"I've never been so proud to be an American"

That's what a very excited woman said when she called Rush Limbaugh yesterday. At that very moment, I was thinking that I had never been so ashamed to be an American. This morning, a man called C-Span to say he was grateful that the "hand of God had been on this election." That is a god who I hope keeps his (it was definitely a male--the caller made that clear) hand as far away from me as possible.

According to polls, Americans elected Bush president because of two issues: terrorism and moral values. If it weren't for the fact that this is my country that they have trashed, I'd be rolling on the floor laughing. Taunting terrorists and daring them to attack us is a good way to insure more attacks than we might have otherwise expected. Blowing up a major country on a PNAC whim is an excellent way to incur the wrath of terrorists, not to mention everyone else.

That people cannot see the obvious danger in electing a war-crazy president is almost beyond me, but not quite. Bush is the final spray of mega-testosterone in a culture already totally doused by the giant spray can of Reaganism. In Amurica, being a man still means fighting, bullying, avoiding nuance, and taunting anything intellectual. And it is vital, in such a culture, that everyone "be a man," regardless of actual gender. Because, well--you know--being a man is better than being a woman.

But I digress. It's the "moral values" part of the equation that really has me feeling I've dropped into a parallel universe. How did it come about that the "moral" leader of the country is a man who committed insider trading, bilked the entire state of Texas in order to fatten his investor friends, lied about almost every campaign promise or presidential initiative he has pronounced, lied about his substance abuse legal problems, manipulated it so that thousands of African women and children would die, blew up a country under false pretenses, and led a phony fight against the high possibility of curing serious diseases?

This is how: He first executed dozens and dozens of criminals. Then he declared a holy war on those dark-skinned people who don't like us. Then he led the latest fight to deny civil rights to gay citizens. Through it all, he waved a bible and a flag and declared liberals the enemy. This entire script comes out of the Reagan playbook, and Bush has added the always-successful element of creating a constant state of fear.

In this Through the Looking-Glass nightmare, up is down and east is west. People believe anything they hear as long as it is punctuated by conservative religious sentiment and has a subtext of bigotry. Of course, no one helped Bush more than the news media, who--for five years--have steadfastly refused to expose his Texas record, discuss his program of environmental destruction, challenge his empty intellect, list his multiple lies, or talk about the truly horrific behaviors of people in his administration (remember Valerie Plame?).

A concession must be made that John Kerry was the worst possible candiate to run against Bush. Not because he is (or rather, used to be) a liberal. Not because of his post-Vietnam record (they would have made up dirt about any candidate). But because he refused to attack the lies, incompetence, arrogance, and out-and-out evil of the Bush White House. The average person is unaware of the nightmare that is the White House because the average person is too "busy" to pay attention, and because the mainstream news media has made a point of keeping it all a secret. It was up to Kerry to bring the dirt out in the open, and he didn't even try. His sniping at Howard Dean--though utterly distasteful--had more spirit than his campaign against Bush.

We are becoming an increasingly right-wing nation. A nation that worships an ignorant, heartless bigot like Ronald Reagan is a nation that elects George W. Bush president.