Elephant

The Republican National Convention. I’ll weigh in, briefly, and then move on. I find it strange that so many pro-Kerry blogs repeat the same information over and over again. I suppose they think they are helping. To my mind, I don’t think the election of John Kerry is going to make enough of a difference. Which is not to say I want to see Bush reelected, but the human race has got a lot more problems than are going to be solved by a Democrat.

This being said, it is important to have someone of basic intelligence to represent the American mind--not to mention the fate of the entire world. I believe Americans have a death wish. The worse the economy gets, the more Americans want to go to war--to take out their aggression and depression on someone else. There is a collective hypnosis regarding George Bush. The economy is tanking, the rich are getting richer, we went to war based on false pretenses, we’re in bed with oil, the man cannot speak and does not read, and people seem to forget that 9-11 happened on his watch. Yet Americans are so hate-filled and isolationist that they want an ignorant dictator for a President. America is a culture that prizes blind worship: in our celebrities, religious symbols, and Presidents.

These are incredibly ugly times. I look at a show like "Fear Factor"--people in pain, people eating horrible things. This is End of the World television. The same people who watch these shows watch war on CNN. Unconsciously they are slightly curious to see just how far George Bush can take us. They wonder how much more fucked up and entertaining the wars can become. Even if the war goes poorly, they enjoy their righteous indignation. There’s a little jolt of adrenaline every time a terror alert goes up--like we’re living in our own horror movie. There may be a deeper seeded desire for Armageddon--to wipe the slate clean and see if God really does land on earth. People might think Kerry delays the inevitable. Very cynical, I admit, but how else do you explain people's support of the Idiot Wind? I begin to think this way when people cheer the Republicans who are so obviously anti-Earth, anti-human, pro-money. Maybe these three things are the root of the American Dream.

This sounds like an incredible batch of paranoia--but look at what we have: a fundamentalist Christian President fighting fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. The Earth is dying. And Bush still has a decent approval rating. I am sure there are alternative energy sources out there that are being suppressed. People are starving, raped, murdered, and tortured. We are a primitive people, living in the dark ages.

It doesn’t make any sense for Bill Gates to have 60 billion dollars, while vast numbers of people are starving and sick. I am not pushing socialism here. We are too primitive for socialism--it inevitably becomes totalitarianism. Though I do think it is a more human and natural economic system--the law of Karma, yin/yang, everything has a balance, tried to make concrete. Until the human race is moved by love rather than hate, systems like socialism or anarchy are not possible.

Which is why I think a vote for Kerry will not make a world of difference. While I hope he wins, the human race has a lot more problems than Republican war/environmental/economic policies. Even with a Democrat in office, we are still going to rely on oil, for one. If, suddenly, we changed our energy source, the Middle East would dissolve into even more chaos--and Middle Eastern countries would probably band together against America. An unlimited energy source would create one hell of a bomb. The economy might collapse before then. It’s a complicated issue, but one that’s obviously worth exploring. It shows just how much we are not ready for massive change, no matter how necessary. The way the human race has changed throughout history is through war, and that's very terrifying. We are closer to Armageddon than evolution.

If Kerry wins, we are still going to have terrorists trying to kill us, and Kerry is still going to have to fight back with another war. There is still going to be a vast amount of unhappiness in the world, which I believe becomes its own organism and feeds on itself. I realize this is far out and pessimistic, but I say this as a secret optimist--one who listens to Bach and knows that humans can touch God.

All this said, we need a President who represents more than wealth, war, and secrecy. It would be incredibly fucking depressing if Bush were to be reelected--something which seems increasingly possible. If anybody is willing to vote for Bush, then everybody is. Kerry is more intelligent, that is a reason to vote for him. He will have better policies, even if those policies won't be enough. I am not even thinking about integrity. I’m not convinced that politicians are capable of integrity. They have to sell themselves with slogans and repeat the same few sentences over and over again. This is not a good way to strengthen sincerity. Who knows who Kerry is actually in bed with--I just know I can listen to him without wincing. And a vote for Ralph Nader is slightly satanic.