The One-Fingered Victory Salute

What will politicians see when they analyze this past election, and for the policies which will flow from it?

They will see a huge victory for lies, for hate, for fear, for intolerance, for diviseness. 2004 was a huge victory for ignoring reality and sticking steadfastly to dogma. Most of all, 2004 was a huge victory for giving a great big Republican Fuck You to half of the country! I'm so proud to be an American!

The Republicans turned out their evangelical base in record numbers by rallying them against gay marriage and abortion, and for a President who is considered to be one of them, if not God's Own Choice to be in the office. It's true that was the main contributor to Bush's numbers, but don't forget that although they protest about the liberal slant of the media, the Republicans own most of the media in the U.S. -- in fact, pretty much all of it except for Salon.com, the Nation, and Air America Radio. Media domination by the Republicans gave respectability to the Swift Boat Liars and buried any discussion about the real progress of the failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Republicans also have a lock on electoral offices in most states, including Ohio and Florida, and did everything they could do to drive down Democratic turnout and "lose" voter registration forms and absentee ballots. The voting machines were definitely hacked, and we will hear more of this as time goes on, but probably this was only a small contributor to Bush's victory.

In the very distant future, assuming there is one, Bush's single greatest legacy will be the degree to which he perpetuated and deepened the ideological divide in America in order to gain narrow electoral advantage. (That will be his legacy, anyway, if he can somehow avoid turning the Middle East into a giant sheet of glass.)

Now the newspapers are saying that Bush says he will try to heal the divisions in our country, but if you look at the text of his statement, he is saying no such thing. What he actually says is, "I will reach out to every one who shares our goals." We've heard words like that before from this guy. In Bush-speak, "I will reach out to every one who shares our goals" translates to "Fuck You, Democrats."

Division works for Bush. As long as Fox has his back, his lies will be repeated and believed by 51% of the electorate ("The War's going great! Saddam was behind 9/11!"), and that's all he needs. The rest of us get a big steaming cup of Shut the Fuck Up and Obey.

Yeah, about the Obey part. That's the side of Bush we're really going to get to see in the next four years, as we slide into perpetual war around the world and increasing religious intolerance at home.

The next four years of Bush will see (this list is in no particular order):

- Bush will not make any effort, beyond lip service, at being conciliatory. Remember "compassionate conservatism"?

- No elections in January in Iraq. There may possibly be no elections in Iraq at all between now and 2008, but there is no way they're going to happen in January.

- Additional wars across the Middle East. Practically a reinvasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. Probably an attack on Iran or Syria. Possibly North Korea as well.

- The return of the draft.

- The passage of Constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and abortion. (Ratification of these amendments is improbable, because Bush will need forty states to ratify them.)

- Further restrictions on access to information about contraception and abortion.

- New Supreme Court justices who will roll back civil rights, voting rights, and privacy rights.

- Deeper debt as Bush and the Republican Congress slash taxes on the wealthy, lavish perks on their corporate friends and recklessly borrow to cover the difference.

- Massive, 70s-style inflation and interest rate rises as a result of reckless fiscal policies. Recession all the way.

- Further degradation of our environment as Bush pushes to remove corporate polluters from any accountability whatsoever. Gutting of any meaningful environmental regulation.

- Gutting of any meaningful oversight of corporate governance, resulting in huge windfalls for the big players, but in the long run loss of confidence in the financial markets.

- Destruction of corporate liability. Companies will be able to poison, maim or kill you with their products with impunity, as Bush has pledged to remove them from any accountability. (This is what he means by "tort reform".)

- Speaking of accountability, greater secrecy from government. You won't be able to tell what government is doing, because they won't tell you.

- The dismantlement of Social Security and Medicare under the guise of "reforming" it.

- Further destruction of the middle class as Bush's tax policies shift any burden of taxation off of capital and on to workers. Further reductions in real wages and increased loss of jobs overseas. Huge unemployment.

- More people without health care. A lot more people without health care.

- Record poverty, record foreclosures, record bankruptcies.

- Lifting of restrictions on political activity by churches. (As though these have any meaning left)

- Pushes for mandatory prayer and creationism taught as science in the public schools.

- Under the guise of freedom of religion, the federal government will pass laws which allow companies to hire and fire on the basis of religion. Furthermore, pharmacists will be able to refuse to sell medicines, doctors can refuse to administer medical care, etc., all if they deem that it contradicts their religious beliefs.(It's already perfectly legal to fire someone or to refuse to sell or lease a home on the basis of sexual orientation.)

- The return of state laws criminalizing homosexuality.

- Massive increases in state surveillance of private individuals who are not suspected of crimes. Federal agents infiltrating peaceful political groups whose only "crime" is opposition to the Ruling Party.

- Utter indifference to the growing problem of global warming, and on a related front, utter inaction on the issue of replacing oil as our primary energy source.

- Since this campaign was so successful for Bush and his allies, it will be imitated and replayed over and over again for another generation, in the midterm Congressional elections especially, and then again in the 2008 Presidential election.

- The hallmark of these campaigns, as well as the political fights and skirmishes to come, is that notwithstanding the way the Republicans utterly dominate the government in Washington, Bush will blame all failures on Democrats and on the terrorists (who are working together, anyway). They will continue to blame the economy on Clinton. They might even try to blame a bunch of stuff on Kerry, now that they don't have Tom Daschle to kick around any more. And Fox News will back Bush up, and the proles will probably believe him.

There will be more. I'll be happy to revisit this list periodically, and in 2008, I'll post a roundup of how well I predicted the future. (If we're all still here!)

The great irony of this list is that a lot of the pain of these policies will fall on the very people who voted most strenuously for Bush. See, on red-meat issues, it's true that Bush is giving the one-fingered victory salute to the Blue States, but on bread-and-butter issues, he's giving it to everybody who isn't worth at least ten million dollars, and frankly, that means you, Red America. Look: I live in Massachusetts, and like a lot of people here, I'm very well-educated, and although I'm not rich, I do make a very good living. Democrats here extended their control of state and local government to near totality, and although we have a popular and very religious Republican governor, he won't touch gay rights or abortion with a ten-foot pole. (I think Democratic voters are going to punish him in 2006 for Bush, though.) Massachusetts is a rich state with a strong economy and lots of smart people, like most of Blue America, because there is a strong correlation between prosperity and the ability to perceive objective reality. We will be able to insulate ourselves from many of the bad effects of the next four years. We'll be fine, as will New York, California, and most of the rest of the Blue States, which by the way subsidize the Red States. (MA gets only 79 cents back from the federal government for every dollar we send out in taxes, and no doubt under Republican domination, that figure will go down even more.)

Meanwhile in Red State Land, it appears that you stupid crackers believe that the joy of being able to deny healthcare and survivor benefits to queers is worth losing your jobs, your homes, your health, and possibly your lives over.

Fuck You, indeed.