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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] second stolen election :
  • Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 09:11:39 -0700


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.






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