A Mandate

I’m still a little shell-shocked. Sitting here this morning I’m watching W’s surprise news conference where he has literally referred to himself as, “the will of the people.” I am just astounded by the 3.5 million vote margin for W, and I’m terrified about what this means for the country when the radical right takes it as a “mandate” (which they already are):

– It is a mandate in support of John Ashcroft’s war against the Bill of Rights and the erosion of civil liberties.

– It is a mandate in support of preemptive invasions of countries that didn’t attack us, did not have the means to attack us, and did not work with the people who attacked us.

– It is a mandate to ignore the risks posed by countries that really do have nuclear weapons, and to demonstrate to them that the only way they can remain safe from US aggression is to build up and be willing to use those weapons.

– It is a mandate (along with 11 state initiatives) to dictate to people who they can spend their lives with.

– It is a mandate to continue to destroy our environment through Orwellian initiatives such as “Clear Skies” and “Healthy Forests”

– It is a mandate to run our economy in to the group by running a deficit of more than half a trillion dollars (more than a quarter of our national budget), resulting in latter-day interest rate climbs and a crushing blow to our economy a few years down the road.

– It is a mandate to “not worry” about the man who did attack us, and still taunts us on world-wide TV.

This is an election won on the basis of fear and of hatred. It is a mandate for a party that has shown fiscal recklessness and social/civil fascism. How can we believe in a country that is turning away from a path of continuing freedoms to a path of deceit and repression?