November 3, 2004
ASHCROFT FOR INQUISITOR!:
The Dream Is Lost: Bush Gets Mandate for Theocracy. Only the right can stop him now.
(James Ridgeway, November 3rd, 2004, Village Voice)
The dream has become a nightmare. Not only did George Bush win, but he captured the presidency by a margin of what now looks like 4 million votes.That’s a clear mandate and a big green light for the right wing to push ahead with an ideological program. [...]Bush will have no meaningful opposition, with a fully Republican Congress at his disposal. Even Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader, was beaten in what looks like a rout of the Democrats.
The dream of a secular, liberal democracy is lost: Christians are stronger than ever, and whether it's true or not, the spin will be that they played a key role in building the Bush base. The visceral, cutting edge of the Bush mandate is the attack on same-sex marriage, led by the Christian right.
African Americans may have voted overwhelmingly for John Kerry, but Republicans without a doubt have made some, if only marginal, gains among black voters. In black Ohio churches, Democratic leaders were experiencing muttering discontent from the congregations over the issue of same-sex marriage. Abortion may be a given in the black community, but gay people marrying each other is definitely not.
Funny how the Left's hysteria has laid the foundation for the President to accelerate the revolution he's already gotten well underway. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 3, 2004 10:57 AM
Bush Gets Mandate for Theocracy. Only the right can stop him now.
So, if after four years we're still not a theocracy, will Ridgeway credit the Right?
This sort of apocalyptic blather about domestic politics just makes me roll my eyes. I'm old enough to remember when Nixon was going to put all the hippies and protesters into camps that were being built in the desert. Reagan was going to starve all the poor and start a nuclear war. G.H.W. Bush had that whole "New World Order" plan for fascism. Clinton was going to call off the 2000 election. Yeah, right.
Posted by: PapayaSF at November 3, 2004 2:01 PMAfter growing up in California (ground zero of the Sexual Revolution) during the Sixties and Seventies and living amid the results, Theocracy looks pretty good to me.
At least in The Handmaid's Tale a geek like me can get a heterosexual virgin bride guaranteed to stay faithful.
Posted by: Ken at November 3, 2004 2:53 PMKen:
Maybe, but in the sequel she nags at you non-stop about how you should do more for her mother and get more excited about her plan to study life-counselling at the local community college.
Posted by: Peter B at November 3, 2004 7:23 PMBush seems to understand that this is a big country with lots of room for everyone. We don't need a theocracy whether a 'Christian' one or a 'secular humanist' one. Americans are adults and can make moral choices for themselves.
Any attempt to impose a narrow sectarian agenda on the American people is doomed to failure and the GOP would never survive it.
Posted by: Bart at November 3, 2004 10:38 PMBart:
Yeah! Those narrow sectarian initiatives only averaged about 70% of the vote Tuesday.
Posted by: oj at November 4, 2004 8:26 AMRestrictions on abortion have never won a referendum anywhere in the States.
Americans are a religiously conservative but tolerant people. Tolerance however is not the same as acceptance or approval and this is where the gays and the Democrats slipped up. Americans consider marriage a sacred ritual, central to people's self-definition and how they define others, and most importantly to how they want children to be raised. The notion of giving this right to gays repulsed people.
Conversely, disapproval is not intolerance. This is where the gay-bashers, the Joe Scheidlers, the Alan Keyes and Gary Bauers of the world slip up. Even religiously conservative Americans who might view Mary Cheney as a tragedy for her family, and comiserate with whatever pain the Cheneys feel about her lifestyle choice, but they would not discriminate against her in housing, employment, let alone criminalize her behavior. When someone chooses to have an abortion, it is a tragedy. It is not a decision taken lightly like Liposuction or Botox injections. These unfortunate women know that they are doing something serious, of a whole different ballgame from a rhinoplasty. Even most people who are opposed to abortion, like myself, have compassion for these sad cases. Fire and brimstone style intolerance just won't sell even in Deepest Darkest Flyover Country.
Posted by: Bart at November 4, 2004 9:46 AMOJ,
At the risk of sounding like the Monty Python argument sketch, 'No, they didn't!'
Bush won by not being a loony theocrat. The Democrats lost because their attempts to paint him as a loony theocrat failed completely.
Posted by: Bart at November 4, 2004 10:39 AMAbortion restrictions won again--big
Posted by: oj at November 5, 2004 10:04 AM