Probably the thing I abhor the most about President Bush, more than his blatant arrogance, incompetence, closed-mindedness, or his homophobia, is how he has completely depoliticized my rhyme.
I know that there's that huge gay legislation thingee, and apparently it's up for a vote. There are about five hundred thousand gay bloggers talking about it right now, so go somewhere else if your head is so far up someone else's ass that you're caught unawares.
But do you want to know a secret?
I don't really care.
I've just stopped caring. I used to care. I used to be political; I used to be able to blast Bush on every position, but it just seems so... yesterday. I can hate and bash and sneer and criticize, but eventually, it gets old.
There are three types of people in the US right now. Those who support Bush, those who support anyone other than Bush, and those who are too stupid to know anything and therefore vote for Bush. These are the people who have ruined my faith in democracy.
These are the people who think Saddam was in charge of 9/11 and that Iraqis flew the planes. These are the people who thing Bush has united, not divided the country. These are the people who think substituting 'Freedom' will make an impact. These are the people who think that we found Weapons of Mass Destruction.
These people exist, and it scares me. I'm as liberal as humanly possible, and there are times when I think that disenfranchisement would be a good idea. Hell, after hearing the news that one third of Americans believe WMDs have been found, I thought that maybe post-Reconstruction Southern leaders had the right idea with literacy tests before registering to vote.
People should have to take a test that shows they are competent enough to vote. They should be forced to know certain things about the election, like the non-existence of WMDs, the irrelevance of the "Death" Tax, whether or not Usama bin Laden was funded by Saddam, the cost of the war in Iraq, etc. People should be forced to pass a 7th grade Current Events quiz. Non-partisan. Facts. I don't want to live in a world where tabloids are a major news source for some people.
There's just so much stupidity in the world, and it goes all the way to the top: George W. Bush. There are so many reasons to hate the man that by the time you read all the books and subscribe to all the newsletters and watch all the pundits, you're inundated with hundreds, if not thousands, of evil, lying, manipulative blunders he's done over the past three years. After a while, it comes as old hat. Oh, Bush is mistreating Veterans? What else is new? Medicare is in shambles? Well, what did you expect? War not going to well? Well, duh. Apathy has replaced anger, for me at least. Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many crooks spoil the wrath.
I'll still vote, don't get me wrong. I will pull that little lever for Kerry because I am not a redneck who is unaware that WMDs were never found, Saddam never funded Usama, the "Death" tax will never affect me, or that we've lost more soldiers after we won the war than during it.
Years from now, I'm going to look back at the Bush years as the time I grew cynical about the inherent good in every person.
