Politics
I woke up early this morning, to check on the election results, and even though I kept telling myself for the past several months that Bush would win, the force of it actually happening (I think we can safely say that at this point) was a bit of a shock.
"A bit of a shock" is something of an understatement, really, as it almost made me physically ill.
The fact that that happened, though, got me thinking about the nature of politics, and why in the world people like me get so worked up over it. Because I realized, that I can't really point to anything that President Bush did that has actually directly affected me. Yes, he was indirectly responsible for the deaths of 100,000 Iraqis, and I can point to a lot of other things that would certainly rank on many peoples list of "bad things to do". But, on the other hand, the world is constantly experiencing these sort of things, and I, and everyone else, are constantly filtering out what we want to pay attention to and care about, and what we are going to ignore. Iraqis dying? Important. African genocide? Not so important. Repeat with different issues ad nauseum.
So it looks to me like a lot of the political freaking out that goes on is a diffuse form of crowd hysteria. Worst case speculation driven by fear, and bolstered by best case assumptions for their team. I've had conversations with friends where they were convinced that if Gore had won, that they would have made more money in the post 2000 recession. I'm not sure how people are able to work that out to any degree of certainty.
Really, I think that the "OHMYGOD THEY ARE GOING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING WE HOLD DEAR!!!" mindset that runs strong through the right, runs through the left as well, and is just as misguided. The right isn't going to convert America to something out of A handmaid's Tale, and the left isn't going to convert everyone into homosexuals.
Blah. Anyway. I don't know. Bush is reelected, and there is nothing I can do about it. Freaking out isn't going to do anything but make me ill. So, I'm just going to sit back and take things as they come for the next four years.
I am, however, going to predict that the Neo-Cons are now going to get enough rope to hang themselves with. I don't think that a Nixon style impeachment is out of the question, and I think that four more years of Bush is going to really push the left to hone itself into a force to be reckoned with.
Just have to wait it out.
I woke up early this morning, to check on the election results, and even though I kept telling myself for the past several months that Bush would win, the force of it actually happening (I think we can safely say that at this point) was a bit of a shock.
"A bit of a shock" is something of an understatement, really, as it almost made me physically ill.
The fact that that happened, though, got me thinking about the nature of politics, and why in the world people like me get so worked up over it. Because I realized, that I can't really point to anything that President Bush did that has actually directly affected me. Yes, he was indirectly responsible for the deaths of 100,000 Iraqis, and I can point to a lot of other things that would certainly rank on many peoples list of "bad things to do". But, on the other hand, the world is constantly experiencing these sort of things, and I, and everyone else, are constantly filtering out what we want to pay attention to and care about, and what we are going to ignore. Iraqis dying? Important. African genocide? Not so important. Repeat with different issues ad nauseum.
So it looks to me like a lot of the political freaking out that goes on is a diffuse form of crowd hysteria. Worst case speculation driven by fear, and bolstered by best case assumptions for their team. I've had conversations with friends where they were convinced that if Gore had won, that they would have made more money in the post 2000 recession. I'm not sure how people are able to work that out to any degree of certainty.
Really, I think that the "OHMYGOD THEY ARE GOING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING WE HOLD DEAR!!!" mindset that runs strong through the right, runs through the left as well, and is just as misguided. The right isn't going to convert America to something out of A handmaid's Tale, and the left isn't going to convert everyone into homosexuals.
Blah. Anyway. I don't know. Bush is reelected, and there is nothing I can do about it. Freaking out isn't going to do anything but make me ill. So, I'm just going to sit back and take things as they come for the next four years.
I am, however, going to predict that the Neo-Cons are now going to get enough rope to hang themselves with. I don't think that a Nixon style impeachment is out of the question, and I think that four more years of Bush is going to really push the left to hone itself into a force to be reckoned with.
Just have to wait it out.
posted by Steven Sanders | 5:14 AM
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