Volume III. No. 14
 11-04-04
 The Three Fears Bush Used To Secure A Second Term
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2004
 

 The Republicans did it again. They used relentlessly negative campaign
 tactics in order to outright scare citizens into voting against their own best
 interests. The amazing fact is that so many people, including the entire
 American south, fell victim. There is a sports ideology that applies. If an
 opponent can't stop what you are doing. You just keep using the tactic 
 over, and over, and over, until they either drop dead of exhaustion. Or 
 cry uncle.

 The Dems are hardly going to cry uncle.

 Here are the there fears, listed not necessarily in order of importance.
 Let's examine them one at a time...

 1. } The Fear of Global Terrorism.
 This fear utilized by the Republicans is perhaps the easiest to understand.
 9/11 was one hell of a rude awakening. For a brief moment after the deaths
 of more than 3,000 innocents George Bush had not only the entire American
 populace on his side. But also many people world-wide, including scores
 who were ambivalent and distrustful of American global-politics before 9/11.

 The Bush administration went wild in utilizing this fear to accomplish their
 political goals. Guantanamo Cuba. The Patriot Act. And of course, the 
 presentation of lies { intentional or not } by Colin Powell at the United Nations. 
 Bush has never been held accountable for this intelligence failure, neither 
 for his inablilty to secure a stable living enviroment for the Iraqi people after 
 over-running the place.

 This "Fear of Global Terrorism" has been played like a game of three card 
 monte, with the American people being the marks. The justification for going 
 to Iraq changed almost daily during the Presidential campaign. First the
 justification was weapons of mass destruction, next the unseating of the 
 "evil tyrant" Saddam Hussein, as Bush would say. Ironically, even the 
 tons of missing munitions in Karbala, Iraq were used as a justification for 
 the war, in the final days of the campaign

 The military and political incompetence of the Bush administration has been 
 totally trumped by the fear of throat-slitting Muslim lunatics who may once
 again stalk Americans in America. - This fear is understandable.

 2. } The Fear of the "Massachusetts Liberal" John Kerry.
 We were suckers. When we saw the wind-surfing ad we should have known
 John Kerry was in serious trouble. But unfortunately, despite beating back
 the untruths of the "Swift-Boaters," and Kerry's own mistaken belief that his 
 Vietnam service substantially mattered to people in a positive way, Kerry 
 was defined by the Republicans as a weak, indecisive, and an opportunistic 
 "flip-flopper."

 John Kerry may be by nature of his personality, a cautious man. But he is
 not weak. He put on the uniform and went to Vietnam. Something a coward
 would never have done. Kerry is thoughtful. He agonizes over every detail. 
 Perhaps, to a fault. It would seem this would be a positive trait in a potential 
 Commander in Chief. 

 Would any of us even be here if George W. Bush had been president 
 back in 1962? The world would now be a blackened cinder floating in space.
 Devoid of all life.

 But, John Kerry and the Democrats continually allow conservatives to 
 place labels upon them. When George Bush calls John Kerry to his face 
 a "Massachusetts liberal" he is using the term as a slur. As if he is saying 
 something dirty about Kerry. And in the same breath, Bush is impugning 
 the dignity of the entire Northeast section of America as if he believes it 
 is some ghastly degenerate section of the country where everyone has 
 completely forgotten about God and faith, and live an unclean, irresponsible 
 urban lifestyle. 

 This is the reality. Democrats need to take back that word, and embrace 
 the term. Many great American statesmen have been liberals. And some 
 of our more forward thinking laws such as the "Civil Acts Right of 1964" 
 were staunchly defended by "live-and-let live" Northern liberals. Not by 
 cold-hearted, indifferent conservatives who don't care about anyone but 
 their own.

 Liberals don't have anything to be ashamed of. And another thing 
 about that "label-as-slur" George Bush used. Massachusetts has been 
 in the Union a hell of a lot longer than Texas. Something G.W. should think
 about.

 3. } The Fear of Gays
 This final fear is absolutely the easiest to understand. Repubs used the fear
 of the "homosexual agenda" to a fare-thee-well. Conservatives have narrowly
 defined "family values" as everything to do with the bedroom. Of course 
 this is nonsense. But this fear was very important in motivating Evangelical 
 Christians to cast a vote against the liberal John Kerry.

 It is a unique human quality that people often take for granted what they 
 love. But will act decisively to hinder or stop those that they hate or despise. 
 All alone this third fear wiped out the economic issues in the campaign. Despite 
 the hundreds of  thousands of small manufacturing jobs that have been lost 
 all across Middle-America. The abject horror of possibly having to watch 
 two homosexuals holding hands as they walk down Main Street { please, 
 at least let them be females } was an overwhelming factor in putting a Republican 
 back in the White House. A wealthy man beholden to powerful globe-spanning
 corporations. A man who couldn't care less about small town America, where 
 if husband and wife - together - were earning only 30,000 dollars a year. They 
 were considered as doing more than just surviving.

 The fear of Gays caused a lot of Middle-America to vote against their own
 economic interests. Let us hope they don't live to regret it.

~~~~~

 Those are the "Three Fears" that Republicans used to secure the White House
 for four more years. In fact, Democrats have held the nation's highest office for
 for only eight years in the last twenty-four.

 That's a lousy number.

 It is time for some deep soul-searching on the left side of the aisle. Democrats
 have to decide whether they want to permanently move towards the center, or
 to return to the left and embrace the positive qualities of liberalism.

 But whatever the politicians decide. This "Massachusetts Liberal" kind of 
 stuff has to be dealt with. Republicans can be a nasty mean-spirited lot. Their
 hired hands operate without a conscious. They have successfully transformed 
 the very word that Northern Democrats once proudly used to define themselves, 
 into a dirty epithet.

 When will the Dems in Washington get tough. Politics is rough and tumble. 
 And when you're fouled you don't look to the referee for help. You foul back.

 Sometimes that's the only way your opponent will ever get the message.

~~~~

 { Thanks John Kerry. You gave it your all. }
 

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