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US election 2004: Hopes and fears

  
 
sleazenation
16:34 / 31.10.04
One day to go before the US election…

It seems strange when you say it like that – it feels like we’ve been counting down till Tuesday for a very long while, we’ve had a lot of time to imagine what our hopes and fears on what the outcome might bring…

The depth of coverage on various issues, both foreign and domestic from newspapers across the globe has left observers around the world as informed and sometimes even better informed, than many voters actually in the US. And no, I don’t think that this is necessarily a particularly controversial or biased view. It is simply a reflection of the huge interest around the world in this particular election, and although there is likely to be a higher turnout of voters than is usual, there will still be many potential voters who have refused to follow the coverage and will fail to cast their ballot. The fact that I had to add a couple of explanatory sentences there to make plain why I do not see first sentence in this paragraph as particularly controversial underlines just how bitter and divisive this year’s campaign has been.

Families across America are split. But they are split, I think, for a good reason. The stakes are high in this election, perhaps higher than they have ever been before. The reasons this is an important election probably vary depending on your political opinions, but I can tell you this much I’ve been having election-based nightmares for weeks now. Opinion polls are evenly split within their margins of error. It is not even clear if these polls accurately reflect all the newly registered voters who, for whatever reason, do not usually turn up at the polling stations.

I have my own convictions about who must win this election if freedom and liberty are to survive in America and across the globe. It is my fear that should my hopes be crushed (and worse crushed in a clash of lawyers and judges) I will look back on these passed months of campaigning like the frieze on Keat’s Grecian Urn, as a period where is was possible to hope. Remember that old curse? ‘May you live in interesting times’? On Tuesday, and further on in to Wednesday and after we are set to discover just how interesting things can get.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
17:48 / 31.10.04
as a period where it was possible to hope

I also have that fear. For a long time I found it difficult to believe that people would vote for Bush again, simply because I'm so far away from anyone who would- the most conservative person I know is rooting for Kerry. It's dawned on me over the past week that Bush could win but there's still no real belief... I really, absolutely think Kerry's gonna get it because no part of my heart can accept that the American people is dim enough to vote for Bush. My mind kind of knows that there's a possibility but the rest of me just can't quite get there.
So if W gets elected again I think I'm just going to be in a state of shock for the first month or so. After that the hope will go away or will have reinstated itself in another way.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
17:50 / 31.10.04
It's an, er, difficult question. I like to look at like this:

Does John Kerry want to have a wank on Jesus Christ's bones ?

Possibly.

Does George Bush Junior want to have a wank on Jesus Christ's bones ?

" Ha-ha, buddy, our Mr Pres won't be answering that quesh ( get that guy the fuck out the building - what the fuck was thar guy even doing in here in the first place ? ) "

Credits fade to the small, sad sound of some character being beaten half to death in a car park, blood pouring out of his mouth and onto the sidewalk, as the assailants fly away, chanting " GOP "
 
 
ibis the being
19:35 / 31.10.04
My hopes - that Kerry will win the election by such a wide margin that there will be no question as to his legitimacy. The Bush camp, if at all, will file a futile lawsuit or two that will never even grow legs.

The economy will begin to make a *real* significant turnaround, and I (and many others) will begin to find work and earn money. More and more Americans will be able to afford healthcare. A number of states will pass civil union or gay marriage friendly laws. Ashcroft's anti-abortion appeals will be stopped in their tracks. Progress will pick up on stem cell research. The reputation of the US will improve as Kerry makes steps to repair alliances and cooperate with global political groups.

As these positive changes take place, a number of former Bush supporters and moderate Repubs will warm up to the new President, and even far-Righties will move a bit toward the middle as anti-Dem tension eases. The country will cease to be so severely divided.

That's not too much to hope for, is it?

My fears - the election will be close, with a number of fuckups and shady mistakes at the polls. Bush will win by a slim margin and/or Court decision (or it's a tie and the House appoint him), and as Kerry's camp tries and fails to overturn the decision it becomes increasingly clear that the election was stolen.

Three or four Justices die or retire, and are replaced with Right-wing extremists. Ashcroft pushes his anti-abortion appeal to the top, and Roe v Wade is overturned. A ban on gay marriage becomes a Constitutional Amendment. All remaining stem cells are used up, and in the face of the ban on new stem cells, research on many diseases is stalled.

The economy is also stalled, and millions of people fall off the books as their unemployment benefits run out. Homelessness increases but is not addressed. Social Security and health care are fully privatized, but because so many people are unemployed or work menial jobs, millions go without any healthcare or retirement fund.

The British and other allies are eventually forced to pull out of the quagmire that Iraq has become, and Americans are stuck there trying to bring about some conclusion. Thousands of Americans die, thousands more Iraqis die. US reputation abroad falls into such the worst disrepute in world history, hindering not only the war efforts but trade, environment, and other diplomacy matters.

Americans are so polarized that there arises a sort of Cold Civil War in which neighbors commit petty crimes and politics interfere in business relationships.

Beyond Four More Years I can't even bear to speculate....
 
 
Panic
19:49 / 31.10.04
Americans are so polarized that there arises a sort of Cold Civil War in which neighbors commit petty crimes and politics interfere in business relationships.


This is happening already. Every night on the local news broadcast there are at least two stories of people stealing or vandalizing their neighbors' campaign signs.

The Bastard Side of Me would kind of like to see some good ol' fashioned political violence over the next few weeks, no matter who wins. Plenty of extremists on both sides, you know.
 
 
8===>Q: alyn
21:11 / 31.10.04
I have this persistant feeling that some pesky A-rabs or somebody will start blowing up polling places on Tuesday, martial law will be declared, and the hammer will come down. I keep telling myself it's terribly paranoid but I can't help it.
 
 
alas
22:36 / 31.10.04
I was in a nice, fairly pricey, restaurant in the heart of my swing state last night, and a fight nearly broke out in the bar, while I was sitting there, over politics. This is not typical midwestern behavior, friends.

I think if Bush wins, esp if there's even a whiff of election "hinkiness" (as there will be) then there's a good chance of civil war that isn't particularly cold. That's at least lukewarm.
 
  
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