randomWalks

The Guardian (a UK newspaper) recently gave their readers an opportunity to have a say in the American election by writing to undecided voters in the swing state of Ohio. The responses that the Guardian chose to publish may or may not have been a representative sample; and I would have liked to have seen the letters that were sent to Clark County that occasioned such vitriol. However the contrast and the tone of the responses were familiar. The U.S. really has become two nations. My colleague hit the nail on the head when he described one of them as " narrowminded, insular, xenophobic...", but he did miss one adjective, "hateful".

Prominent in the negative responses is an personal attack on the messenger, often accompanied by a threat of violence -- but no mention of the issues raised. These are not people who believe in entertaining another point of view, then arriving at a decision after careful reflection. These are people who are bent on uncontested compliance with the Powers That Be. If you don't agree with us, we'll beat you up -- or worse.

I believe there are two kinds of Bush supporters. There are those who know what he's really up to (the wealthy, the corporations) and are squealing with delight to have someone so tractable in the Oval Office.

OTOH there those that don't have a clue as to his real agenda. Dubya's evangelical base worships him -- because he's perceived as a down-home, God-fearing man of the people. He is their "crusader" who defending this Christian nation against the incursions of the liberals, the queers, the feminists, the minorities and the poor and other "special interests" whose agenda threatens 'the American Way of Life'.

For some bizarre reason, this group -- which constitutes a significant plurality of the American public -- believes that far from being a member of the elite, the leader of the free world should embody the same qualities as their bartender. Somehow the fact that GWB was born with a silver spoon in his mouth is overlooked. He is seen as a self-made man, when the truth is the ONLY reason he has had a heretofore successful political career (after failing at everything else) is because of his family ties. Well he may be as dumb as a sack of hammers, but one thing he is NOT is 'just plain folks'.

It doesn't matter that his CV and character barely qualify him to be a used car salesman. It doesn't matter that he is widely considered to be "incurious" -- i.e., that he doesn't have an inquiring mind (to put it delicately). More plainly, in Paul O'Neill's telling phrase, "he's a blind man in a room full of deaf people."

He is the "war president" who avoided serving in Viet Nam by joining the National Guard -- and then went AWOL and failed to fulfill his commitment. Yet he has the chutzpah to attack the service record of John Kerry, who was a decorated combat officer.

He is the "education president" who doesn't read, and has but scant knowledge of the world. ("There are blacks in Brazil?" "Sweden doesn't have an army, they're neutral").

He is the "compassionate conservative" who has slashed programs for the poor and veterans while emptying the Treasury -- and then some -- to dole out tax breaks for corporations and the rich, and providing _incentives_ to companies that send American jobs overseas.

But somehow half of the country has come to believe that he is their last, best hope.

John Kerry is no Bill Clinton, and he's no JFK. However he does impress me as a thoughtful, intelligent man, which for members of the "Know Nothing" party is anathema. Despite their protestations to the contrary, there is a huge segment of the American electorate who want to be ruled by a [prom] king. They want certainty and simple answers -- black hats and white hats -- in a world that is increasingly complex. They want reassurance that "We're No. 1!" even as the age of the superpower passes, undermined by interests of non-state actors (be they terrorists or multi-national corporations).

I'm voting for Kerry because Bush has left undone those things which he ought to have done, and he has done those things which he ought not to have done, and there is no health within him. By any objective measure, his tenure has been a disaster for the nation and the American people as a whole, save for a very, very, very, very small constituency of the very, very, very, very rich.

And even some of them are appalled.

Kerry seems to understand the questions, and he is ready, willing and able to meet those challenges. I don't see anyone else on the ballot who even comes close.

YMMV.