Nov 3, 2004
For months I’ve been refusing to let myself imagine today.
The shock, the despair, the unbe-freeking-lievableness of another 4 years of this administration was simply too much to bear thinking about while there was any hope of a different outcome. With some vodka and a very long day behind me, 1:30 am CDT today left enough of that hope (stretched as it became as the night grew long) for a few hours of more or less uninterrupted sleep. Of course, this morning rather quickly came to the current situation, in which the electoral triumph of the Bush administration is a fete accompli and that hope that has sustained and grown over the past 4 years faded.
So here we are. What now? For the 48% of US voters and the overwhelming majority of non-US observers who have seen the first GWB term as an extended binge of regrettable policy decisions, politically extremist pandering, shameless cronyism, and deceptive “leadership”, what is the next move? Where do we go with the energy that has been built up over the past few years behind the overwhelming but now deferred warrant for regime change?
I’ve heard a number of mutterings of “… gonna move to Canada …” from politically like-minded friends and co-workers today. Indeed, the “Dude, where’s my country” sentiment is persuasive — it’s an understatement to describe a 3+ million popular vote margin in favor of GWB as disorienting and unwelcoming. I’ve felt (and expressed) the urge to expatriation myself – it is comforting to imagine living someplace where the idea that people should be able to enjoy fruits of our collective progress like health care and shelter is accepted as just basic decency.
As disappointing and disheartening as Nov 2 2004 was, 49% of the country voted to send Bush back to Connecticut (er, Texas). Thousands of people volunteered weeks or months of their lives to join together in an effort to reclaim our country. Millions waited in long lines for hours yesterday to make their voices heard. I stood with over 80,000 people in Madison last week to hear Kerry — less than twice that number would have made the difference in Ohio, and consequently the electoral college.
This is too close a fight to run from.
Jon’s 4th of July post this year was a welcome reminder for me — the US is a young country, and one based on a revolutionary idealism powered by individual conscience and conviction. I’m not ready to give up, which is what that would be for me (no offense to my good friends who recently relocated northwards intended — I hope that comfy guest bed is still available!). And even should today’s grim situation deteriorate and already thin hope continue to weaken over coming years or decades, I think there are worthwhile attempts yet to be made to (literally or figuratively) bring Canada here, as Jon so aptly put it while scooping what I had planned for the rest of this post … 😉
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