|
The whole country is breathing a sigh of relief. The election is over and a winner has been declared. Personally, I'm glad that Bush won. However, I'm guessing that most Kerry supporters, while disappointed that Kerry didn't win, are happy that we aren't going into a barrage of litigation to decide the election.
Of course many Bush opponents will say that since Bush won in 2000 through litigation (as they claim) that Kerry should beat him at the same game -- turn about is fair play. The problem with that is that two times in a row (2000, 2004) would set a precedent that would be hard to surpress. Most Americans don't want that. So I congratulate Kerry on doing the right thing for the country and conceding.
Since the time that election results were announced till now I've already seen some sharp criticism against Bush. Some people have been shouting around about now we're going to have to face four more years of war and lousy economy and ultra-conservative social politics.
Let's stop fooling ourselves. If Kerry had been elected, he wouldn't have ended the war in Iraq any sooner than Bush will. Maybe the war wouldn't have lasted as long if Kerry had been running the show from the beginning, but now that the tracks have been laid and the train is chugging along, Kerry could only ride the train to the end, just like Bush. So Iraq won't take longer because of Bush. Kerry even implied as much during the third debate and subsequent stump speeches. He said that Bush made the mess and he'd have to clean it up. No, he wouldn't bring our troops home in 6 months.
But a legitimate concern is that Bush would try to start another war somewhere else. I can't predict the future all that well but I don't think that will happen. And, if it did happen, that is, if Bush started another pre-emptive war, he would lose a lot of supporters.
The second issue that critics are complaining about and predicting despair over is the economy. The funny thing about US economic predictions is that they sometimes become self-fulfilling prophecies. For instance, if enough people spout that the stock market is going to crash, enough investors will hear that and will pull their money out of the market, and then, sure enough, it crashes. This works in other areas of the economy too. When it comes to money, people, or businesses, are careful. If there are warnings, no matter how unfounded, it makes people pause a bit before commiting their money to something. If there are enough pauses it can add up to create a real issue.
But in spite of the continuing warnings that the sky is falling many economic indicators are showing a recovering economy. The changes over the last year have been all positive. More jobs, higher average incomes, and lower unemployment (isn't that the same thing as more jobs??) are all good indicators. These numbers don't seem to be at the same levels they were in 2000 but they are on an upwards trajectory. The economy isn't getting worse. It's getting better. Those who are waiting to see four more years of declining income will be disappointed when in four years from now things will be looking very good economically.
Don't expect the Bush opponents to be joyous, or even acknowledge, with the improved economic state. By then they will be looking for a win in the 2008 election. The goal at that time will be to paint a dismal picture to try to convince citizens that the Republican adminstration for 8 years has done severe damage to the country. To be fair, the complaints would go the other way if the Democrats were in office for 8 years. It's just standard US politics.
The final issue that I've seen raised concerning four more of Bush is his conservative views on social issues. Let's look at some facts here for a second. Bush has not pulled any punches or tried to hide his views on social issues such as abortion, gay marriage, church and state, gun control, capital punishment, and so on. He isn't ambivalent or evasive. He's said all along what he thinks. In cases where he's had to back off on some stances it has been with clear reluctance that his decision is being made as a compromise -- an attempt to work with others to get a greater good.
With his views out there in plain site, 55 million people voted for him. What does that mean? That means that there are large numbers of people who agree with his value system. I understand that not everyone voting for Bush voted for him because of his moral stance. I'm sure there are some who voted for him because of his handling of Iraq even though his moral stance was opposite theirs. That's the lesser evil attitude. On the other hand, there are voters who voted for Kerry because they disagree with the war. They much prefer Bush's moral stance on everything except the war. I suggest that these two sides are equal in number.
So we end up with about 55 million people who seem to agree with Bush on his social views. The majority of Americans are socially conservative. That's a fact that the socially liberal segment just can't get a handle on. I've seen it personally many times. They assume that conservatives are either bigotted, brain washed, or too dumb to know better. To be sure there are lots of bigotted, brain washed, dumb people in the US. But I don't see that these people are limited to only the conservative camps.
What the liberals can't seem to understand is that there are many open minded and intelligent social conservatives. These are people who have spent time looking at the issues and have decided that the conservative view is most correct. Just because a liberal can't see the rationality of a view doesn't mean it's not a rational view. Lots of Americans are conservative -- on purpose.
The threat of four more years of social conservatism doesn't get many people quaking in their boots. Yes, a few are concerned, but that's why we consider America a diverse country. Everyone has their own view and that's good.
That last thing I want to comment on concerning the election was the voter turnout. Apparently voter turnout was extremely high. That is absolutely great! The more voters who vote, the better. Both political parties agree on that. I'm hoping the trend continues and we'll see record turnouts at all future elections.
|
More Articles 
