Another f*ck you moment.

Awhile back, I got an email from a friend just after the ’04 presidential election. If you don’t remember some of the rhetoric being bandied about back then this should vividly bring it back to you:

I received this email from a friend yesterday that puts into words what a lot of this country is feeling right now. It moved me and, at the same time, reminded me that there is still hope. MoveOn.org, who worked tirelessly on Kerry’s campaign, also sent out an email that noted “a healthy environment, a strong and fair economy, good schools, domestic safety and the end of the war in Iraq are goals we all share — red states and blue states alike.”

I was also feeling very isolated from my family back home (in a Red State) but received a welcome email form my cousin this morning saying “it’s a shame that so many people seem to blindly follow our leader who continues to make poor decisions both domestic and abroad. How long will it take to repair all the damage that has been caused to economy, environment and relationships with other countries? It is very sad.”

Dear friends,

I have been composing this note in my mind all morning. I guess it’s a sort of concession note, one which I was hoping and praying would be a victory note instead.

This is a very dark day for our country. The unified blindness to the danger that this administration poses to our very way of life and to our lives, is astonishing.

We are now in profound danger of losing everything that this country has stood for for over two hundred years. This disregard for the Constitution (which a President is sworn to protect) and the contempt for individual rights which this Administration has practiced is now only going to increase, as their perception that the American people approve of their actions is now in play.

It baffles me how the idea of “values” seems to have been completely distorted. Pastors around the country stood at their pulpits this past Sunday and urged their congregation to support Bush and his contingent because they represent “family values.” They will get rid of Roe vs Wade, they will prevent gay marriage, they will bring prayer in schools and they will promote faith based initiatives... These issues are just a smoke screen put up to blind people to the fact that this administration has only one true “value” and that is MONEY. This country just sold it’s soul to the devil and doesn’t even know it.

What kind of “values” allowed them to murder thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, people whose only crime was they were in the way of Dick Cheney gaining control of the Iraqi oil fields and in the way of this administration’s desire to set up permanent US bases in the middle east (that is what they are doing in Iraq, building permanent bases), these people weren't insurgents or terrorists, they were ordinary people going about their lives, children, babies, mothers, fathers, grandparents, farmers, teachers, lawyers and doctors, eating breakfast, going to school, telling their children bedtime stories, when bombs started dropping on their homes, their schools and their places of business. They hadn’t threatened us, they hadn’t attacked us, they hadn’t done anything which justifies their deaths. (And what about the thousands who have been maimed, blinded, orphaned... homeless and jobless, the atrocities our government perpetrated are endless).

This Administration’s “values” are to sacrifice the lives of brave young men and women whose only mistake was to trust their government. Brave and honorable American military personnel who had faith that their president wouldn't put them in harm's way unless it was absolutely necessary. Their lives are being sacrificed for the almighty god “dollar.”

“Thou shall not commit murder...” unless you can justify it with lies. These are the real “values” of this administration, lies, murder and contempt for anyone who disagrees with them.

Trying to find ways around the Geneva Convention (which simply promotes human decency), mistreating helpless prisoners, keeping people imprisoned with no access to counsel (not everyone in Guantanamo Bay and other prisons is guilty, but have no way to defend themselves), this is the kind of behavior we equate with dictators and despots like Stalin and Hitler and yes, Saddam, not with our great American “values” of liberty and justice.

What kind of “values” justify the selling of our nation’s beauty to the highest bidder? The fact that this Administration is willing to sell off forrest which are thousands of years old (some trees where saplings when Christ walked the earth), sell off the glorious beauty of God's creations, plant and animal, for corporate profit and greed is a sin not a “family value.” The fact that they will pollute and plunder this magnificent planet is tragic.

They are selling off our children's future, they are putting our health on the block for the highest bidder. And they are doing it behind closed doors in secret meetings... those are the real “family values” of this Administration, how valuable is your family to their wallets. They rule the country through fear, when the truth is we should be afraid of them.

America is in for a shock when the truth of just how corrupt this Administration is begins to be clear. Because mark my words they are corrupt, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” ...well the blind faith of the people just gave them “absolute power.”

I have a prayer today for the “Presidential Prayer Group,” pray for America’s sons and daughters because their lives have just been put into the hands of monsters...

And grieve with me because our lives are about to be forever changed...

Yours, O

PS Let’s never give up the faith that real “values” will eventually prevail and we will be able to regain some sort of true decency and justice and honor to the concept of being a American. Let's march and write and demonstrate and not go gently into the night! And most importantly never ever give in to the fear and betray your fellows, together we will stand, divided we will fall.

What followed was a flurry of emails between the sender and myself, ultimately ending our friendship (which wasn’t the worst thing in the world). See, I have little patience for drama.

I know we are approaching another one of these ongoing cycles of presidential elections in this country, a cycle which seems to be getting longer and longer for some reason. I imagine if they are going to pass a law banning something in this country, they should pass a law making it illegal to politic for the office of president more than six months before the actual election (and while they are at it they could add a rider about not putting up Christmas decorations before the first week in December).

I got mightily ticked off about this email. Ticked off enough to descend into my alter ego of Mister Cynic and begin poking holes in the whole argument much to the consternation of the sender.

I just fail to see where the political spectrum becomes a zero sum game and if anything I will fight every attempt to make it such. After the ’04 election, the people on the losing side predicted all sorts of doom headed our way (this was very much like what happened after the 2000 election) but, lo and behold here we are in 2007 and we’re still here.

Amazing isn’t it?

Also, the midterm elections if anything proved once again that our system of government does a very good job of course correcting because the electorate voiced it’s displeasure with the executive branch by giving the minority party control of the legislative branch of government.

Imagine that.

If the picture were actually as it had been painted back in ’04 or ’00 we would be well on our way to a fascist dictatorship but, the truth is we’re not.

I like that.

I like that our system for the most part does work. Mind you, there are times when just like anyone else, I’m not particularly happy with the course our country is taking but, I have to figure there is some overall inherent wisdom in the people of this country to recognize when things are going awry and to get angry enough to go out and voice that displeasure through the ballot box.

What is all this about?

Good question because I’m trying to figure out where I’m going with this myself.

I think the point I am trying to get across is, in order for us to have any kind of productive debate in this country, in order for any of us to move forward, it is important that we be able to listen to what the people of an opposing viewpoint have to say and to listen to them with at the very least, the respect we want given to our own viewpoint.

Politics over the last two or three decades seems to have become more about the furthest wings of each of the two parties. I can’t tell you why that is but there’s no denying it’s there.

Why is that?

The whole idea of labeling our country into a neat little divide of red states and blue states is ludicrous in and of itself. When a news network puts a map of states and colors them red or blue aren’t they doing an enormous disservice to the American electorate? Looking at that map, the networks would have you believe the voters in those states all voted together along the same lines and that is hardly the case.

This is a big country, maybe we have a tendency to forget just how big it really is at times. Within our country, there are broad ranges of experiences when it comes to people’s daily lives. The daily life of someone who lives in Brooklyn per se has to be dramatically different as contrasted against someone who lives in rural Montana. Isn’t it important that we recognize our lives are different from one and other but focus on the things which likes and dislikes we have in common?

I was thinking the other day when I read or heard something about gun control.

Oh, I know what it was I was watching the Mitt Romney thing on 60 minutes (don’t even get me started on that).

When I hear the words gun control, what do they mean?

See, I think in rural areas gun-control means ‘no-guns.’ I don’t own a gun or shoot so I am impacted little by the prospect of gun-control but, what occurred to me is when I hear the words gun-control what I think about really is handgun control.

This is a big issue here (if you’re outside the U.S.). The whole talk about guns, who has one, who can get one, who can use one, the licensing process, always becomes a big discussion whenever a major election rolls around. There is always the specter of the second amendment that comes up and the citizen’s ‘right to bear arms’ but, I have less of a problem with a guy bearing arms as much as I have with them concealing arms (baring taking the place of bearing).

So, when we talk about gun control, shouldn’t we use the correct terminology and say handgun control? Why don’t we?

Probably because it’s easier to paint things as good or bad, black or white and it’s something I think we should fight at every turn. My point being the next time you get into one of these debates with someone (and Lord knows they‘ll be happening with more frequency over the next 18 months), can we remember there aren’t any ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ per se as much as there are people with different viewpoints who may be convinced of our argument if we respect and listen to what they have to say.

Think about it.