stone savage

zeitgeist: November 3, 2004
ortgeist : Southern California

I arrived at work around 9am this morning. When I walked up to the lobby deli counter to purchase something for breakfast, I was greeted by a very cheery “What can I get you, today?” from the person behind the counter. Not seeing any hemlock in view I opted for a plate of fruit and headed upstairs.

[More:]

I openned the door to the common work area on my floor and noticed our reception worker was not at his desk - it seems he fell ill sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning. I did a quick glance around the office and noticed quite a few folks seemed to have fallen ill.

At first I was concerned that maybe a virus was heading around the office… and then I remembered what day it was - and for whom my absent co-workers told me they’d laid their voting plans. Election 2004 has come and gone, and it seems the byproduct has been to cause a short-term illness in some of our employees.

My other co-workers seem to think there is something wrong with me today. I wonder why. It could be that I’m wearing a persistent scowl - something rather unusual for me to do - but it may be this new habit I’ve acquired of muttering obscenities under my breath. Or… maybe they’ve been paying attention to my computer monitor. I suppose I really shouldn’t be surfing websites for jobs in Canada.

In any case, about an hour ago one of my co-workers, a Bush supporter, asked me - with quite a Bush type smirk - what I thought of last night’s elections. I probably should have replied with something other than a twitching left eye.

The Presidency was decided not over terrorism, Iraq, or the economy. It was decided, according to last night’s news coverage - over the hotbed of moral values. Excuse me? Moral values? We have our men and women fighting in a war and the number one issue for voters being exit-polled was moral values?!

It’s a good thing our soldiers can’t come home whenever they want to… else we might all be receiving a much-deserved slap in the face for basically telling them that we don’t care about the war they are fighting. Whether you were a Kerry or a Bush supporter - your vote for your candidate will undoubtably have a very real effect on the direction our government takes in Iraq… yet we thought moral values was a more important issue to propel us into the voting booths.

We have a tremendous disparity in this country over how to stimulate the economy - the candidates had widely divergent plans for economic recovery - and yet moral values is what prompted the highest voter turn out since 1968? Pardon me while I pause for dramatic effect.

What the hell is wrong with people in this country? How in the world can these people sleep at night when the whole of their existence revolves around God, Gays, and Gun Control? I hate to have to say it… but when the next terrorist attack happens here - and make no mistake, there will be another one, God won’t stop it - the Gays won’t be the target - and Guns will be an afterthought.

Is it because we, as a people, are just so overly-saturated with the actual issues that we chose something so banal to be our compelling reason to vote? Or is it because we, as a people, are really that self-absorbed that nothing is as important as imposing personal moral values onto a diverse population? Maybe it’s neither… maybe it’s just that we really are a country filled with an inability to comprehend that everything - everything - really does matter.

We banter back and forth and say things like “it doesn’t matter what the world thinks of us", “the science behind global warming is make-believe", etc. but we all know that these are merely examples of soundbyte mentality. The trouble with that mentality, however, is that it gets embraced by those who don’t want to be “bothered by politics” and becomes the battle-cry when it comes time to vote.

So, as I sit here typing my thoughts I am left wondering about American politics and the citizen’s vote. The vote for the President is often the only vote people cast. It is, for me, something I do in addition to the other votes I cast - and all of them combined are my message to the leadership of my government on how I hope to see things unfold in my future.

When we look at who voted, and why, I have to wonder what message it was that was sent out last night, and whether or not a good dose of hemlock is preferential to what the fall-out may be.

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