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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> T:he IQ of otherwise intelligent people drops 50 points when they engage 
> in mindless Bush hating.

This election and the reactions on both sides to the outcome certainly 
speaks volumes. I got caught up in it, too. My first self-serving reaction 
is that I am appalled that so many Americans are so naive. Alas, I 
recognize that the naivete must be widespread, not just on one side. So 
that won't satisfy my craving for an answer.

It would be easy to dismiss what I perceive as a national lobotomy as 
simply the inevitable result of poor education. How could they not see; how 
could they not understand? But there are educated fools on both sides of 
the aisle, both in the selling and the buying positions.

I think that the campaign circus and the post-election angst are reflective 
of where we as a society are on activity values. I suspect that a large 
percentage of people need political decisions to be easily made so they can 
get back to the more important activities of their life, like watching 
so-called sports on tv. Extensive reading and open-minded sharing and 
debate requires time and sustained effort. It is more comfortable and more 
expedient to knee jerk to candidates that are packaged and sold to appeal 
to hot-button issues.  We the people are the spectators, the ticket buyers, 
the fans in the stands. The full-time, professional operatives 
orchestrating the candidates have the baton, the bucks, and the ballots.

And then there are the complications. Just too many issues. How is one to 
sort through it all? Why, simple. Pick an emotional issue like war, 
abortion or gay rights, follow the instinctive reaction, then stay with 
that and read and listen to only those who are on your side. Campaign 
managers make the menu large, then follow the small sales to the big sale. 
As a society we have devolved to a place where packaging and marketing are 
far more winning than the product.

I fear for my country. Jesus and Lincoln both stated that a house divided 
cannot stand. One wonders if the fall of Rome began like this.