Dr. Strangelove, or how I learned to stop worrying and become completely apathetic

In November I was pretty worked up about this whole Bush-Kerry election (remember that?). However last night I was thinking to myself does it really matter? How has this affected my life at all? I cannot think of one time in the past five months other than the few weeks after the election where I have thought to myself, “boy, we’re all screwed now.” I suppose that HAD Kerry won my life would have been different as he would have been trying to institute his agenda – and I would have to listen to all the conservatives complain about Bush losing. Albeit it has only been five months the country hasn’t gone to hell 48% of the population predicted. Now Iraq – that’s another matter. I’m glad I don’t live there.

In fact I think that Bush’s second term has been more boring than his first. The frequency of Bushisms has slowed. I read somewhere – I don’t remember where – that Bush had actually taken lessons in diction and vocabulary and had focused on being less “hickish” – one of the very things that appealed to his fan base.

Today an article in Wall Street Journal mentioned that the Republican party is beginning to splinter as Bush’s recent actions with Social Security and Terry Schiavo are dividing the party on social and moral grounds. According to one person there is a growing divide between Bush’s goals and what the American public desires. Then there was that other report in the last month that mentioned that ALL of the U.S.’s intelligence prior to the invasion of Iraq was incorrect. Don’t take this as support of the conservative agenda or Bush’s agenda, but I think the bigger risk is represented by the Republican leaders in Congress and his brother Jeb, who supposedly is down with L. Ron and the Scientologists.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I still don’t see how politics affect me on a daily basis (I can already see the wheels in motion in Christy’s mind as she prepares her argument). Previously I had argued that the only thing that really upset me about having Bush as a president was the fact that our reputation as Americans had been ruined abroad. Judging from the fun I had last year in Paris, I think this depends on the person. Either way I’m sure the president will end up doing something with which I don’t agree – but hey, isn’t that one of the risks of a representative government?