Bush Won, America Lost

I sent this email out shortly after the election to several friends and the like. Since it seems I've come back to ATS for a time, I figured I'd share it with y'all, as well.

First, I want to point out that my candidate, the one I agreed with
most in policy etc. was elected on Tuesday. This, for me, is good
news. However, America did lose this election.

The entire election seemed to be based on the platform of fear. George
Bush went into it saying "If you vote for him (Kerry), you're going to
die." Kerry went into it saying "If you vote for him (Bush), you will
lose all your freedoms, be drafted, and you will die." It reminds me
of a Dilbert, and I wish our nation could have done what the punchline
is. One guy defends his budget by saying if you don't fund it, a
plague of locusts o'er the land, the other that the earth would stop
spinning without his budget. The accountant cut both their budgets and
she said that hopefully the earth stopping would fling the locusts
into space.

On Tuesday night, I stayed up until about 5:30 AM before thinking of
going to bed. I didn't realize I was afraid for the outcome until Fox
declared Ohio for Bush (12 hours before everyone else, yet they were
last on all the other states. I love irony) and I felt this incredible
relief that I started to realize that I was genuinely afraid for the
outcome of this election. I honestly questioned if there would be a
United States of America in 4 years under a Kerry presidency.

I got an email from a friend on Wednesday who is a Kerry fan. Or
rather, he is an anti-Bush fan, as most Kerry supporters are. Reading
through his response, he is as terrified as I would have been had Bush
not won. Rather than feel relief around 2 AM, he felt cold, hard
terror. He probably still is, as I'm sure many of you are.

By experiencing relief of an emotion I wasn't even aware I was
experiencing, I went into introspective mode and tried to figure out
where this fear came from, what caused it, and how to fight it in the
future. Standard boilerplate Jake response to emotions/thoughts he
doesn't want in that little thing he calls a brain, or sometimes
heart. The conclusion I've come to has disturbed me more than what I
perceived a Kerry presidency would be would have disturbed me. It was
the political ads, the talking points, the debates, the radio talk
shows, etc. Everything made it sound like it would be the end of the
world if you elected this other guy. Being someone who agrees far more
with Bush policy than the Kerry voting records in the senate, I
started to buy into the propaganda. In my mind, Americans WOULD die as
a direct result of a Kerry election via terrorists. If Kerry got
elected, I could lose my mom and grandfather, along with several other
loved ones, because they live/work in Chicago, and Chicago is prime
pickin's for terrorists.

The Kerry campaign and allies were no better. Terror was inspired by
their campaign as well. I'm sure, were I hearing on the radio right
now "president elect Kerry", I wouldn't have been able to have this
insight and would still be fearing for my loved one's lives. I doubt
the fear has gone away for many of you. This nation just elected an
anti-gay, racist, freedom hating, peace loathing, undiplomatic war
monger who, according to George Soros, was akin to Hitler. You also
saw the majority of the American people elect him. That hasn't
happened since 1988, that a candidate got over 50% of the vote. So
now, many of you may see him as having a, in his mind, mandate by God
to enact his ultra right wing policies despite the other 48% of the
people.

Ok, so what. Both candidates ran on a false, or true, depending on
your perspective (I, now, believe false on both parties) terror
platform. Wait, a terror platform? Yes, exactly that. We had two
concerted domestic terrorists getting the full support of the American
people to conduct their terror activities. This election wasn't about
policies or who is the better candidate, it was about inspiring fear
in people enough to make them want to make you their president.
Webster defines terrorism as "the systematic use of terror especially
as a means of coercion." There you have it, folks. That's exactly what
happened. We were coerced to vote for one candidate or the other not
just because we agree with them, if we agreed with them at all, but
rather because we were afraid of what would happen if the other guy
got in.

The most disturbing aspect of this, however, is how well it worked.
People came out in record numbers. George Bush was elected with the
highest popular vote EVER in American history not because so many
people agreed with him, but because the numbers of people who feared
what would happen were so high that both candidates got HUGE numbers
of votes. Both parties got a lot more votes than anyone ever expected,
and I believe this was inspired by terror. The only group who didn't
increase in voter turnout in the US was the 18-25 group, which I'm
still trying to wrap my brain around. We're supposed to be the
activists, not them old folks! I think the threat of a "secret plan"
to re institute the draft was an attempt by the Kerry campaign to
bring in that vote. Had it worked, and the 18-25s showed up, I'm sure
we would be talking about president elect Kerry, because my age group
is largely liberal.

Unfortunately, I don't think this type of campaigning is going to go
away. It's always been there, but never to this degree that I'm aware
of. It's like the American politicians took a lesson from Hamas in
terror tactics and applied it to politics. It was also remarkably
effective. What's going to be interesting is seeing how anything can
get done now, when 48% of the population is under the belief that
ANYTHING Bush does is going to herald the end of the US as we know it.
I know if Kerry won and I hadn't realized this, I'd be part of that
48% watching his every move and sweating bullets every time he signed
a bill into law or made a speech.

So, America, get used to fear. It seems the terrorists won, if for no
other reason than they taught our politicians how to get elected. I
mean, Walter Cronkite said on Larry King Live on the 29th that he
thought the Bush administration contacted Bin Laden and asked him to
release a video endorsing Kerry. The premise is ridiculous, yet I'm
sure people believe it. Just like, if we get hit by terrorists in the
next month, I'll be angry with the terrorists. Were we in a Kerry
presidency, and we got attacked in February, I wouldn't have been
upset with the terrorists, I'd have been upset with Kerry. I had been
indoctrinated so much to the point where I would blame John Kerry for
terrorists attacking our country. It was fear, and it was cultured by
both parties. Remember these lessons come the next election. We will
be terrified. It gets the vote out. So let not your hearts be
troubled, try to see past the propaganda, and vote for a third party
next election. As long as we have only 2 choices, this kind of
campaigning will be at it's strongest, and will never go away.

Hope I didn't upset too many people with this, but if I did I'm sure
I'll be hearing about it. The most terrifying thing I have ever read
was the book 1984. With the control the media seems to have over all
of our emotions, it doesn't seem too far off.

Tell you what.. If we actually get to HAVE an election in 2008, and we're not full blown into WWIII by then....perhaps then I'll share in your sigh of relief...

Sadly though, I doubt that will happen. America isn't the only one to lose when Bush was re-elected. The world lost.

Certainly, Kerry would not have been a "Great" president... Mediocre at best, but I would have taken that over the horrors we have waiting for us during the next 4 years. We're just now starting to see some of it. How Patriot Act II is being passed, not as a whole, but bit by bit through sneaking the tidbits in with other bills. This is scary stuff folks, and it's a slippery slope that is only going to get worse and worse.

Iraq is a bigger failure and farce with each passing day. Still though, the rhetoric increases more and more towards Iran and North Korea. Once staunch allies now despise us, even our strongest ally, Britain, was shocked by the election results. That should speak volumes, but no, those afraid of homosexuals, or actually curing diseases feel they've made the right choice. I suppose we'll see, won't we?

Well, my point wasn't the politics of the players which scared me. Obviously, being a Bush supporter, I would have been far more worried if Kerry were elected. My problem was with the election its self and the campaign platforms of terror in all forms. Terrorize the constituency to make sure they get out and vote. It really was a "Vote or Die" campaign being waged by both sides.

As for Kerry possibly being better, we'll never really know since he never told us what his platform was for the most part, and where he did have a plan, he never explained how it would be implemented. So he would have been the unknown factor. The vote was really are you voting for or against Bush, which is why this country needs more than 2 parties...But that's a whole other rant.

Yep, to know Kerry's platform and plans, one would have had to go to the trouble to go to his website...versus listen to the Bush commercials...

Yes, both made it a "Vote or Die" campaign. Bush's only strongpoint was "I'm a tough Texan, and ya need me to get the evil doers". All one needed to do to see who stood for what on the issues, was to watch the debates (where Bush continued to show why he's an embarassment to the nation). At the same time, Kerry's camp saw that another 4 years of Bush was basically guaranteeing WWIII, and an increasing deficit. So far, there is no evidence to the contrary, now is there?

Maybe there is some good to come out of this though...

Maybe, with the American public's disgust at the behavior of BOTH parties last time, maybe, just maybe, we'll see other parties such as Libertarian, etc. make bigger strides in becoming more high-profile?

It would not have made any bit of difference had Kerry actually won (I think he did but that's another story). America would still be in trouble.

Think Skull and Bones. They're both Bonesmen. They'd BOTH screw this country over.

I voted pro-Constitution.

Think Skull and Bones. They're both Bonesmen. They'd BOTH screw this country over.

They're BOTH Bonesmen? I thought it was only bush!

Great, no choice really then. Either way, both were in it for other reasons. Thats mroe rigged than I expected.

Originally posted by junglejake
It really was a "Vote or Die" campaign being waged by both sides.

You say this as a metaphor. Sadly, it's not. Why Everybody Loves the Mass-Slaughter of Non Voters....or..."Vote or Die"

Haha Teh Gerbil...of COURSE it's more rigged than you expected...this is AMERICA!

NOw children, I occasioanlly write the lyrics for ska songs, and around November 3rd or so I wrote this little intro to a nice song about our president.

"So a coupld of weeks ago I was hanging out with some friends at the city zoo when all of a sudden, someone shot me in the face with a paintball gun. Experiencing a great shock, I fell into a coma that lasted 2 weeks. When I awoke in the hospital room I eyed the newspaper on the counter, the date was November 3rd, and the headline read 'Four More Years.' Slowly I contemplated suicide, but then I rememberred that P Diddy would probably shoot me for not voting anyways."

Sure, it's a joke...but how far off is it? You win some, you lose some, but we seem to be a on the crap end of that parable.

For some reason I think sitting around moaning will do little when it comes to Bush.. I am suggesting some sort of force is necessary to get the attention of the elected oppressor......

2nd amendment folks.....

*grabs pitchfork* LYNCHMOB!

seriously, i think it might be revolution time. Haven't had one of them for a while in the states.

In America, what can be sold is for sale. But that is not just an American idea, and it's be a story told across our time here.

The doom and gloom is fun and all, but when it comes down to it, America has already lost, and well before Bush took office the first time.

The civil war was the begining of the road we are on now, but taking back that much history is impossible in small steps, as the world is problematic in general, and that many of these problems (healthcare, education, taxes, etc) must be hit head on and in tandum.

There are few things that will save America from itself.

1) War, but this could run it either way

2) Constitutional revival, where we hack and slash the federal government back into submission. But the libertarians are the biggest group touting that idea.

3) Extreme terrorism, but this also could run us either way.


I love my country, but not as much as my children. I'd kill anyone and everyone to get them out if the need arises.

Do the best you can now and make ready.

Bush and America won...The democrats lost on purpose...I mean come on, John F'n Kerry as your nominee He was the classic sacraficial lamb.

The democrats had to think Bush was unbeatable, and that Bush would screw up so bad, that in 2008 Hillary would be automatic. Democrats are wrong about everything nowadays. They are a pathetic, desperate party, who hasn't had an original idea in ages.