Election Hangover
Ugh!

How can such a solid campaign still lose? I'm still shocked that the John John (Kerry/Edwards) ticket lost and still in a tailspin about how much worse things can get in four years.

It seems people in states like Nebraska vote against their best interests. It amazes me to see people supporting candidates whose policies are oppressive and counterproductive. I saw a great article about how the Democratic Party should adjust its priorities.

I think the country clearly did not want to switch horses in mid-stream during a war, otherwise why would they leave Bush in office? He panders to the rich and to the corporations that pad his bank accounts and he has spent away our children's futures like no other president.

It's a tragedy that he has spent the record budget surpluses that had been built up before he was elected. It's unconscionable that he has further spent the country into the deepest budget hole in history.

Add to this lack of concern for the long-term health of the Social Security system and I am incredulous that he is still in office.

I was afraid for my family and my country after Tuesday's election. The long-term damage caused by Bush's callous disregard for social programs, diplomacy and the economy will outlive his administration for years and years. This article seemed to reflect the very concerns I have been unable to voice: that voters favor more than just different policies than I do, but they favor a different kind of America than I do.

Hope is not lost though. The following letter from Jimmy Creech offers encouraging words. Nebraska was in the middle of one of the biggest political upheavals since the Civil War when the populist movement advocated for changes to benefit our agrarian life. William Jennings Bryan ran for the movement but was not elected but it brought people together for a common cause. We must keep up the fight. Read on.

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Soulforce Message from Jimmy Creech
Chairperson, Soulforce Board of Directors
http://www.soulforce.org/pressreleases/creech110404.shtml

November 4, 2004

Dear Friends,

The reelection of George W. Bush and the passage of constitutional marriage amendments in eleven states is sobering, if not depressing. Religious fundamentalism is the big winner. Truth, equality, compassion, freedom, and diversity are the losers. A large majority of US citizens has affirmed the political momentum toward U.S. military and ideological domination of the world, continued assault upon the environment, increasing disparity between the rich and poor, denigration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, abrogation of civil liberties, ... the list goes on.

What are we to do?

We have to keep working for what we know to be true, just, and righteous. We have no other choice. To stop is not only spiritual suicide, it's complicity with our own oppression and the oppression of others.

Don't let go of your rage, your anger. Your rage is a sign you're alive and well, and understand what's happening! Don't let it destroy you, but use it to fuel you passion for justice, your compassion for the oppressed, and your demand for respect and equality.

In spite of the euphoria and confidence George W. Bush and his supporters feel today, our country is moving toward crisis. Crisis opens the door to new possibilities. We cannot see these new possibilities in the fog of the moment, but they are there. Our job is to keep preparing the way for them by embodying truth, compassion, justice, freedom, dignity, and nonviolence in our own lives, by continuing to hold accountable leaders and institutions that do spiritual and civil violence to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and by working in the political process to resist tyranny and to bring about change. We must be steadfast and persistent.

The struggle will be long and hard, and there may be little if any success for us to see for some time to come. We struggle in hope, not in certainty. Hope is born of our belief in what is true, good, and righteous, not in confidence of victory. I can offer you no comfort, no solace, except to say that we are not alone in this struggle. We have each other, a glorious community spread across this land. We have the witness of history that teaches us that social and progressive change has always occurred because of the groaning, pushing, and striving of a minority, never the majority; of the oppressed, never the oppressor. And, the God who created us, loved us into being and loves us still, is with us and won't bail out on us.

Soulforce will continue the fight to end spiritual violence. We will not despair or be discouraged. We count on you to stand with us!

Blessings on all of you!
Jimmy Creech, Chairperson
Soulforce Board of Directors
www.soulforce.org

Soulforce, Inc. is a national interfaith movement committed to ending spiritual violence perpetuated by religious policies and teachings against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Soulforce teaches and employs the non-violent principles of Gandhi and King to the liberation of sexual and gender minorities.