It's taken me a long time to sit down and actually write this.
As Tuesday night rolled into Wednesday morning, and it became apparent that Kerry was going to lose, I found myself being overwhelmed by a huge sinking feeling. It was deep in my stomach, and it made me feel sick for most of Wednesday into Thursday.
I know that the country will survive with a re-elected Bush presidency, but I kind of forgot that during the preceding months. I got so wrapped up in just how awful of a President he was and how important it was to have him replaced. Especially considering that he seems to have become this great figure in the fight against terror, but simultaneously manages to have seemingly made things worse. He was responsible for such gems as: not bothering to finish off Bin Laden, refusing to do the job properly in Iraq (a war I don't necessarily oppose, I just wish it was done properly) with adequate troop levels, an failing to establish order in the early days after the fall, failing to provide armor and communications equipment to the troops he sent over there, so they don't need their familys to buy them safety equipment back here in the US and have it shipped over.
I was talking to my neighbor, who is in the 82nd Airborne (I suspect its the 82nd, he's in the army and jumps out of planes here at Ft. Bragg.) and he told me that for risking his life with inadequate supplies and protection, he received an extra $300/month for combat pay. That's on top of the standard $25K a year that I presume he makes. That's $28,600 federally tax free. Not a pittance by any means, but also not rich by any means. He was forced to do whatever he was ordered, like provide protection for delivery trucks that were driven by civilian contractors. Those drivers made $80,000 a year. Tax free if they lived in Iraq for the year. Incidentally, they are Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root employees.
And yet, he has great support amongst the troops. In areas where the U.S. was attacked on 9/11, people voted overwhelmingly for John Kerry. In places where terrorism will never come, they voted for George W. Bush because he's "Making America Safer" or at least that's what the backgrounds behind him at speeches tell me.
Ugh. It's just so frustrating that I've just resigned myself to not following politics that closely for the next six months. I know I won't be able to do it, but I need to disengage myself in order to maintain my sanity. Wonkette had a good idea.
So, I'm going to stop worrying, and learn to love the bomb. I will focus on which MP3 player I'm going to buy, so that I can listen to music in the car. That way, I'll avoid the temptation to turn to NPR when all the stations here suck. Which is constantly. I'm gonna start spending more time on investing, which has taken a bit of a back seat recently. Especialy when I see that Bush is going to tax the rich less (which means that the poor must pay more if we are going to not send us further into debt.). Thus, I want to be rich, so I'm not getting screwed like those poor souls. It's every man for himself. Maybe I'll see you on the other side of the wall. If you make it.