Sentiments on the loss and the issues that divide us:

I could be academically measured:

According to CNN George Bush lost handily in the category of voters with a college degree or more. Noam Chomsky in the Canadian Public Television documentary Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, observed that only 30% of Americans pursue a post high school degree, an even smaller number complete that degree. An uneducated populace is more easily swayed by emotionally potent over simplification. He cites the political and religious theorist Reinhold Niebuhr as having said that an educated populous might have too much hubris to submit to a civil rule, thus emphasizing the importance of marginalizing people with informed opinions to ensure that democracy remains in the hands of the elite. I urge you all to become familiar with Chomsky as an alternate voice to that of the hegemonic voice of mainstream media.

I could be glib: America, spreading peace and democracy through the cunning use of warfare and police states, both at home and abroad.

I could be pointed on this “values” election:

The pro-life lobby is hand in hand with the gun lobby and blind to the contradiction – don’t kill babies, but everyone else is a fair target, particularly those of another race, religion, or nationality. The religious right: Christians, Christ-ians, those who follow the Christ that said, “turn the other cheek” and “those that live by the sword shall die by the sword”. So much for separation of church and state and all that, “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” America is beyond flirting with theocracy and as such it courts another “ocrisy.”

Hypocrisy in action:

I was raised Christian, but couldn’t handle the hypocrisy evident in the flagrant disregard in most Christian communities for the fundamental pacifism and non-judgmental nature of Christ; who preferred the company of tax collectors and prostitutes to the company of the falsely pious, who in their piety were necessarily false. If you actively oppose gay rights, gender equality, human equality under a god that would love all equally then how could you be said to follow Christ?

Christ, like Gandhi, like Dr. Martin Luther King, was a humanitarian, a pacifist, and an egalitarian, for which they were all killed. They all suffered and died in a quest for equality – equal salvation, the supposed temporal goal of democracy – Christ’s new covenant was given to make all equal under God abolishing the old covenant of law – that’s the essence of the gospel. If you don’t live a life that accepts others without judgment then how can you claim to be a Christian? Christ preached only love, but it often seems to me that most supposed Christians preach only hate or, at the very least, judgement. NPR had a guest on today suggesting this was only a vocal minority and that the vast majority of Christians had liberal and egalitarian ideals. I hope he is correct.

I want to put the previous comment in context. Gay marriage and constitutional amendments regarding gay marriage were clearly a factor in this election. Abortion rights, a woman’s right to choose, was clearly a factor. The co-opting of the Republican Party by the Religious Right will continue to be a factor. If you didn’t vote out of apathy, or if you voted out of hate or fear to perpetuate this administration of hate and fear then I am sorry for us both, as we will both have to suffer through the long dark night that stretches four years ahead.

“Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, justice leaves the world toothless and blind,” Ghandi.

Advice for myself for the next four years, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." I'd like to see that one on bumpers stickers for a change. I'll put one next to my Darwin fish. You know, the one with feet.