"Rip This Joint"

So I was cruising through my bookmarks, looking at sites I hadn't visited in awhile, and came across the Glen Phillips website. Glen's been one of my favorite musicians for several years now, both in his solo work and his stuff with Toad the Wet Sprocket.

Anyway, I noticed he'd updated his web diary thing (which he does about once every three or four months), and he was talking about politics. Everyone's talking about politics right now, and with good reason. I myself have stated on many occasions that I can't stand politics, and detest discussing them. But noticing Glen's diary entry, it got me thinking about something: of all the people I know, there are maybe a half dozen total who I know for positive are going to vote for Bush. The great majority of people I know or encounter on a daily basis seem to support Kerry, even here in Oklahoma.

It got me wondering, though. I mean, if so many people seem to be tired of Bush, and so many seem to support Kerry, then we should reasonably expect Kerry to win, right? I mean, there seems to be substantial support for him even in Oklahoma, a traditionally conservative state.

I really do hope Kerry wins. The idea of another four years of Bush frightens me in a way that politics has never frightened me before. I've always felt politics never really had that much of an effect on me, that I was always removed from the repercussions of political decisions. Part of this is because I'm a historian--I tend to study the politics of the past, the stuff that's already occurred, and the stuff that happened an ocean or two away. When you combine time and distance, politics lose some of their immediacy and impact, really.

But the stuff that's been happening bothers even me. I just don't trust Bush. I don't trust his "brand" of Christianity, if you will. I don't know where he got the idea that Crusades are what God wants (wait, no, I know exactly where that mentality comes from, and it hasn't been that popular since the Middle Ages. It was much more interesting throughout most of the modern era to fight and beat up on other Christians than it was to attack the infidel). The God I believe in is a peaceful, loving deity, a being a mercy and forgiveness, not one of retribution and violence. I don't know how anyone can equate Bush's actions with Christian principles, but somehow that's how he's managed to portray himself to the country. That saddens me, really. He's a man with very un-Christian attitudes and objectives, and he calls himself a man of God.

Anyway, the election occurs in less than a week. I worry about the what the results will be, but I also hope and pray that things will turn out for the best. That's the hallmark of a true optimist, albeit a cynical one--hope for the best, expect the worst, and prepare to react to whichever actually happens.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: John Mellencamp, "Wild Night"