MInTheGap

When Kerry conceded a little over a week ago, the thoughts in my head
turned to how hard it must be for a man who spent so much time and
money– not to mention the emotional cost– to run for the presidency
and then lose… and then be gracious about it.  For all that can be
said about the man and his positions, I believe he rose to the occasion
when it came to that speech.

As for the many people that supported him, I can’t say as much.  Not
only are those that voted for Bush– in their eyes– dumb, but have
caused America to no longer be enlightened, have encouraged people to
leave the country, and are definitely not morall superior.  It’s almost
tiring and emotionally draining to see that people actually think this
way about their fellow man.

I understand that there are many
that believed that if Kerry was elected President that it would be the
beginning of the end of the country.  Personally, I always thought that
even if he were to win, he’d get nothing of his proposals accomplished
since 1) he himself wasn’t sure what they were and 2) he’d have a
republican congress to deal with.  I heard one person say that if he
were in congress, he wouldn’t even allow the guy a cabinet!

That’s different than branding a whole group of people as idiots.  I’ve
read statements made by the all knowing pundits about how much the
people who voted for Bush didn’t know– or were lied to about.  They
fail to point out how many people they registered to run to the polls
to pull the lever for Kerry without knowing where he stood.  They
neglect to mention the poll data prior to the election that said that,
on the issues, a majority of the people polled couldn’t match all of
the positions with the candidates!  The ignorance of positions was on
both sides.

Are “red staters” dumb?  Of course not.  They’re
passionate about their issues and their faith.  They’re passionate
about making their own decisions and not letting other people make
their minds up for them.  They have different ideas and values– that
doesn’t make them ignorant or stupid.

The most encouraging article I read today
talked about how this might make the libs push for Federalism so that
they can run the areas locally– imagine a “founding” idea coming back
for good reason.  The point was made that since libs might no longer be
able to legislate for all of America from the benches that they may
take to local governments– and so it should be.  The purpose of the
states and local governments was to keep government close to the people.

Here’s hoping that something constructive comes of all this destructive talk.

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