Just a couple of thoughts.

My overwhelming mood right now is one of disgust and disbelief. This race should never ever have been a close one. But I listened to CNN last night and this morning, and something they pointed out was the "Amway-style network" (of primarily church-goers) the Republican party employed so well in this election. And that the main difference between those who support Bush and those who support Kerry came down to religion: those who almost or always attend church overwhelmingly support Bush. Those who seldom or never attend church overwhelmingly support Kerry. And that makes sense to me.

This election doesn't feel rigged, just wrong. I understand what happened better when I realize that we were campaigning -- while they were crusading. That's the difference. And this is the result of that. A large portion of the country just put their religion above their politics. Or, perhaps, just made their religion their politics -- having never stood in any danger of that myself, I'm not quite sure where the line's drawn for them. It's not the first time organized religion has persuaded people to act in a way that would seem to be against their own best interests. It won't be the last time. And we can argue until we're blue in the face about Bush's lacks, flaws, and disqualifications, but as long as they can make most people believe that he is the only Christian choice, in this overwhelmingly Judeo-Christian nation, none of our arguments will be taken to heart.

Having said that, I'm now going to say that the above doesn't relieve us of the responsibility to be vocal and insistent on pointing out the administration's flaws and abuses.

I know a couple of folks who have chosen and are acting to go abroad now, rather than remain in the country for a second Bush administration. They have their reasons, and I'm not asking them to change their minds. I am saying this, to those of you who haven't made up your minds yet, who are only considering the option. This is your country. You know that opinions from outside these borders don't sway the majority of Americans, and that if you leave, you have chosen to be silent as far as they are concerned. We need you here, at home. This is proof that you need to become more active, more vocal, not less. We need you to be present in your own communities to give the other side of the story, and show that this is not the best leadership we could come up with. Above all, we need to hammer home the principle of by their works ye shall know them -- and be on hand to point out, in terms that resound with Judeo-Christians, every time this administration's actions and their pious words don't match up. We wouldn't need you if it was going to be easy. But we do need you.

(no subject)

Don't despair. ACT.

I'm not always enamoured of her. But in this instance, she speaks for me. We can't afford to make this a real defeat, and we will if we duck and cover and shut up for the next four years. Now more than ever, we need to be heard -- and we're in the minority, so we need to be even more insistent, because there are going to be only a damned few voices speaking for us in this administration. So we need to speak up for ourselves, consistently and eloquently, at every turn. We can't be ignored if we don't give in. "These colors" are our colors, too. We need to remind them that there's still blue on that flag -- and it's true that we don't run.