BrickBlog

Well, it's 2:30 PM on Thursday, Nov. 4 and it' been about 36 hours since I officially gave up on John Kerry's chances to replace George W. Bush and his cadre of butchers in the White House. As everyone surely knows by now, the Republicans thoroughly depantsed the Democrats in the recent elections, garnering much of their support from the Religious Right. Despite Bush's record of dishonesty and failure, the voters of the American Heartland (as opposed to its Brainland) flooded the polls, motivated by their consciences, and voted for Bush. Exit polls showed that 80% of those who listed "moral values" as their top concern cast their vote for the W. Exit Polls



But, one has to ask: what exactly were the "moral values" with which these voters were most concerned? Certainly, the voters could not have cast a vote for Bush on the grand-daddy of all moral values: murder. The Sixth Commandment clearly dictates: "Thou shalt not kill." And yet, as documented in previous entries, George W. Bush is guilty of launching an unjustified war that has, to date, resulted in the deaths of as many as 100,000 innocent victims. You might counter that Bush was not alone in this endeavor, that Congress and the American people backed him during the march to war and have only recently withdrawn their support. To a point, this is an accurate - if broad - portrayal of the history of the Iraq War. However, in drumming up support for his campaign of conquest, the President broke yet another of his God's commandments. The Ninth Commandment commands: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor." And yet, our President did just that. He lied about Iraq. What's worse, he lied so that we would support a horrific and unjustified war of aggression.

How can voters who are, ostensibly, most concerned with moral values (presumably, moral values of the Christian variety) cast their lot with a man who has clearly broken at least two* of their God's sacred commands? The answer is simple: the morally-concerned voters of this country do not base their moral intuitions on the teachings of their own God nor Savior nor His sacred texts. The salt of America decide for themselves what is right and wrong, whether consistent with their God's statement on the issues or not, and vote accordingly. And often, those moral decisions are founded more on obstinance than deliberation: the moral beliefs of a Christian Conservative is often nothing more than a reaction to the ideals of the dreaded East Coast Librul. The Religious Right in this country does not found their beliefs on rational analysis, but on a flat hostility towards progressive thinking, or as they would call it "permissiveness."

So, what we haveis a bloc of voters in Middle America who are entirely unreasonable. What they claim to believe, they disregard. What they actually believe is founded on hostile opposition to another group, not reason or strict textual adherence. The Religious Right is willing to believe that they are in danger of a terrorist attack, despite the fact that the "Red States" are at practically 0% risk of a such an attack in the foreseeable future. The Religious Right is willing to support a man because he has vaguely stated support for their view on abortion, despite his apathy towards pro-life efforts in practice. And, the Religious Right is even willing to oppose the Democrats based on an assumed equation of their beliefs on gay marriage with those of East Coast Libruls in general, despite the fact that the Democratic candidate's own stated views exactly mirrored those of their candidate. In summary, the only motivations relevent to the voting habits of the Middle American Moron are hatred and fear of the unknown. They cannot be reasoned with, especially if they are frightened and rancorous. And, the Bush Regime has done a fantastic job of keeping them that way.

So, what happened on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 was that the big, dumb, frightened and angry countryfolk of this nation took a stand against Reason. The Religious Right marched defiantly to the polls and cast their vote not for George W Bush, but against those East Coast Librul smarty-pantses who would dare to tell them how to run their country. They voted against the damned Frenchies who hate America. They voted against the Arabs who have the gall to oppose America's history of violence and oppression in their homeland. They cast a vote for defiance of Reason. They beat the hell out of the smart kids in this country by voting en masse for an idiot. And now they, along with us, will pay for it.

QUICK NOTE: There's one more thing I'd like to mention really quickly: it's good to see some familiar names now commenting here. I realize much of the discussion has been motivated by the recent election disaster. However, I'd love to continue to receive comments from y'all (and anyone else who reads this blog). Y'all's comments are greatly appreciated, and your contributions so far are priceless. Thanks for posting, and please send the link to this blog onward to your friends, family and well-wishers who might be interested. Now is the time to reorganize the progressive, empirical community to take back this country. We have to fight what's happening to America, one mind at a time.

*And possibly more. There is a good case that Bush's intent for this war is to obtain Iraqi positions for US military bases as well as Iraqi oil. Achieving these objectives would, of course, violate the Eigth Commandment, which sets forth a prohibition against theft. Another of the Commandments, the Tenth, might also provide a prohibition against this very action. And, of course, George W. Bush has worked on the Sabbath and has caused others to do the same (in violation of the Fourth Amendment).