Javier, honestly, I'm frightened of the consequences of having Bush re-elected. And there's only one thing that makes me really consider that a possibility:
Lack of critical thinking skills.
Since when did US politics become a spectator sport for voters who can only digest the equivilent of a 60-second TV commercial's worth of content?
So many listen to rumor and inuendo, and they believe it without even checking the facts for themselves. They play into dirty politics and shell games because they're too stupid to figure out where the hell the ball is for themselves. This is what cost John McCain the nomination in 2000. Bush's buddies spread rumors that he fathered a black child. Yeah, he and his wife adopted a child from Bangledesh. But the damage had been done. Nice. There's an article in Newsweek (current) that talks about Bush's "sleeper cells" that, with a nod and a wink, will go out and do his political terrorism for him.
An earlier post mentions intelligent, creative, problem-solvers who are rational, educated and confident who are basically regurgitating the gunk that's spewed from the pundits. If these are the people who can't see the game then what about those American voters who aren't so intelligent, creative, rational, and educated?? Hmmm... He ran as the "compassionate conservative," but I guess that only applies to his white, wealthy friends and not a minority or a person who wants to marry someone of the same gender.
This is what's scary:
1. Bush get's re-elected and continues in his destructive, dictatorial, nepotistic ways.
2. Kerry is elected and is only able to fix the diplomatic stuff (relatively easy compared to the national mess we have).
3. Kerry is elected by a narrow margin, Bush challenges it through his buddies in the courts, and even if Kerry does win -- as Mindseye mentions -- it won't be by overwhelming mandate, so it implies to the rest of the world that US citizens really don't care that Bush is such a fuck.
Of course, throw in any one or more variables, like:
1. Another terrorist attack within the US, causing a rally behind Bush.
2. A last minute mud slinging against Kerry.
3. An escalation between Panama and Cuba (we hate terrorism, except when it's directed at 73 innocent Cubans who died in a the bombing of a Cuban passenger plane in 1976).
4. Escalation in the Israel-Iran arena.
5. A heart attack. A stroke. A car accident. A cocaine relapse. A meteor falling through the roof of the White House and splattering the Bushes while they dine.
6. Any other "national crisis" that allows Bush to 'indefinitely suspend' voting.
Here are a couple of Bush outcomes over the next four years:
1. We invade Cuba, overthrow Castro, and turn the island into non-represented outpost as is Puerto Rico.
2. We invade Iran.
3. Bush and his buddies get wealthier, and everyone else gets poor.
4. We lose more jobs overseas, resulting in an additional net loss of employment.
5. We are targeted by more terrorists.
6. We continue to defile our water, air, and land -- returning us to the '60s when the rivers burned because they were so polluted.
7. GNP continues to climb, based on policy manipulation rather than real economic growth, resulting in more poor people.
8. The poor will riot in some fashion.
Speculations of a frightened voter, at best -- but anything can happen and it usually does. I think I'll go expat.
AMENDMENT: Here's an
article from The Nation. It details the psychology behind Dubya's doublespeak, and:
"Bush's political opponents are caught in a fantasy that they can win against him simply by proving the superiority of their ideas. However, people do not support Bush for the power of his ideas, but out of the despair and desperation in their hearts. Whenever people are in the grip of a desperate dependency, they won't respond to rational criticisms of the people they are dependent on. They will respond to plausible and forceful statements and alternatives that put the American electorate back in touch with their core optimism. Bush's opponents must combat his dark imagery with hope and restore American vigor and optimism in the coming years. They should heed the example of Reagan, who used optimism against Carter and the "national malaise"; Franklin Roosevelt, who used it against Hoover and the pessimism induced by the Depression ("the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"); and Clinton (the "Man from Hope"), who used positive language against the senior Bush's lack of vision. This is the linguistic prescription for those who wish to retire Bush in 2004."
This is what frightens me: psychological political warfare that may imprison us in an Orwellian nightmare for another four years.
