When Reagan won... [View all]

[Bucky]

When Reagan won in 1980, my dad had a dream that night that there'd be a new war real soon and that I was getting drafted to go fight it. I was 17. I had passed out flyers and bumper stickers for John Anderson (don't ask) and on election night I was all like, "Well, shit that sucks. I can't imagine how bad this'll be."

I expected the country would endure, because I have faith in America. By 1984 it seemed pretty clear that there wasn't going to be a new Vietnam (El Salvador or Nicaragua were the leading candidates, if you remember those days). And the country endured.

In 1988, when Poppy Bush won, I remember telling my college professor, "Well, shit, can't the Democrats do anything right?" But again, I never doubted the country would survive. I was too familiar with how economics work and how, even if the unions were getting screwed, the economy would always be changing and our people will always find a way to get through and even prosper a little.

In 1992, I got drunk on Election Night, danced in front of lesbian oompah band while wearing a fish tie, crashed in a hotel room with a woman I never even touched, and then had to climb over the Astrodome chain-link fence in order to get to my car and make it to work on time.

In 2000 I couldn't believe those fuckers stole it. I agreed with my mom when she said, "I'm sure the Republic will survive four years of George W. Bush." I was amazed at how many ways the BushCo crew found to fuck things up--from ignoring terrorist warnings to eating pretzels wrong--but the ship of state came out battered and still seaworthy after even eight years of Dick Cheney and that little obscene monkey he answered to. I never doubted that we would. Even when the banks looted the country first and the government second, I had faith in America. We have the incredible ability to adapt and overcome in the Land of the Free. Even bad governance, even monstrous fiscal malfeasance can't change that.

This past week, the Republicans lost an election. It was close, to their credit. Like Kerry's 48%, this year's Republican ticket made a respectable showing in the polls (if still disreputable in their ads and talking points). Without an honest fact to stand of, Romney still managed to hold a sitting president down below 51%.

But lots of Republicans, Twitterers all, many of them following cues from their leadership, don't seem to have faith in America. They're calling this the end of America, imagining apocalyptic scenarios of FEMA camps, mobs of looting welfare recipients, spinning wild tales of "takers and makers." This, sadly, speaks to a lack of character. I don't know when they put their faith in--it seems to be hatred of other people with different ideas than them--but it's not in the resilience of the United States and our long long history of triumphing over adversity, helping each other out, fixing problems, and allowing for personal liberty.

Without losing much personal liberty themselves in their own individual lives, they seem to imagine that liberty is somehow on the verge of being lost. They won't be able to name any valid examples, except maybe airport gropings. They decry government overregulation in general without citing specific incidents where it's prevented job creation. They pull out their hair screaming about socialism, but can't really name anything outside of the healthcare industry where the government has taken over any industry--even the now surging auto and banking industries saw only government investment and hardly any government oversight of how factories would be retooled and reformed.

How can you scream at phantoms and never bother to gather evidence that they exist? The same way, I suppose, I keep enduring a sequence of Republican victories that boggle my mind. I have faith. The only difference is that they have faith in hatred of the tribe of liberals and the world-ending nightmares our victories bring about. As a liberal Democrat, I just have faith in the good old US of A. Even when we lose elections--and don't you worry, it'll happen again--the country just keeps on chugging along. I wish I could share my faith with them. But in the Land of the Free, I guess they're entitled to have any kind of faith they want.