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November 12, 2004
Why do the US election results evoke such passion on the Left?
I am always a bit cautious when it comes to commenting on other people's elections, party politics, and systems, largely because I am not there, I do not have sufficient insight into the way the system works, or the policies and issues under debate. So it often amazes me when I see the sort of headlines the likes of the Mirror, The Garudian, The Sun, The Independent and other Left-wing promoters run. That said, I have, thanks to Ozguru at G'day Mate, found a paper on this issue which makes a very important and valid point on the whole thing.
I agree with both these sources, it would seem that the tirade of abuse against both leaders involved was certainly a factor in the way people ultimately voted. Speaking for my own views on this, the likes of Michael Moore and other "celebrities" rushing around name calling and doom mongering is sufficient to get my back right up - and drive me to take an opposite view. Whoever writes Cher's scripts should remember that! Her prediction that every Gay and Lesbian would find themselves in jail, or being persecuted or disenfranchised and all the other nonsense she uttered in that outburst, seems to have even driven the people she was supposedly espousing to vote for the "enemy".
What all this torrent of anti-Bush propaganda has done outside of the US (sorry Oz, but the doings of your PM just didn't even get attention in Southern Africa.) has actually had an even more serious effect. It has increased the distrust with which ALL Americans are viewed. It has heightened in particular the suspicion with which every action by every American institution is now viewed. In fact, even if the US pulled out of Iraq tomorrow and let the French, Russian, and the Mullahs get on with their little exercise in power grabbing, you Americans would still be blamed for allowing it to happen. Somehow and somewhere the truth has been lost - and I expect that both sides of the debate have, to quote Churchill, been "economical with the truth". This constant sniping from a small and rather childish group on the Left is now endangering the entire democratic process. By calling the intelligence of voters into question, by infering that the "other side" has hidden motives and agendas, by blaming everyone for your own failure to understand the issues which really get people out to vote, you are in danger of destroying the very mechanism you claim to believe in.
Do take the trouble to read Pixie Misa's piece at Ambient Irony on the outcomes of the elections in Australia and in the US. He makes the point far more lucidly (probably because he understands both system far more intimately than I could!) than I could hope to.
Posted by The Gray Monk at November 12, 2004 08:41 PM
Comments
My twin is in the UK right now and has some interesting observations at his blog, www.wasuvi.com.
A lot of us on the left are alarmed by the surge of right-wing Christians who are accepting Bush's slim victory as a public mandate of their entire agenda.
As a Gay American, I am not so much afraid of going to jail over my orientation, but I *am* afraid of the measures my partner's family (who are viciously anti-gay) could take against me in the event that my partner is hurt or killed or in the hospital in terms of our shared property and my right to visit him in a hospital situation. The new anti-gay ballot initiative in Georgia gives outsiders the power to override the durable power of attorney that we have drawn up between us. And that's why I'm afraid and upset.
Posted by: Rex at November 13, 2004 03:48 PM
Thanks for the link mate.
Posted by: Ozguru at November 14, 2004 09:24 PM