It appears my early prediction of a decisive Kerry victory in the US Presidential election was incorrect. The voter turnout was indeed remarkable, but did not expose the America that I expected. Apparently my primary hope for this election, the hope that as long as everyone was empowered and encouraged to vote, they would vote in their, and their country's best interest, was terribly flawed.
As I watch the coverage and analysis of the election today, the consensus among many major US television and Internet news sources is that most Americans voted for the candidate who most closely aligned with their "Moral Values". To my surprise, that candidate was overwhelmingly George W. Bush.
I, and many other voters in California, chose to vote in alignment with issues that are important to us such as the protection of civil liberties, the protection of womens' access to an abortion, the protection to gather and practice the religion of our choice, separate from government mandate, etc. However, I'm having trouble understanding why the issues I chose as drivers to my candidate choice are inconsistent with "Moral Values". I consider myself a moral person, and, perhaps naively, would define "Moral Values", as the protection of civil liberties, speech rights, control over our bodies, etc.
It turns out that "Moral Values" has nothing to do with morals, but is just a code word for Christian religious fundamentalism and intolerance, hysterical homophobia, rape of the environment for business gain, and the sacrifice of civil liberties in the name of crushing dissent (which they have also redefined as "patriotism"). In the same way that the last three and a half years showed neither "compassionate" or "conservative" behavior from the Bush regime, the next four will likely not be "moral", but the most corrupt and destructive we have ever seen. I suppose America is going to get what it asked for.