Today I woke up very early (I will not say when) to follow the election. To me the time difference is actually a practical thing making me able to follow the nerve wrecking drama going on on the other side of the Atlantic. It was unfortunately a sad predicted result I woke up to but as the naive optimist I am, I will not accept a partial result and was still hoping until way into the morning.
I am very sad about the election and what it says about America. How come that I know so many smart and nice Americans (who all vote) and still, so many Americans vote so... wrong? Why are people driven by their fears instead of their hopes and wishes? It is truely one of the issues that puzzles me the most, how people can be guided by issues relying on negative values (gay = wrong, foreign beliefs = wrong, tax = wrong) instead of possitive values (diversity = good, taking care of less priviledged people = good, freedom = good). But I guess that is what fasinates me about the US as well, its insanity mixed with wonderful people and an overall positive approach to life.
Posted by Louise at November 3, 2004 08:56 AMThere are a lot of reasons...but when you realize that 90% of Americans don't have a passport and most have only two weeks vacation, the majority don't have time to travel, and aren't/don't want to be aware of what's going on in the rest of the world (never mind what's going on in our own country).
We also live in a fear-and-consume society; living in fear, consuming far too much (of everything) without considering the consequences...
Also, this was a split vote (even if Bush is attempting to claim that he has a mandate with 51% of the vote...so arrogant!) and the country is very divided and tense. The only positives are that it appears Ashcroft is resigning and the new head of the Senate Judiciary committee (Specter, a Republican) has already warned Bush about attempting to appoint Supreme Court judges who are ultraconservative.
If you haven't read the Xenophobe's Guide to the Americans, I suggest doing so. It's eerily dead-on about the quirks of our culture!
Posted by: Carolyn at November 5, 2004 03:31 AM