A new day has dawned, but the sights are still depressing

GWBush has won. I have to accept that now as fact. Of course, he didn't JUST win, he won decisively by over 3 million votes in the popular vote, and he picked up two new states that he did not win in 2000 while winning Florida and Ohio rather impressively. The sad thing for me, as Thomas Friedman wrote this week in his NYTimes column, is that this election was not just about policy differences, but really it was about the definition of the American ideal itself. Those of us who believe the American ideal should be about lifting up all members of society, looking out for each other as a family would, giving every individual an equal opportunity to succeed in life, offering hope to all the unfortunate souls who have never known success, and bringing financial stability and balance to our federal budgets have lost this battle. Honestly, I think we may have lost our hope for the near future of seeing our beliefs and ideals come to the forefront of public debate.

For now, the right-wing idealogues that Cawood calls neo-fasci-cons, will dominate public discourse and inundate us with their reactionary agenda. We will see more (and perhaps permanent) tax cuts while our country continues to fight an impeachable war with annual budget deficits reaching historically astronomical depths. The right will control the discussion about Social Security reform (led by privitization and stock-market investment) and Medicare reform (will we really continue to let millions of children be without health coverage?). We will hear more and more about the appointment of strict constructionist judges and justices, the religious right will dominate discussion about the 'protection of marriage' amendment, and pro-life causes will continue to focus on the unborn while neglecting to consider the innocent lives lost as a result of war, or the innocent lives lost as a result of the death penalty.

I can only do two things at this point--continue to speak out against the far-right agenda of this President's administration, and pray that God will truly guide the President in his role as leader. I sincerely doubt that the President has been willing to listen to God except when he wants to hear Him. I hope that Bush will begin to listen to Him at all times and will work to bring the country toward peace and understanding. Bush has great rhetoric, but his actions do not reflect his words--if he truly wants to heal the rift in this country between the red and the blue, then he needs to moderate his agenda so that he represents all the people.