Giving America the Bush It Prayed For
By Miles Hochstein of Portland, Oregon. Miles Hochstein is a writer and photographer who lives a documented life.
President Bush calls for unity after the election but of course that means unity on Republican terms. I, like most who did not vote for him or for the ideology that he represents, am uninterested and unmoved. I say to President Bush I hope you get everything you want, because your success, and the misery I believe you will inflict, are the path to the awakening of the American public. Don't compromise with me, or the feeble left in this country, please! You have the power, you take the responsibility. Let's see how America feels about it in four years.
Of course I don't believe for a moment that Bush really intends, with his popular vote "mandate" and increased control of two houses of Congress, to actually bow to the center or left or adopt positions that would foster national unity. That is just empty rhetoric. We've seen these folks' hearts, and what they did with their questionable 2000 mandate. The call for unity should be met by Democratic leadership with a polite "Thanks but no thanks. You have the power, so you do it your way." The Democrats and the left in general need to rethink their own approach, rejoice in the support of almost half the voters, and not get co-opted by Bush's approach.
And in fact there are in fact some good reasons to be "not unhappy" about a Bush victory.
1) Kerry won't have to deal with and won't be held responsible for Iraq. Really, Kerry's Presidency was bound to be a disaster, in which he would have been blamed for a war that he approved and vowed to fight more effectively than the President. He might have done a better job at it than Bush, but it still would have been a disaster for him and our country. Now it still will be a disaster, but for Bush and our country. While America doesn't deserve that disaster, Bush certainly does.
2) Kerry won't have to deal with the deficit through taxation or cuts. Instead, Bush and company will have to reap the fruits of their irresponsible budget busting policies. Really, Kerry can thank God he doesn't have that one on his plate. He doesn't deserve to have it. Those who created the policies can deal with the consequences, and we can help the public see the relationships between the policies and consequences.
3) Kerry won't be held responsible for the next big terror attack, which is very likely to occur in the next four years. Of course Bush will use that attack to advance his agenda again, but still and all, it will be good to remind America that all the national security and police state measures we take can't keep America perfectly safe. Maybe America will even ask itself why major terrorist attacks keep happening on Bush's watch?
4) Let it ripen. In general, those of us who believe that the problems created by Bush are deep and structural, can take comfort in the likelihood that they are likely to worsen under this man and his policies. The country really hasn't tasted true conservatism of the Bush variety yet. Now it will and we'll see how it likes it. We can foresee severe restrictions on abortion. A strengthened internal domestic security apparatus and reduced civil liberties. Environmental damage. The completion of the merger of corporate America with the government in Washington (that's a form a marriage that I'd like to ban!) An unresolved health care cost crisis and health insurance crisis. A looming economic crisis as foreigners reduce their purchases of American debt, perhaps sooner than we think.
So I, in a perverse way, am looking forward to seeing how bad it gets, and how Americans feel about it when they get what they think they want from Bush. (I also mourn for those who stand to be injured in the coming four years.)
Of course Bush will also deliver the symbols that people seem to love, God, flag, evangelical Christian language, nationalism and apple pie rhetoric. He'll supply all the sugar needed to help the medicine (and poison) go down. Good! Let him continue to talk like that. Let people really feel the relationship between the sweet language of God and the deprivations produced by the policies of those who speak politically in the name of God. Let America have what it voted for, and let America have it for another four years. Let's see how America feels about it then.
Yes, I wanted Kerry to win, but a Kerry victory would have been premature. I'm not an historical materialist in the old leftist sense, but there is truth in the idea that history has a certain measure of logic and structure. Sometimes the world just needs to ripen. These will be a hard four years, but we will know which party is responsible for the hardships, and in 2008 we'll just see how America feels about it, and whether it is ready to do something about it.
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Nov. 05, 2004
Posted in guest column. |
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Nov 5, '04
I could not have summed up my feelings on this election fiasco any better if I had tried, or if I had it probably would have been much more crass in its delivery. I tip my hat to you for being more measured and eloquent than I could ever hope to be when speaking about Bush. Keep it up! Eventually people will open their eyes.
Nov 5, '04
1) the war is going great. we are winning over the hearts, minds and oil of the Iraqi people.
2) i have one hyphenated word for you "trickle-down". it will save us.
3) we are soooo incredibly safe now and Mr. Bush is a national hero who will continue to keep us safe from terrorists and their evil liberal ilk.
4) Mr. Bush and his friends only want what's best for the American people. i'm sure he's only looking out for corporate interests because of the greater good they sow with their increased profits (see #2 above).
Nov 5, '04
You want crass?
Here's crass. (Safe for work, unless you read it out loud). I think it's a good representation of the anger and disbelief, though.
12:13 p.m.
Nov 5, '04
Wow, this is a bizarre kind of optimism. As far as I can tell, John Kerry knew exactly what he was getting into when he decided to run for President. To suggest that we should be somehow relieved that he won't have to deal with the consequences of war and tax cuts is like saying we should never fix anything we didn't break ourselves, or that the doctor shouldn't try to heal the patient because, well, the patient may die and the doctor might be blamed. No, a Kerry victory would not have been premature. It would have been just fine, thank you. I would much rather have the world "ripen" under his watch.
Nov 5, '04
Hey Iggy, that awesome "trickle down" philosophy you speak so reverently about? There's one problem with that: it's bullshit and has never worked. Reagan said it would work in the eighties, it didn't. Bush is saying it will work now, it won't. It's a great angle to make sure the rich get richer and they sure as hell aren't giving any of their profits to us. I find your naivete very depressing and sad.
"Mr. Bush and his friends only want what's best for the American people. i'm sure he's only looking out for corporate interests because of the greater good they sow with their increased profits."
I have to say this is the dumbest thing I have ever read. Congratulations!
Nov 5, '04
With all due respect, I believe mr. iggi was being ironic or sarcastic, or somewhere in between..
I've seen a lot of this kind of sentiment from Democrats - hoping things go badly just so Bush looks bad. Some of you, more than would probably admit, hope that things continue to get worse in Iraq so that the political fortunes of your party improve. And you wonder why you get called unpatriotic? Leaving that judgment aside, do you really think that's a winning strategy? Hope for the country to go into the shitter so that you can pull it out?
Nov 5, '04
Suzanne,
I hear you. I do agree that a Kerry victory would have been good, but it would have been a mixed blessing -- more good than not, but bringing with it the potential to damage a progressive agenda too. It would not have been a happy experience. It would have been a "better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick" experience.
While mourning the opportunities that have been missed and the lives that stand to be harmed by Bush's policies, I thought it was interesting to contemplate the disasters that have been missed as well, and how those disasters might, in the akido of political life, ultimately redound to the advantage of progressives more than a muddled Kerry Presidency.
Brett,
I don't "hope" things go badly. They are already going badly. I don't hope Bush looks bad. Bush already looks bad.
The question is who should pay the cost for the disaster in Iraq, the responsible man, movement and party or Kerry, Democrats and progressives.
I don't hope that the country is going down the tubes. I observe that it is, and I observe that the country hasn't made the connection yet to Republican and corporate policies.
In the long term making that connection is even more important than which particular politician wins or loses an election. One value of a second Bush administration is provides an opportunity to make this lesson clearer to more people. A Kerry presidency (which I would have rejoiced to have) would nonetheless make the relationship between corporate republicanism and the various problems I cited much less clear, and thus rescued us for the moment, patched a few holes in a ship going down, but perhaps, in the longer term hindered a progressive agenda, a reconsideration of the voyage itself.
If I was unclear in my remarks, I hope that this helps clarify my meanings.
Miles
Some of us find satisfaction in dialectics, others only annoyance. I feel a little of both... so there I go again, seeing both sides. :-)
Miles
Nov 5, '04
its a sad day at Blue Oregon when Brett has to come to my defense ;)
yes, i was being a smartass.
Nov 5, '04
Iggi and all, I am saddened by what I would call ANOTHER REIGN OF TERROR< by the Bush Presidency,
1> I know that under all other presidents, my life was not as hard, I had medical coverage, thanks for OHP when alot of jobs are not covering it, In Oregon
Now we stand and watch Bush use all our SS money to fight his stupid war, maybe we will all be dead since with his horrible TAXES, we are all made even more poor even though we work hard and make good money, it does not cover our expenses, let alone some left to buy Medical inusrance.
I would have VOTED for anyone, but BUSH I just think we gave him the chance but the MIDDLE class VOICE does not reach loud in the REPUBLICAN world. I think of all my fellow Americans and i am sad for us and our country. WHEN will we have a president that will work for us not for THEIR gain?
<h2>MY finnal thought alot of people liked Hitler, THAT did not mean he was A GOOD MAN!!!</h2>