Movin' On

Well, folks. It's over. The election, that is. But in many other ways this is just the beginning. This political race has sparked something in me, as many of you already know. Before our President came to office, I was not very politically active, though I did vote. After seeing what our President did to our country, and the world, over the past 4 years, I couldn't sit by idly and not educate myself fully and try to educate others. I spent Election Day as an official, paid poll worker (not a poll watcher for some of the organizations like MoveOn.org) locally here in New York. It was a very interesting process. You should all do it sometime. I worked about 16 hours and didn't feel the least bit tired. In fact, I came home and watched the news (and the Daily Show) for another 2 hours before heading to bed, somehow thinking that Kerry would pull this thing out.

I woke up this morning disheartened and disappointed. And a bit worried about the future of the country. I saw a lot of people at the polls who only voted for President. But what's just as important as who occupies the Executive office is who controls the Congress. Both the House and Senate moved further into the controls of the Republican party. What this means is what really frightens me. It means that the Republicans have a greater chance of pushing through legislation that favors their party values, rather than legislation that may be more inclusive of everyone in the country. Privatization of Social Security, more tax cuts like the recent corporate tax cuts put through just before the election, you know the deal. Essentially laws and polices that favor corporations and the rich, to the exclusion of those in the lower economic classes. Yes, Republicans will claim that they cut taxes across the board for everyone, including the middle class, and that's true. But the vast majority of the money returned to people's pockets went into the pockets of the wealthy. And those tax cuts came during a time of war, the first time in our country's history that taxes were cut in a time of war. It's irresponsible and has created some of the largest deficits in this country's history. And with all of these tax cuts, you would think that the government would curtail spending, but spending actually increased! Expect more of the same.

Expect more of the same and possibly worse. This President doesn't have to worry about being re-elected in 4 years, so he's got very little to lose. I also predict that we're in for a lot of bad news in the coming 6 months or so. This way, by the time the next election rolls around, everyone has already forgotten about it. Who did Cheney invite to his "energy" policy meeting?
How much worse is the Iraq war going to get?

This President presides over massive budget deficits. Not since the Great Depression has a President actually lost net jobs. More people have fallen into poverty and have lost health insurance during his first 4 years in office. He brought us into an unjustified war in Iraq and has consistently lied to the American people. He ran in 2000 as a "compassionate conservative," but after getting into office swung way to the right. Now he asks that we, the supporters of John Kerry, work with him to unite the country. I, for one, am not falling for his bullshit again. I am generally a pretty positive spirited person, so I remain somewhat hopeful that he will make efforts to actually follow through, but I'm going to be paying close attention to what goes on in Washington over the next four years. If he makes honest efforts to work in the interest of the whole country and not just his right wing zealots, I'll get behind those efforts. I am not a left-wing, rampant liberal. I'm a realist and therefore more moderate in my beliefs, though I lean Democratic. But I have voted Republican, not only in past elections (I voted for Rudy Giuliani for mayor of New York City), but even in this election, believe it or not - though not for President. I believe that a good mix of people on both sides makes the system more representative of the country.

Clearly there is a deep divide in the US and, as the leader of the country, Bush has the responsibility of bringing us together. Will he make the effort? That remains to be seen.