It occurred to me this morning as I woke that the reason we lost this election is simply because there are more bigots in this country than people who are tolerant. If we look at the two major issues that seemed to win the election for W--"terrorism" and "moral values"--they can both be boiled down to the same thing: bigotry. In the case of terrorism, the majority of Americans voted for the person who promised to go and attack the terrorists--the dark foreigners--on their own soil (even if he can't find it, he'll attack somewhere). They voted against the person who made the mistake of thinking terrorism should be fought not solely by force of arms but also by trying to remedy the causes of terrorism. That second person is weak and wishy-washy, the majority thinks. We know why they try to kill us--because they hate us for our freedom. Well, we hate them more and we'll kill them first. Shoot first, ask questions later.
As for the "moral values" issue--it boils down to one thing--homophobia. Homophobia was evident throughout the campaign in many of their code words: "girly men," "Kerry looks French," "traditional values." It's as though homophobia has nearly replaced racism as the foundation of the party.
I have been reading many of the posts here, all the Monday morning quarterbacking, the examinations of "where we went wrong," and the grief stricken essays. And it just seems to me that it all boils down to one thing: half of America is intolerant and bigoted. They will vote against their economic interests because of this bigotry; they are intolerant of anyone who doesn't look like them, talk like them, worship like them, or think like them. The red people in the red states hate blacks, furrinners, and queers, and anyone who speaks in complete sentences and doesn't wear figurative six-shooters on his hips is a goldanged queer.
There's a reason why urban areas are blue--because the population in urban areas is more diverse and the people live closer to one another. They come into contact constantly with others who are not like themselves and have found that they're not so bad after all. They have learned tolerance.
This is the lesson we must take away from this election--this is the "meme" we must spread. Republican=bigot. Bigot=bad. Democrat=tolerant. Tolerant=good. Tolerance is not only the solution, it has been the cause of our problem. We are too tolerant of the bigots. We are reluctant to come right out and call the other side bigots, because that sounds intolerant. We need to be less tolerant of intolerance.
Of course everything we stand for in the way of policy is better than what they offer. But that makes no difference as long as the Republicans appeal to their constituency mainly on the reptile brain level of fear of the Other--bigotry and intolerance. And until we start calling them on this, constantly and continuously, we will not be able to overcome it.
I think, too, this is the reason why so many of us feel grief stricken. We thought we lived in a tolerant country. Tolerance is written into our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, and we thought everyone shared that most basic of values. It has been a rude shock to discover that half of the country are intolerant bigots.