1) Bush will most likely be able to remake the Supreme Court into a solid conservative majority. Roe V. Wade is on its last legs. 2) We will withdraw from Iraq to focus on Iran. The Cabinet turnover will leave zero moderate conservatives in power. 3) The rumored GOP civil war between traditional cons and neocons will most likely never materialize. Bush has solidified his base and power. 4) Patriot Act II will gain passage. Little has been discussed about this bill, but it's more extreme than the original Patriot Act.
That's what open elections and democracy exist for. To allow the people to choose. And they have chosen the path for the USA to follow.
How about 5) Now that George Bush has won BOTH the electoral and general vote (he is ahead 3.5 million in total vote) the parties come together and ackknowledge that Bush is our truly elected President? IntheNet Bush/Cheney in 2004
I'm really tired so I'm not sure if you're serious or not, but Roe v. Wade is very different from the other cultural issues. Many of the "moral" issues that help the Republicans are extremely popular (like anti-gay marriage). Overturning Roe will create an army of single-issue voters that will vote Democratic.
You're making the huge assumption that they'll be able to vote at all. And no, I'm no joking. My wife and I were having a conversation this morning about the results. She said she understands what it must've been like for a Germans to leave their country circa 1934. They loved their country but left because they saw what was happening. We both feel the same way. We love the USA. But we're not sure we want to live here anymore. The US was, at one time, a beacon of freedom and equality for the entire world. Sadly, I think we've lost and are continuing to lose that. We've become a nation that is afraid of everything. We're afraid of people reading the wrong books in libraries. We're afraid of people practicing the wrong religion (or no relgion at all). We've accepted the fact that it's ok to go to war against a country that never attacked us. What I see isn't America anymore. What I see is the beginning of something that I don't like at all. I'm pretty well convinced that it's only going to get worse, much much worse, before it gets better, if indeed it ever gets better at all.
Ben is right. Overturning Roe would be a disaster for the Republicans. The Court will lean right, but I think that they'll limit their bad decisions to other matters. In this country, the only "moral value" that matters is some BS about telling the world how you've "let Jesus into your heart." It doesn't matter what you do after that. You could, for instance, send 1100 Americans to die in a stupid quagmire of a war, and that wouldn't matter. Or you could, for example, ridicule a person whose execution you approved by telling a right-wing reporter that her last words were "No! No! Please don't kill me!" and laughing about it. Then, you could lie about it when the reporter is disgusted enough to report it. Yep, as long as you say that you've got Jesus in your heart, it's all good. The South and the corn belt can take these so-called "moral values" and shove them up their respective asses.
Only poor ones, so what difference does that make? The rich will still be able to get abortions when they need them.
Under Republican rule, the future of this country is very bleak indeed. There will be more lost jobs. More people will be under the poverty line. More people will be without health insurance. More people will die for oil and Halliburton profits. Public education will be gutted. No child left behind is destroying public education. The U.S. Constitution is history. The only part of the Constitution that Republicans respect is the second ammendment. The United States will become the most hated nation in the world. Citizens will be forced to be Christians in order to have any rights. I echo Mike's sentiments. I also believe that a neocon led America is sending us into an Orwellian society. I don't know whether to fight, or pack up and leave.
I have been arguing this point for some time. 1984 and Animal Farm have been proven true by the USA of today's world. And it's citizens voted for it.
What concerns me is that so many people voted for Bush based on certain beliefs which weren't true. I wouldn't mind if people who didn't know the depreciation schedules for plant equipment had voted for Bush. But alot of people voted for Bush because they're concerned about terrorism, AND those people were wrong about certain fundamental facts. If only people who believed what the 9/11 commission said about Iraq + 9/11 had voted, Kerry would have won a smashing landslide. He'd have had scoreboard over Reagan '84. I go back to that poll I cited a couple of days ago, that the gender gap was NOT in effect this time, and the key reason, almost certainly, is that women were ~twice as likely to believe there was a 9/11-Iraq connection. That's what makes me hopeless (temporarily, I hope.) Because since '96, the consolidation of media has been the sword of Damocles hanging over our head. I am thankful that the media have actually been calling bullsh** on Bush recently, somewhat. But it wasn't nearly enough; reference the many bogus "truth squadding" of the debates. Objectively, Bush lied more and about more important things, but the bogus journalistic "evenhandedness" meant that they had to mention Kerry's "$200B for Iraq." Well, the new numbers are out now, and guess what? He was right. My last best hope for democracy in America is that the media will revolt against Bush much like they revolted against his father, after James Baker played them like a Stradivarius in '88. But, really, it's too f'ing late now. After 4 more years of Bush, the tilt toward wealth over work will take a decade or more to reverse. Our isolation in the world will take longer to reverse. The Guard and Reserves will be shot as an arm of the army. The budget deficits will cause The Powers That Be to advocate cutting social security.
Anybody catch Guiliani making the circuit this morning? I had to laugh (not because of the combover), but because he repeatedly put the "reunification" of the country on Kerry's shoulders. Uh, Rudy, Bush won. It's on him. If I were Kerry, when the outcome is finalized, I would get up there and conceed then say, To those who voted for me, I thank you. You saw in me a new vision and a new direction. Unfortunately there are others who saw differently. In the end this country saw an unparalleled voter turnout, and that is a victory in itself for the United States. This country is more divided than ever before and I would ask you not to use the results of Nov. 2nd as an excuse to further divide this great nation. We are all Americans, and for the good of the nation we must stand together. I now ask you to support the President...but never forget that it is your job as citizens and patriots to question the actions of the power in this country at every turn. Thank you. Unification, which is going to be nearly impossible in my mind, is 100% on the shoulders of George Bush. Senator Kerry owes Bush nothing in this regard beyond that speech. I see this country deeply, and openly divided for the next year. After that, people won't care. Then (very unfortunately) there will be another attack on US soil. As before, patriotism will swell, but I think the deaths of more Americans will be met with venomous results from the people who don't wholeheartedly support Bush. Subsequently there will be many who rejoice when his 2nd term is over, but baring an exceptional candidate running in 2008, it will be another divided nation coming together to vote in the next president. Unforseen events always make predictions tough, but it will take something big to dig the US out of this hole.
Educated moderate women, like my boss, are in denial over the future of Roe. She voted for Bush yesterday, and when I said to her that the 5-4 majority protecting it was going away, she said "never, it's 2004. They can't do that." Maybe in New Jersey they can't, but in the South and Midwest they can and they will. Laws are still on the books in most of those states, and overturning Roe makes them instantly legal again without even the messy issue of a new anti-abortion vote. Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy are waiting for their fifth.
The scariest thing, in my mind, resulting from this election is the nomination of Supreme Court justices. Not only that, but the House and Senate remain in Rep. control meaning that right-wing nutballs actually have a shot at it. I'm contemplating looking for a job overseas.
Actually, it looks like there was a big gender gap again. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html
A columnist in the London Times (Kaletsky) wrote the other day that the function of a democracy is to remove failing Governments. It's a different way of saying the old maxim "oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them". That's what makes democracy a better system than dictatorships (communist, fascist or religious), since those systems are not removed even when they are not doing the best for the country. They only end up getting removed when the country falls to absolute rock bottom (ie losing a war, economic collapse). The columnist basically argued that Bush was failing (deficit and war) and should be removed. Since he is hardly going to change his policies, it is not to presumptuous to suggest that he will continue to fail.
The postponment of the Iraqi elections? Over/under on a date? I'm thinking by the end of the month they'll be the "In light of...it would ultimately prove best to postpone the election in Iraq til..."
I don't know if I should laugh or cry, after reading this stuff. Hey, how about you all move to another "enlightnened" european country (or Canada) and then rave about how wonderful it is, and how esoteric, backwards and screwed up america is, you'll be loved here, you'll be saved from the Nazi-esque administration, and you'll be happy. Really, you will, trust me, I live in the beacon of all that is right known as the United Kingdom. Me, i'm going the exact opposite way, moving back to America so that I can keep all the poor women down, who are having abortions to save their lives, to trample on the rights of all the Middle Easterners, to become saved again, force children to pray in school, get everyone elses children drafted into a war, boycott music that is too political for it's own good, and whatever the current chicken-little-nostrodamus-end-of-the-world-predicition-du-jour happens to be. You should book your flights now, you'll get a better value on your ticket.