With all the name calling and fighting during the 2004 political
campaign, Eric Renderking Fisk asks: Who were the real losers this
election season?
And
now THAT’S behind us…
...What Did It Get Them?
Millions of Dollars have been wasted, hundreds of
tons of paper have been used for lawn signs, endless ads on the
television, endless protesting and yelling at people who support a
President that the regarded as retarded or evil… and what did it get
them and us? Besides another term for a President who turned out to be
better then what we gave him credit for… what did we get for our
troubles? And what did the Kerry Campaign get for their effort?
I was struck with an empty and tragic feeling the
late morning of November 2nd when I came home after doing my civic
duty. After voting, I spent 4 hours holding a sign for the Conservative
Candidates in the parking lot of the local school where polling took
place. After coming home and taking my coat off and leaving my fedora
on, I went into the living room where my older boy was sleeping on the
couch. My wife had just left to vote, and I had a few hours to go
before I had to go back and take another shift of holding my Republican
Party sign. I did what I always do during an election… I checked out
the news channels. After being repulsed by the pundits, I sought relief
and flipped to Turner Classic Movies to see what was on.
And there it was… what I’ve been missing for the
past few months… a black and white movie with men wearing fedoras and
long trench coats with men and women running and fighting in
underground stone corridors. The movie was " No Questions Asked”, Film
Noir at it’s best … full of atmospheric fog, scarce lighting and period
costumes. I was overwhelmed by how much I missed this stuff… part of
the entertainment that I wanted to celebrate with The Fedora
Chronicles. With the obsession with this race during this campaign
season I forgot about one of the finer things in life and an aspect
that makes it worth living.
And I asked myself, with all the chat rooms and
posts on the forums about politics, about the debates with folks
on-line, in the Grocery and book stores and on the side of the road
with my neighbors… what did we achieve? What do we have to show for it
besides turning the country in side out for political ideology, which
just sets us up for more political rhetoric? What did we accomplish
with our hard work? A friend of mine (Brilliant Writer… needs to
contribute to The Fedora Chronicles) sent me a toast to the status quo.
All that work, just to keep things the way they are. And it seems sad.
I feel both anger and depressed for the other side.
What did they get out of this? And like I forgot for a brief while what
it is that I love the most about this website, did The Kerry camp
forget why they went into politics? What did they get for their
efforts, what did they learn, and what are we left with besides more
denomination on both sides?
Either Building Up or Tearing
Down.
What’s happening to our historical buildings and
infrastructure is a metaphor about our Traditional Values and Morals.
One of the many reasons why I love New England is the many buildings
here that have stood for centuries. It’s common to have several
buildings that were built in the 1700’s, from Cities such as Boston to
Small towns in rural areas in New Hampshire and Vermont. With in many
of these same towns there are bridges that have also stood the test of
time and have weathered our sever winters and harsh stormy summers,
including blizzards and floods.
When a public building or bridge was built in this
country, it was built to last and stood the test of time. Many of the
older buildings were large homes that were given to the community and
used for public buildings such as libraries and town halls. Public
buildings or private homes were built to stand the test of time with
the philosophy that if something was built right the first time it was
built to last so the community could go on to build other important
things; the buildings became part of the community and added character.
The buildings that stood the test of time defined the town and it’s
values.
Now, many of these buildings are victims of a
society that’s obsessed with what’s new. Many of the classic homes are
being destroyed to make room for something bigger, buildings that have
been public institutions are being moved aside or abandoned for
something more modern yet isn’t built to last as long as the structures
they replace.
Much the same way these classic buildings and homes
are being destroyed to make something new, Traditional Values are being
dismissed for new “ideals”. The way things were and the way things
should be are being disregarded as “old fashioned” and “square”… might
even be called backwards. We’re encouraged to dismiss institutions such
as marriage for relationships that are more “hip”, while using such
words as “progressive” to describe the moral decay and the back-sliding
of values. Radical Liberals and the far left are abundantly clear that
they will do anything to make progress in their direction, vilifying
anyone who stands in their way, and are more then willing to alienate
the moderate Liberals who are their base and need their votes to
accomplish what needs to get done.
What happened last Tuesday is the equivalent of a
community getting together and making huge contributions to preserve
and restore the buildings that have been public institutions in their
neighborhoods, joining the Preservation Society to save the same
structures the Progressives have been trying to tear down. Also,
moderate Liberals were forced to make a choice between the lesser of
two evils after being alienated, taken advantage and for granted of by
the far left.
What happens when you’ve demolished all the old
buildings that had stood the test of time and would have stood for a
few hundred more years? The time will come soon when we have to replace
the new modern buildings that were erected only a few short decades
ago.
What happens when you’re tired of the new “values”
of the Aquarius Generation? What happens when The Counter Culture of
The 60’s becomes the establishment? What happens when society views the
values of today as “old fashioned”, where do we go besides into further
hedonism? Or are we seeing a backlash against these modern “ideals” and
a return to Traditional Values?
A nd what has it got us? Tearing down only to build
back up, wasting time, effort and resources only to “try something
new”. We face the risk of not being able to recover what we’ve lost,
and for nothing.
Who Were The Real
Losers?
There are people who are defeated and lose a
campaign but aren’t permanently damaged and traumatized by the loss
then move on and try again. Then there are people who ARE devastated
and no longer viable. An example is Al Gore who lost the Electoral
College in 2000 and became a raving lunatic during the past 4 years and
most recently on the campaign trail in 2004. The “Legitimate President”
became damaged goods with his attitude and behavior after the Florida
Recount and in this election cycle he was unable to mount a campaign to
“Take Back My White House”. Al Gore – Lost and became a “Loser”.
Time will tell if The Two Johns only lost this
election or have become losers. Either way, John Kerry and John Edwards
(The Two John…) weren’t alone on November 2nd, 2004.
The Elite Media became the biggest loser on Tuesday. As documented by
The Fedora Chronicles columnist L. Wayne Delaney last week after the
elections, FOX-News ran away most of the ratings on Election Night.
During the day, the liberal media bias was transparent, gleeful when
the exit polls said that Kerry was going to win in a landslide.
Newspapers, Television, National Public Radio… all had a stake in
Kerry-Edwards winning this election. They aren’t total losers, winning
(or being given) plenty to talk about now that Dubya’s won a slight
mandate for the next term. Question is, who’s going to listen now the
ratings are dropping? And what did it get them by defacto - endorsing
Kerry-Edwards?
Liberal Bloggers and 527 organizations such as Move-On.org were also
big losers… what did their effort get them? By calling Dubya “Hitler”
(while they celebrate the man in the Middle East who was actually
KILLING his own subjects) may have actually alienated, angered and
finally motivated Dubya supporters to vote another term.
What did George Soros get for the millions he poured
into these organizations? He said he would give up his entire fortune
if it would get George Bush out of the White House, Does he wish he
gave up everything now? According to his website: “George Soros…
survived the Nazi occupation of Budapest and left communist Hungary in
1947 for England”… for what? To come to the United States after leaving
some questionable business practices in Europe and to trash the values
of The United States because we’re too stupid to see things his way?
During the week since the election, they still
didn’t get it… the media has spent the past 7 days trying to explain
away the monumental loss they suffered during this past election. They
blame John Kerry for not being personal enough, they blame nation wide
Homo-phobia linking the judicial ruling in Kerry’s home state of
Massachusetts allowing Homosexual Marriage, they blame the ignorance of
voters or the “flaws” in the process. But the ignore the truth.
The Truth is that it was the Arrogance of the
Radical Liberal Left that lost this election for them. It’s the
attitude that they know better then most of us, they understand the
“nuances” better then those they say they represent, and that we “owe”
them our votes because of where they stand on all the “intellectual”
issues. The arrogance of circumventing the will of the people by having
the Activist Judges rule in issues such as Homosexual Marriage angered
many Americans in areas such as Ohio that they needed to sway their
way. They thought they could get way with misrepresenting their own
history and voting records, while vilifying their opponents. They
didn’t believe that we would take the time to read-up on the issues,
and make decisions on our own. Perhaps it was that attitude alone that
cost them.
The lesson now to learn is in the answer to the
question: What did it get them? Conservatives need to remember the
lessons of November 2nd, 2004: NEVER take the citizens votes for
Granted, and don’t forget that the Government is “For The People, By
The People”… and not a Country Club for lazy intellectuals.
