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Nov. 7, 2004 It has been a week since Americans voted for the person who will serve another four years as president. In analyzing the results of the 2004 presidential election the news media are telling us that Bush won on the “morals ticket.” “God, Guns, and Gays,” say our nightly news anchors, were the issues that decided whether Bush or Kerry won the highest office in our nation. Since Bush seemed to be a God-fearing, right-to- bear-arms man who was against same-sex unions, he won the “morals ticket.” The numbers of young Americans dying in Iraq, the national economy, the fact that we are in an unbelievable deficit of over a trillion dollars, did not factor into the voting brain of those who cast their vote for Bush, say the news analysts. Is anyone besides me having trouble comprehending this? Are we to believe that the majority of the people in this country are more concerned with whether or not everyone believes in God than in the deplorable loss of life in our military? Do people really believe that allowing two Gay people to marry is putting our country at risk, and if so, what risk? Do the same Americans who feel it is okay for the law to allow people to buy assault weapons to protect our “right to bear arms” really want the Supreme Court to ban the marriage of two people who love and cherish each other, but happen to be Gay? You can kill with a gun but you can’t love someone of the same sex? Killing is better than loving? These are morals? Morals or the alleged lack thereof never, for one minute entered my mind or that of my husband, Alan as we went to cast our votes. We were too concerned with the seriousness of the issues being presented. The far-from-over war, our national security, the possibility of a Supreme Court justice who could send people’s rights back a hundred years, lack of money for education and the depletion of the environment. But so-called morals? We never gave it a thought. Alan and I consider ourselves moral and by moral I mean we would never deliberately hurt anyone. We honor our marriage vows, we’re kind to children, we support charities, and we don’t own a gun. While we may not agree with other lifestyles, we don’t condemn them as immoral; different from ours certainly, but not immoral. ( Note to those who may e-mail me after reading this article: We also respect other people’s opinions, so please be respectful when you disagree with what I’ve written.) Then there’s the question of being “God- fearing.” Some people want to push their beliefs on us all as in “you must be a God-fearing person.”I don’t want to believe in a stern visaged God whom I have to fear. I want to believe in a loving Deity of kindness and compassion and acceptance. No thunderbolts, hail and brimstone for me, no sir; I need a God who is all about love and with whom I can feel comfortable when I pray. I don’t have anything against either George W. Bush or John Kerry. They are two men who have the strength of their convictions and both believe they can help America; they simply want to go about it in very different ways. I just can’t believe that so many Americans discounted the serious issues we face and based their vote on “God, Guns, and Gays.” Personally, I think God’s getting a good laugh out of this. Four years will come and go as they always have. Changes will be made and we Americans will learn to live with them as we always have before. No one knows what the four years will bring. Maybe Bush will surprise us all. I hope so. It’s a funny thing about morals. As far back as recorded history goes there was talk of morals. In the time of Julius Caesar someone wrote these words on the steps of the Senate where a heated debate on morals had taken place. “Those who claim morality and wish to impose their morals on others are themselves the most immoral of all.” ------------ About the author: Besides being a featured columnist for the wonderful Useless-Knowledge.com magazine, Kristen Houghton is the School Reform editor and writer for BellaOnline.com magazine. She is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in Questing Magazine and Images. Her book of short stories is being readied for publication in the very near future. Email: Krisnalan@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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