The Republican’s Western strategy is built on the motto: “Guns, Gays and God.” The message is simple: vote for us or you will be castrated, raped, and abandoned alone in the world.
The Democrats met in Denver to take back the West. They may not understand the elemental fears and anxieties of many members of the populace. The Democrats offer vision and hope. That is virtuous; that alone is not productive in the polling booth. The Republicans offer fear and loathing and anxiety. The Gun is the iron penis; take it away and you castrate a man. Gays, the logic goes, and their cohorts the Democrats want to rape you. You may come into the world alone and leave the world alone, but you are not alone if you subscribe to God while you are here. The code words this year are “Socialist,” “Terrorist,” “Muslim,” “Arab” and “Hussein.”
The “Blue States” subsidize the “Red States” in America. The populations in the Red States rely primarily on social security for their retirement. The populations in the Red States resort to the Bankruptcy Code for relief more often than the populations in other states. The populations in the Red States use the Bankruptcy Code as a form of socialized medicine. At core, however, the differences are related to education, region and religion rather than state boundaries, yet the electoral college focuses the analysis on state boundaries.
The populace may vote its pocketbook, but only if its elemental fears and anxieties are not summoned. Enough members of their populace are so terrified that they do not even have enough personal security to vote their pocketbooks.
A random survey of yard signs in a purple neighborhood: Obama. McCain, Obama, McCain, Obama. McCain, Obama, McCain, Obama. McCain, Obama, McCain, Obama. McCain, Obama, McCain, . . . Obama
Bumper stickers of the week:
Fear and loathing on the campaign trail ’08
Hope over Fear?