Yesterday, the world witnessed the end to the US as we know it. Barring a miracle or the revelation of large scale voter fraud, John Kerry has lost his bid to become president of this great nation. We Americans are now going to be forced to watch as Bush further dismantles the US Constitution and condemns the next several generations to the reversal of civil liberties gained through hard-fought battles over the years. Reports on various news channels last night spoke of the "Amway network" that the GOP had put together in many states, particularly Ohio. This network consisted of at least 1000 evangelical Christian churches, who, like the pastor of an online acquaintance, "did not mention a candidate by name"...but "encouraged us to look at the candidates' positions on abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, etc." There is no doubt in the minds of Kerry supporters that Bush owes his victory to these churchgoers. And the de facto spokespersons for the ultra-conservative Christian vote are people like Pat Robertson and James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, all of whom-- either personally and/or through their organizations-- have contributed heavily to keeping Bush in power.

As anyone who has watched politics for even five minutes knows, there's a "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" attitude. There are two big issues concerning these fundamentalist Christians: gay equality and abortion (which also covers stem cell research.) The way things stand right now on the US Supreme Court, gay marriage will be granted-- or would have been had Justice Renquist not been stricken with thyroid cancer. There's no doubt that Justice Renquist will be replaced during the continued reign of the GOP-- and given that they have gained at least one and as many as four new seats in the Senate, there won't be enough votes to stop them from pushing through whatever nominee Bush chooses to name. The addition of another conservative vote on the Supreme Court will make the fight for gay marriage rights that much more difficult. But in addition, it will most assuredly jeopardize a woman's right to reproductive choice. There are, as of this date, thirty states that have laws banning abortion written and ready to rush through the legislature if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade.

Another right that will most assuredly come under fire is the right to freedom of religion. Prayer in public schools will once again be a hot topic issue. Recent rulings have affirmed students' right to pray in school-- as it should, provided that no teacher leads the prayer, no classtime is used and no student is forced to participate. But, as hard as it may be to believe, there are still communities that to this day use the public school's PA system to lead school prayers. Emboldened by having "one of their own" in the White House, conservative Christians will push those limits even further if their past history is any indication of how they intend to operate in the future. There is no question that the goal of these fundamentalist Christian groups is to make this a Christian nation-- to create a theocracy ruled by Christian principles. There is a site online called Objective: Christian Ministries that says right on their page, "The Internet was created by the United States of America - a Christian nation [ref. 1, 2, 3][Author SSR's note: on the site, the ref's are links to footnotes] - and should not be used to spread anti-Christian, secular, or non-Christian propaganda and hate speech. This is our Internet, and we should exercise our position as its owners and as the guardians of civilization to stop its misuse." This is the kind of extremism that is at the root of the evangelical movement. People like Pat Robertson and James Dobson try to hide these fanatics because to most Christians, their message is repugnant. But these small churches are the backbone of the evangelical movement. And these are the kinds of policies we will see begin to slip into public policy, made all that much easier by the existance of Bush's faith-based initiatives. As a result, there is no doubt that there will be a concerted effort to ban or at the least severely limit such faiths as paganism, Wicca, satanism, voodoo and even new age.

Many in the fundamentalist Christian sects believe that we are living in the end times. This belief can but lead to one conclusion: that there's no need to preserve the earth's natural resources. As a result, under Bush, new areas of forests never before opened to logging have now been logged. New oil drilling in protected wilderness areas and a loosening of environmental protection standards has occured. We've pulled out of the Kyoto Accord, a treaty that deals with global protection of the environment. Of course, much of the environmental destruction reeked by the policies of this administration on the ecology won't even be seen by American eyes since much of it takes place in foreign countries with the help of economic incentives for American manufacturing plants to move overseas.

These incentives to outsource jobs will, of course, hurt the US economy. In two of the biggest battleground states in yesterdays elections, about 25% of all the jobs lost since Bush took office were lost in these two states. And while Pennsylvania opted for change by endorsing Kerry, Ohio appears to be poised to be the deciding state for the entire election by voting for Bush. Most pundits seem to say that the economy is doing better: that economic trends indicate that people are spending more. (Of course, we must take into account that the Bush administration has recently changed how to calculate those "indicators" so that it makes the economy look better than it really is.) But those same trends also indicate that, like the country as a whole, Americans are more in debt than ever before. The spending that we're doing is not spending of available cash: it's merely deficit spending. One of the economic trends I find most interesting involves the automotive and oil/gas industries. Gas-guzzling SUV's became very popular under the thriving economy of the Clinton administration. And then Bush, with his ties to big oil, gets into office and suddenly the price of gas shoots up to record levels. Forgive me if I can't chalk this one up to coincidence.

As I write this, I just learned that Kerry has conceded the election. Tears stream down my face and I'm sobbing. I am truly afraid for this country, for my children, for women and gays and other minorities-- and for the entire world. Bush pledged to be a uniter during his last campaign and he did nothing but divide us even further. A leopard doesn't change his spots overnight....

I don't chalk up this victory to Bush's policies. I don't even chalk it up to the efforts of volunteers to get out the vote. I chalk this victory up to the unwillingness of the American people to think for themselves-- especially the conservatives. Talk to anyone who supported Bush and you'll hear Kerry called a flip-flopper. Lenin said it and Bush used it to his advantage: "A lie told often enough becomes truth." Kerry's opinions changed-- when the evidence and facts he was given changed. That is what responsible and mature people do: change their opinions when the facts change. Only stubborn fools cling to their original statements even when objective evidence shows otherwise. Unless that stubborn fool is the president of the US-- then he's called a steadfast leader.

I weep for my country tonight. I weep for those who fought for the civil rights that have been taken from us and those that we will lose in the future. I weep for the millions of gays who have been relegated to second class citizens by their states constitutions. I weep for the women who may soon have to bear unwanted children or take a chance on getting an illegal abortion. I weep for the unwanted children who will grow up knowing their mothers wanted to abort them. Or in a worst case scenario, those who grow up abused and neglected because they were not wanted. I weep for the soldiers who are forced to extend their stay in Iraq and Afghanistan because of poor planning and pride of the US president. I weep for the young men and women who will undoubtedly be called up in a draft-- despite the promises to the contrary. The simple fact of the matter is that without a draft, the US cannot continue to remain in Iraq and Afghanistan. To pull out now in either place will do even more harm and our reserves and national guard are depleted. I suppose Bush might get away with not instituting a draft-- just drafting those who are part of the "ready reserves"-- namely all those soldiers who were once in the military and who thought they were out for good. I wonder if Bush will wait until after Christmas to send them their recall papers...

Please, if you believe in a higher power, no matter what you call that power, please pray for us in the US.

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