Aberration or Augury?

MANIFESTO

This is pretty much what's going through my mind as I think about the last two days ...

Terry Gross had an interesting interview with Bill Moyers yesterday wherein she asked him what the legacy of the Bush administrations would be. He obviously could think of nothing positive to say, but came up with the notions of "incompetence, corruption, and cronyism," which seems like a pretty accurate precís to me.

I respect Moyers greatly since he has always been a true believer, being involved with such progressive policies as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and The Great Society programs. (I've thought for years that Johnson would've been thought of as highly as Roosevelt if he hadn't tried to fight the last war (i.e., Korea) during his tenure.) The conservatives of the time, and especially the Nixonians, despised these measures for nefarious reasons: They simply didn't want the economic or racial equality these programs pursued.

(It was pretty much at this point that I became a Democrat. I'd been raised by God-fearing Pennsylvania Republicans, but I couldn't tolerate the mindset being evinced by people whose philosophy and activities were abhorrent to me. (For a pretty decent overview of what life in the US was like in those days, one could do worse than consult Rick Perlstein's Nixonland.))

At any rate, once Nixon resigned, the feeling was that the US would be rid of the divisive tactics his cohorts had pursued, and for some time this seemed to be the case. Alas, January 20, 2001 dawned, and the same old nonsense started again in earnest—the fighting of the last war (run by the two Cold War dinosaurs, Rummy and Deadeye Dick), the curtailing of civil rights, the paranoia—the list goes on and on. Nixon's absolute disregard for the rule of law and ethical considerations had been detected; from day one, the Bushies resolved not to make the same mistake.

And here we are again ... At the end of what might be called a long national nightmare. Everybody seems to be elated over the election results (And I'm not referring exclusively to the national election.) except for Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity, Levin, and the rest of the usual gang of fascists.

Indeed, I've felt very good about the results ever since they became apparent, but there still remains some doubt for me, wondering if this election represents a true epiphany on the part of the electorate or if, somewhere down the road, the pendulum will swing back and the country will be confronted again with the excesses and outright tyranny of the type displayed by the Nixonians and Bushies.

It was just too difficult to put up with this nonsense twice in my life. Having to do it yet again would be absolutely crushing.