jennings rampage

Four more years of fighting.

All right, fine. I’ll blog:

I’m struggling with a whole lot of complete shock and amazement and total disappointment right now. I’m sure at some point I’ll indulge in one or more conspiracy theories about the results in Ohio or Florida and how they relate to the endless Election Day litigation and the black box voting and how it’s strange that the disconnect between the exit polling and results is reflexively blamed on the exit polling, but not today. Today, the progressive cause was defeated clearly. The margin wasn’t a Goldwater-style ideological blowout; the country remains deeply divided, but the other side has a few million more people than my side does. It’s a total bummer.

Theocracy and dominionism and nuance-free/faith-assured thinking were big winners last night, and it’s difficult to explain. I want to be an optimist about the human race — it’s a trait instilled by the study of economics, built on the notion that people behave rationally. I want to believe that all of my neighbors want the same things in life — peace and freedom and a tranquil life — and that we’re merely rational people who disagree on the best way to acheive those goals. But goddamn. That’s not easy. Not when eleven goddamn states vote to ban gay marriage, or commercials featuring grainy pictures of Erskine Bowles next to a puffy Bill Clinton set the stage for the election of a certified douchebag like Richard Burr. Or a mental case like Jim Bunning in Kentucky, or homophobes like Jim DeMint in South Carolina or Tom Coburn in Oklahoma. I don’t share those values.

According to these super-reliable exit polls, “moral values” was the #1 issue on voters’ minds yesterday. That… seriously… bugs the shit out of me. Not jobs, not the economy, not foreign policy — whether or not the faggots should be allowed to exist. And I can understand it insofar as “moral values” are clear and simple and completely devoid of nuance and what I’m coming to understand about the world around me is people want their lives to be as simple and clear and as completely devoid of nuance as possible. They’d rather not grapple. (At least not mentally.) And while I’m making these incredibly broad generalizations about people who have never been in my kitchen, let me tack on my surprise and disappointment at my conclusion. I had hoped for more from humanity. We’ve worked hard over the past century or so to create a society that frees us from the daily struggle to survive and gives us the opportunity to think and explore and make more for ourselves. (I don’t mean to say that our lives are all feet-on-the-couch, but our quality of life has improved at such a rate as to be unthinkable to a man from 1904, and for a growing segment of society, material needs are completely satisfied. Forgive me for drawing generalizations based on the wrong side of the poverty line, but hey, I’m still not a Democrat.)

And so here we are, with all this wealth and all this opportunity to create with our minds and evolve and completely shatter any previous perceptions of the potential of humanity… and we’re basically saying, “nope, rather not.” Well, at least 51% of us are. 51% of us have chosen the faith-assured/go-it-alone course, the We Are Right course, the “fight Islamofascism with Judeo-Christian fascism” course. That’s horrifying. That will shake the belief that these people want the same things I do. These people surround me here in the Paris of the Piedmont.

Expatriation is on my mind right now, mostly because it’s the natural reaction for some people close to me. Naturally, I bristle immediately, despite my growing distrust in my fellow man. I remain an American, I remain resolute in putting my country on the right track. I care too much to walk away when my country needs me. And I know I also bristle at patriotism and nationalism, but this is my home, and I know I care too much about it to abandon it.

And you know what? The next four years will be the best years of my life. I’ll continue to be happy. I’ll continue to grow as a person. I’ll continue to draw breath and speak my mind and create and share and communicate and connect. I’ll continue to be a person. And I’ll continue to fight for what I believe.

This time, much much harder.

Many smart people have written many things last night and today that reflect my feelings pretty well. I’ll prepare a list of links, perhaps. This rambling is getting ridiculous.