"editorial"

i woke up wednesday morning seized with giddy anticipation and fear. the night before i had decided to forgo the dreary task of watching the election slowly unravel for drinks and fellowship with friends instead. every so often throughout the day i would turn my radio knob over to either npr or sean hannity/rush limbaugh to kinda get a clue on the projection of which way the popular and electoral vote was going ; and every so often at ships that night, i would glance up at the muted television to read the score. but it wasn't till the next morning, sitting at my computer, that i felt comfortable being both extremely happy and relieved.

when i made the congratulation phone call rounds, one of the receivers, upon hearing my admittance of relief as well as joy, asked if i had been afraid that kerry was going to win. now, i might be in the heart of the bible belt and gw's home state, but the neighborhood i live in is a completely different political geographic; and the subculture i find myself in, very similar. so, yes, i was worried- all i saw were kerry stickers on aging volvos and his signs on the lawns throughout my neighborhood; and all i heard was anti-bush gabber from every plastic framed four eyes that came my way.

i had come to doubt america's ability to think with her head and not just with her heart, to see the bigger picture and not just what our petty understanding can wrap itself around at this moment, to come to a conclusion based on tangible facts and not spurious attacks and/or lofty idealism, to stand on the side that stands for what is right and not what we want to be right in so that we can call ourselves tolerable, accepting, and/or...progressive.

i genuinely feel sorry for my fellow citizens and friends who had such grand hopes that their candidate (who embodied their ideas and opinions) would be president; and while i don't necessarily agree with whom they so fervently desired to be president, i did find their idealism and passion to be a beautiful thing, and truly, as the phrase is coined, american. however, it is disheartening that some of those who supported kerry( mostly referring to international and domestic press) would now chalk the winning republican vote up as "religious based", "ignorant", "stupid", "blue-collar class", "inclined to machoism", "bush talks like them", and "not suppressed". yet still, i understand those who would be so pious as to discredit the intellect of the gop party are those who will help another republican candidate become president because of the sting such ignorant accusations us hill billy dunbfcks have felt and will remember ( unless off course were not to0 enthralled in ariostle's ethics, volunteering with a environmental group, and working our forty hour weeks to support ourselves bible thumping the pagans, cutting out star of davids for our iraqi friends, studying phonics, fueling up our xxl suvs on the way to little billy's soccer game, and ripping up democrats voter registrations- to give a shit what some british paper, the sore losers, and a few bitter npr journalists has deemed to be the culprit of a bush victory).

all in all, this past election was as ugly and as dirty as they come- and now that it's over, perhaps, we can all get back to being civilized; to being part of a bigger scheme, called life and not political parties.

cheers to four year presidential terms and pulling thumbs out of our asses.