The people have spoken, the bastards
I saw David Gergen on PBS last night expressing concern that a huge portion of the electorate will now be completely alienated from America. I thought that was spot on. I don’t recognize this America. Bruce Springsteen said something at one of Kerry’s rallies the other day about how the America we hold in our heart is waiting for us. Well, the America I hold in my heart is still waiting, because it lost yesterday. And the America that won is one I simply don’t understand. Not as America, anyway. Maybe as Iran or Argentina.
Part of me thinks the only solution is to split America in half. Give the God-fearing parts of the country to Redistan, and those of us in the reality-based community can live in Bluetopia. Redistan can develop their economy based on the impending arrival of the Rapture, and Bluetopia can return to the values of tolerance and understanding that define what I thought America was supposed to stand for. The irony, of course, being that this would mark the failure of both tolerance and understanding toward the people who won this election.
So be it. "Values"-based voters worry about the immorality of men kissing men. People like me worry about the immorality of letting the less fortunate among us fall through the cracks, about the immorality of the continued existence (and over the last four years, the growth) of poverty in the wealthiest nation on Earth.
George Lakoff, in his book Moral Politics, talks about the difference between conservatives and progressives being best defined in terms of two models, the "strict father" model and the "nurturant parent" model. He does an excellent job of describing how people who subscribe to these two models are talking past each other, almost in different languages. Their ruling philosophies are based on two entirely different interpretations of morality. Honestly, I found the book utterly fascinating and extremely depressing when I read it a few months ago.
With the strict father having taken the nurturant parent out back of the house for a good horse-whipping, maybe it’s time for the abused spouse to seek a divorce. Because I don’t recognize this household, this America, any more. I don’t know that the America I hold in my heart exists any more, but if it does, it may take tearing America apart to preserve it.
Posted at 12:29 AM
You know, listening to NPR last night, I heard a piece by Robert Reich that was basically open strategy for the Democratic party of what was missed. I thought he was spot on because what he was talking about was that the language of morality has been missing in Democratic dialog. That’s not to say that Democrats aren’t talking from a moral position. But in talking mostly about facts and plans, they aren’t *moving* people.
Let’s face it, much to our sadness the majority of America isn’t filled with intellectuals. So what needs to be talked about is how it’s immoral to let children go starving because these programs are cut, or to let our eldery descend into poverty, or blahdebladeblah. It’s not that religion has to be injected on their side too; but I think that the language of secularish morals does. I don’t think that Kerry could have pulled off talk like that, but given that so many people are thinking about who’s the moral man, it obviously needed to happen.
So we look ahead. There’s talk of Hillary in ’08; I sure do miss the Clintons after all. I think we should also consider Obama, either for prez or Veep. Obama was pretty damned kick ass when he spoke. All of this may be the precursor that allows *that* swing to happen.
Posted by sis at 8:42 AM, November 4, 2004 [Link]