Damn you, Massachusetts
I had hope, once.
It looked like we might finally have a chance to effect some real, honest change. I had faith that Mr. Obama would be able to achieve at least some of his goals despite the machinations of a gang of obstructionist Republicans who firmly believed that everything was Just Fine The Way It Was. There was no problem at all with our health care system. The wars we were fighting were justified and winnable no matter how long it took. The economy would take care of itself as long as nobody tried to interfere with the Free Market. Heterosexuals were the only ones who deserved civil rights because God said so. It was only fair that children should be taught Bronze-age mythology along with real science. The Earth wasn’t warming up at all despite what those pesky eggheads were saying. Giving money to the rich was the surest way to guarantee that it would eventually get spent into the hands of the poor. The environment was a lot prettier with oil derricks in it and without all those trees getting in the way.
For a brief, breathless moment in time I had hope that we finally had everything in place to change at least some of those things; now, thanks to the people of Massachusetts, the obstructionists have gained enough ground in Congress to ensure that nothing that Mr. Obama tries will come to fruition, because right or wrong, it is different from what we had before, and we sure wouldn’t want that, would we?
And for all those who will inevitably jump on me and say, "But Obama sucks! He wasn’t changing anything!" I have only scorn. The Great Depression did not end the day after Franklin Roosevelt was elected. Communism did not fade from the world as soon as Mikhael Gorbachev took control of the USSR. You, the product of the Instant Gratification Generation, will never understand that real change takes time, it takes monumental effort, and above all, it takes cooperation. Now, with the latter forever out of our reach, we may have a universe worth of the first two yet we will never move forward so much as an inch.
I wonder, too, what it was that swayed the good people of Massachusetts? Doubtless the good old tried'n'true Republican standby: fear. You’ll lose your healthcare. You’ll have to stand before Death Panels. Homos will rape your children while the Law stands idly by. Brown people will sneak into your house while you are sleeping and blow you up. You’ll have to surrender your guns and then the Government will enslave you. And it all must be true because Fox News said so.
Myself, I was tired of being afraid, which is why in 2008 I chose hope over fear. Now with that hope gone, I guess fear is all that I have left.