Red vs. Blue: The Aftermath

I feel like someone has died, and I guess that someone is my country and its shining ideals. The people have voted, cowering in fear and ignorance, and now retreat to their caves with the same mentality . . . playing right into the hands of this despicable bunch that will control our country for another four years. I'm shocked and appalled, fearful, and more than a little ashamed of my countrymen, and I'm worried about what the next four years will bring. Because it's "open season" now for this awful, evil administration and their radical agenda, and suddenly the kidding about moving to Canada isn't so funny anymore. We must stay mobilized—first stop, Pennsylvania Avenue this January, with a whole crate of eggs and rotten tomatoes! Then it's on to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to form a human chain around the area. Ugh. I was soooo looking forward to being able to relax on the activism, and now we'll have to redouble our efforts. Let's start with Impeach Bush/Cheney!

Maureen Finn
Sammamish

Look on the bright side, Seattle lefties. The election results give you opportunities for four more years of mindless protests and insipid yard signs. Now you won't have to go through withdrawal!

Mark Braden
Seattle

I'm both sad and angry that we will have to put up with another four years of George Bush—a man who clearly lost all three presidential debates. A man who has proven to show little intelligence, who is so stubborn and arrogant that he refuses to admit his own mistakes, and who has refused to work with the rest of the world. This leader of the free world can't even command the English language. I've heard politicians from Third World African countries speak better English.

But my real anger is the reasoning that so much of our country used in deciding to re-elect him. It would have been different if everyone who voted for him based their vote on the real and substantive issues. Instead, as recent surveys suggest, a significant number of people voted for him because of his stance on "moral issues." In other words, "God, Gays, and Guns." And worse, the Republican Party had the nerve to use these moral issues to pander to the religious right, thereby creating a further divide in this country that will be difficult, if not impossible, to heal.

This especially worries me because these are all issues that are really not that important to the future of our country. There are far greater issues that we should be worried about. The Iraq war has opened a Pandora's box that will only lessen the security of our nation and the world. Our economy, the environment, the national debt, Social Security, and medical care reform are much more important issues than whether or not we allow two people who love each other the ability to show their commitment; or whether we continue to debate an issue such as a woman's right to choose, which was legalized 30 years ago.

Yet there's a real contradiction here. The real moral issues we should be concerned about are economic disparity, destruction of our planet, misleading the American public and the world about an unnecessary war resulting in over 1,000 American lives and countless innocent civilians, and the unwillingness to allow basic civil human rights to U.S. residents.

The even greater irony is that instead of moving forward with the rest of the civilized world, our country seems to be moving backward, where religious fervor continues to reign in our government's international and domestic policies. Does this not sound like Iraq, the very country we are supposed to be liberating? What ever happened to our forefathers' idea of separation between church and state?

I am saddened for the future of our country. I hope that Bush is honest when he says he will try to heal the divide he's created. He certainly didn't keep his promise during his first term, and he doesn't have anything personally to lose during his second.

Steve Sindiong
Seattle

Somewhere in between the optimism of Nov. 2 and the disappointment of Nov. 3, America witnessed a surprising cameo from a new player on the political scene. In hundreds of exit polls across the nation, those voting for George W. Bush consistently named "moral values" as the most important issue of the 2004 election. Suddenly the war on terror, the failing economy, and the debacle in Iraq had all taken a backseat to good morals for Republican voters.

What does this say about those of us who didn't vote for Bush: no ethics? Unprincipled hedonistic atheists? It gets me thinking. Hmmm. Actually, I think that I have some pretty good moral values of my own.

My morality says that over 1,000 brave American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis shouldn't have died for an unjust cause.

My morality says that we should preserve global alliances and eradicate racism and homophobia, rather than preserving racism and homophobia and eradicating global alliances.

My morality says that we should safeguard environmental regulations and do away with extra tax cuts for the wealthy, rather than safeguarding extra tax cuts for the wealthy and doing away with environmental regulations.