The fading of the 2004 Presidential election into history brings us to a sorting out of the sights, sounds, deeds and thoughts of what we experienced for far too long. Exactly what is it that we have done? Bush the “Uniter”, not a divider, tenaciously tried to hold on to his Presidency for four more years. From the beginning his shaky hold on the 2000 election was decided by only a few votes, many uncounted votes but mostly by a partisan Supreme Court vote. This did not give him the mandate that he claimed he had and he began immediately to change America to his vision.  This he did with a vengeance.  One half of the nation did not share his vision of faith based non-governmental responsibilities and whatever is meant by the “ownership society”.

Osama bin Laden changed the future for Mr. Bush by terrorizing the country when his flyers plunged planes into the Trade Towers and the Pentagon. Mr. Bush since then has been perceived as a force of nature embraced by many in America.  He used the power of the Presidency and his newly acquired fame to move America into becoming an adjunct of business represented by Wall Street and international monopolies and cartels.  He has worked diligently to carry out the agenda of the Right Wing Conservatives in his party. These are ideas that half of the American public, a moderate America, had thought were discarded when a caring and “compassionate” country was created over the last fifty years.  Mr. Bush dismantled most of the gains in less than three years. And then he went to war.

The memories I have of this campaign are filled with pride for the emergence of a counter to the enormous political machinery created by the Republicans to keep Mr. Bush and themselves in power. The Liberal voice that had been beaten into a pulp without answers by the Liberals of old (who are still around) and liberal thinking young people who want an ecologically sound world and peace have at least been heard.  The hawks of war have suppressed the numbers of coffins, collateral injuries and the unnumbered Iraqi dead in a war sought mainly by Mr. Bush and a few advisers on non-existent intelligence. Mr. Bush admits no mistakes.

My memory is this was a battle between forces of evil and good and that evil generally had an easier time of it.  It was not held back by conscience, the truth and that important ingredient in their platform – compassion. It is shameful that there are “battlefield” States and one half of the country was at war with the other.

The best memory of this terrible period of discord within the body politic of America is that the campaign will end, the voices stilled and perhaps, just perhaps we will witness justice, justice once more in our country and we will stop fumbling with democracy.