I know a lot of conservatives; I am sure most of us do. Most of my family, in fact, is or was allied with the dark forces on the right, among them...my late father, my two brothers, my husband, my inlaws...leaving just me and my mom on the left. Everyone but my late father voted Bush the last two elections, and he didn't because he was dead.
I have endured chest thumping egotism and elan over a supreme court decision and a rigged election. I have been dismissed as a kook, as an extremist, a loon, and at the nadir of my relationship with my conservative kin...a murderer for siding with Terri Schiavo's husband and rational thought.
I have watched these people staunchly support and make excuses for Bush's incompetence, inaction and ineptitude. I have also watched as these people I love begin to see through the veneer, the facts and reality of this abomination of governance. While my inlaws still cheerfully chug the Kool-Aid of pro-Bush sentiment the same can no longer be said for my brothers and husband. I like to think my father would have not tolerated the Supreme Court decision, even if it went the way he wanted it to, but I am just daddy's little girl wishing here.
While support for Bush in my family has declined, I still find a certain amount of reluctance to concede the point. Perhaps they are just unwilling to admit they were wrong, perhaps they don't want to admit that I was right. I think a lot has to do with the fact that their party has moved in a direction that they are not comfortable with, but they are not willing to look outside of the ranks. Some, like my husband and brother, are coming around. My husband, like me, supports Bill Richardson for President in 2008, and my brother David is leaning that way, too. But some just will not see the light.
I have to ask them, and I think it is a fair question to raise among all Bush supporters...Are you happy now?
Are you happy now? Has there been enough failure for you yet? Is over 3000 coalition forces dead in Iraq not enough? How about 655,000 dead Iraqis? What about the dead and abandoned Americans in New Orleans? What about the failure to capture Osama? How bout that DPRK? Are we not close enough to global nuclear conflict for you yet?
How about that Constitution, remember that little old withered and yellowed document that protected you and me from intrusion, exlusion and discrimination? Do you miss it yet?
Are you happy about the deline in our American education, despite this heavy handed legislation, the "No Child Left Behind Act," and it's continual enrichment of Neil Bush, Michael Milken and the Saudi royals?
Are you going to vote to re-elect your congressperson or senator this time just because of the R beside their name, even though they took heaps of cash from the likes of Jack Abramoff and Mark Foley?
When is enough enough?
If you are truly content with the way things are, perhaps you should just relax, stay at home, and the hell away from the polls on November 7th.
If you know a republican, be sure to remind them to get out and vote...on November 8th.