President's wars or they cannot afford their healthcare, at least they'll be secure in their knowledge that the President will make sure that somewhere out there, there are no two guys or gals getting hitched. And to those 9 out of 10 "youth voters" that didn't bother to exercise their suffrage, I sure hope that they'll enjoy their desert uniforms when they get called up.

But things aren't as black and white (or red and blue) as they seem. Taking the selfish view, the current and pending changes won't really affect me all that much: I've got health insurance, I'm too old for the draft (and my daughter is too young), I'm in the upper middle class that has been and is going to be reaping tax benefits and I wasn't really planning on gay-marrying anyone. So I could ignore it or even move out of Jesusistan.

But the fact is, the country does not consist of read and blue states. The country is more of a purple quilt, though according to this election, it's a reddish purple. I happen to be living in what appears to be a blue oasis in a red desert, but the purple map says otherwise. Austin isn't quite as blue and Central Texas quite as red, as people might think.

So I'm still going to care about the jobs and healthcare and draft-status of the people in the red states, 'cause that's what it means to be a bleeding heart Liberal.