Thoughts on the election
Well, I pulled my first ever all nighter watching the election returns, and although I've finally gotten a good night's sleep to shake my disappointment, it's still not a happy day. Any Republican friends I have know I love them, but at the moment I can't see how another four years of Bush is going to do anything other than harm my country.
Something strange I felt was that I couldn't really get angry about it. I thought I would, but while watching the election, the weirdest thing for me was that I kept expecting it to feel more emotionally charged. Everything coming off the TV screen seemed empty. Empty is the only word I can really think of to describe it, as if I was watching something relatively unimportant that happened fifty years ago rather than something that will affect my life for years to come. Talking to friends at home though, a lot of them say this whole thing felt unbelievably emotionally charged, like there was a storm building outside. I felt none of that. I suppose it's still that disconnection I was feeling leading up to it.
I'm kind of bipolar though, because I am angry about some peripheral issues. One of them is the number of American-Israelis who voted solely on the issue of Israel. Of all the reasons to vote for a certain candidate, this is the one I can't wrap my head around. I don't understand how people can vote for a leader based on any criteria other than who's better for the country he or she is leading. It would still make me mad if American-Israelis had voted for Kerry based on this reasoning. There are around 300 million Americans living in the US, but these voters view all the issues that an American President can affect, all the domestic problems and the international problems that directly harm the lives of Americans as subordinate to how much a President will, in their eyes, be good for Israel. In my mind, this isn't much better than when America installed foreign dictators on the basis of who would represent American interests, rather than on the basis of who would represent the interests of the people in the country he's actually leading.
I've seen a lot of different reactions and sentiment online, and a lot of it is troubling to me. First, there's a lot of "well, I guess it's time to move now." I know a lot of people joke about it, and I do too, but I know some seriously feel that America is screwed now, and I think that's dangerous. I refuse to cut and run from the likes of Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum and their cohorts. They're whackjobs who can't be trusted with any amount of power, and they have to be opposed.
Then there's the international companion to this sentiment, the "wow, Americans really must be stupid and ignorant. They deserve whatever they get now." I'm sorry, but did you notice the 50 million-odd voters who didn't want Bush back? How about the other millions who didn't vote at all? I'm one of them, but not because I didn't try, and not because I don't care what happens to the US and the world.
On some level I sympathize, because in my opinion the good side lost in this one, but you can't expect that to never happen. We fought Bush, and he won for the time being, but to act like America as a whole just gave him another four years with a smile and a wave is stupid. If the international community thinks this is bad, as I'm sure they do, then they ought to put their efforts to counteracting the bad rather than blaming Americans for currently suffering from one of the major downsides of democracy. Predicting a rise in anti-Americanism and saying we deserve it is sick, and as an international student, someone who's directly affected by this sentiment, I really object to it.
And the last thing I'm angry about is the number of states that voted to ban gay marriage. That was the only time during the whole election night when I yelled at the screen.
Something strange I felt was that I couldn't really get angry about it. I thought I would, but while watching the election, the weirdest thing for me was that I kept expecting it to feel more emotionally charged. Everything coming off the TV screen seemed empty. Empty is the only word I can really think of to describe it, as if I was watching something relatively unimportant that happened fifty years ago rather than something that will affect my life for years to come. Talking to friends at home though, a lot of them say this whole thing felt unbelievably emotionally charged, like there was a storm building outside. I felt none of that. I suppose it's still that disconnection I was feeling leading up to it.
I'm kind of bipolar though, because I am angry about some peripheral issues. One of them is the number of American-Israelis who voted solely on the issue of Israel. Of all the reasons to vote for a certain candidate, this is the one I can't wrap my head around. I don't understand how people can vote for a leader based on any criteria other than who's better for the country he or she is leading. It would still make me mad if American-Israelis had voted for Kerry based on this reasoning. There are around 300 million Americans living in the US, but these voters view all the issues that an American President can affect, all the domestic problems and the international problems that directly harm the lives of Americans as subordinate to how much a President will, in their eyes, be good for Israel. In my mind, this isn't much better than when America installed foreign dictators on the basis of who would represent American interests, rather than on the basis of who would represent the interests of the people in the country he's actually leading.
I've seen a lot of different reactions and sentiment online, and a lot of it is troubling to me. First, there's a lot of "well, I guess it's time to move now." I know a lot of people joke about it, and I do too, but I know some seriously feel that America is screwed now, and I think that's dangerous. I refuse to cut and run from the likes of Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum and their cohorts. They're whackjobs who can't be trusted with any amount of power, and they have to be opposed.
Then there's the international companion to this sentiment, the "wow, Americans really must be stupid and ignorant. They deserve whatever they get now." I'm sorry, but did you notice the 50 million-odd voters who didn't want Bush back? How about the other millions who didn't vote at all? I'm one of them, but not because I didn't try, and not because I don't care what happens to the US and the world.
On some level I sympathize, because in my opinion the good side lost in this one, but you can't expect that to never happen. We fought Bush, and he won for the time being, but to act like America as a whole just gave him another four years with a smile and a wave is stupid. If the international community thinks this is bad, as I'm sure they do, then they ought to put their efforts to counteracting the bad rather than blaming Americans for currently suffering from one of the major downsides of democracy. Predicting a rise in anti-Americanism and saying we deserve it is sick, and as an international student, someone who's directly affected by this sentiment, I really object to it.
And the last thing I'm angry about is the number of states that voted to ban gay marriage. That was the only time during the whole election night when I yelled at the screen.
2 Comments:
A lot of valuable observations here, lg, and I think others could benefit from your perspective. Perhaps you should take half an hour and sharpen the focus (international student), get it under 700 words, and send it to the Times (oped@latimes.com).
Thinks of it as a little extra homework.
As you know, I too was sad about the election, although I didn't feel nearly as emotional about it as I expected to, either. I was actually more than a little surprised, because I thought there was enough mobilized support for John Kerry to elect him. But, I underestimated the mobilization of the opposition.
I think many people vote based on one issue - their primary issue. For Americans in Israel, it's the effect on their adopted home. For me, the environment is usually first. For many people that voted for the anti-gay marriage statute, they feel that Bush speaks for them & their moral values. I'm not sure that this is always wrong. You can rarely have a candidate that is perfectly aligned with your views.
The hope that I see is that many people, including young people, were mobilized to start fighting the fundamentalist views that are isolating & harming our country, and that given no opposition will become even more extreme. It's going to take awhile to effectively counteract the lead that conservatives now have on defining the issues to their advantage. I don't think conservatism is a bad thing, but right now it includes some very negative things - anti-science, anti-environmentalism, anti-truth if it isn't convenient. Also the level of discourse has got to rise about yelling & name-calling.
Here are two things I think will be important to fight for - accountability by those who use our public airwaves to tell the truth & not behave in an inflammatory manner, and of course campaign finance reform.
Till later - Love, Mom
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