Bush has won the election and a second term as president. My feelings today can only be described as sober. I’m not particularly upset that Kerry is not in office. The thought of a man leading this country who drifts with every changing breeze chills me. Still, perhaps that would have been better than a calculating opportunist who has used me and other homosexuals as pawns in his chess game, the little pieces that are willingly sacrificed to protect the more powerful players.

“Compassionate conservatism” continues to be a glaring hypocrisy, willful ignorance or deception to lull the gullible into a false sense of security. “Traditional marriage” continues to be a red herring deftly used to hide the bigotry and discrimination flying around this country barely unchallenged. Let me illustrate:

Today in the Wall Street Journal the Editorial made the dubious claim that the anti-gay marriage initiatives are “not a message of intolerance toward gays.” It is nothing short of a bald faced lie. Without exception, including the failed attempt to amend the US Constitution, these measures contain language baring gay couples from basic rights that should be a given for any committed couple: the right to determine funeral arrangements for a deceased partner, the right to pass inheritance to a partner without incurring heavy taxes, the right to make medical decision for a partner, the simple right to visit that partner in the hospital.

Despite the ever present language prohibiting the “legal incidents of marriage” from being conferred on any other union, conservative politicians occasionally play the civil union card, including George W. Bush. One week before election day he changed his position, saying that civil unions could be an option for gay couples. Who’s flip-flopping now? Never mind that every single initiative in question specifically bans civil unions. What an empty, meaningless statement and how offensive. We can read.

I could live without gay marriage. I’ve managed without it so far. At this point, it really is only a “nice to have.” More upsetting to me is the message that continues to be sent that homosexuals are second class citizens and not worth government protection. Am I over reacting? I don’t think so.

I think this sends a very clear message — true Americans do not like your kind of homosexual deviants in our country, and we will not tolerate your radical pro-gay agenda trying to force our children to adopt your homosexual lifestyle. You should be EXTREMELY GRATEFUL that we even let you write a very public and influential blog, instead of suppressing your treasonous views (as I would prefer).

I’ll tell you, being a 16 year-old gay kid in Michigan just got a hell of a lot worse. When I woke up this morning and saw the anti gay marriage proposal had passed, I was shocked. I realized the situation I’m faced with everyday in school – the American people have just shown my classmates that it’s perfectly fine to discriminate. A direct quote from a ‘friend’ at school today: ‘It’s so cool that all these states just told all the faggots to eat shit and get the hell out…’

These are quotes from emails sent to Andrew Sullivan and quoted in his blog. Yes, the world is more tolerant of homosexuals today than it was even 5 years ago. Still, it only takes one whacko with a bat to ruin your day. There is much talk about the “mandate” that George Bush has been given. What makes me nervous is the “mandate” every homophobe in the country will feel he has been given. George Bush and his cronies on the right cannot be blind to such sentiment. I am sure they are very well aware of it. They just don’t care. More and more compassionate conservatism is sounding like, “Hey you should just be glad we used a 2×4 to beat you senseless and not an oak plank!”

George Bush did not win this election because of terrorism and the war in Iraq. Record voter turn out did not happen because people feel unsafe from terrorists. The nation is too divided on how best to respond to terrorism. That was going to be an issue too close to use effectively. George Bush won the election by using homosexuals to get people out who might not have otherwise bothered to vote. He got them out because he convinced them they had to protect themselves and their families from “them thar fags who are trying to take over the country.”

Even that might not have been enough had the Democrats not completely botched the nomination and the campaign by offering John Kerry as their alternative to Bush. A friend of mine wrote

…my fellow Democrats have substituted a Greek Chorus of “Bush Sucks!” for an actual agenda.

Well that’s just bloody brilliant guys. However much “Bush as Antichrist” appeals to the ABB crowd, that’s not going to get us very far with the undecided crowd who, for all their (deserved) reservations about Bush, need to be given something to vote FOR. What they’re given instead is tap dancing and pandering from a patrician egomaniac who has been on the wrong side of history on most major issues of the last thirty years.

uncorrelated.com

In the final analysis, Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. Here is a clue for future reference. As much as we would like the President to be “just one of the guys,” someone who is human with all it’s attending faults, he is the President of the United States of America. My hell. Just look at all the capitals and it should be plainly obvious that the people of the U.S.A. need a leader who can inspire them, one they can believe in. Kerry never even came close. Think about that the next time you decide who’s “electable.”