"Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." -The American Declaration of Independence

Allow me to, now that I've cooled off some, explain in clear, concise language why I have such a problem with the fact that Bush got reelected. I don't like Bush. He has lied to the American people straightfaced, he has tried to cover up his mistakes by fighting against a 9/11 commission that would show the Iraq war as unjustified. But the fact that I don't like Bush is not why I'm upset. I'm upset at the American people, the 51% of our country, who voted the man back in. Because essentially what they said on November 2, 2004, is that "we as a country not only accept the fact that you've done these things, but we endorse them, we encourage them, and we want them to continue for four more years." What's worse than one person doing bad things? A country full of people patting that person on the back.

In the next four years we will lose our freedom in this country. Right now it's gay people and women. Gays in 11 states lost the right to marry, and in many of those states lost the right to even have civil unions. With Bush at the helm for four more years, this trend will continue, and by the end of his term he will have forced his religious beliefs on all of us, and gay marriage will be outlawed. Women will lose the right to govern their own bodies. While it's unlikely that Roe v Wade will be overturned completely, it's extremely likely that abortion will be more and more restricted. What this will cause is a decline in the abortion rate, yes, but also an increase in the suicide/death rate from back alley, coathanger abortions. In a country that I thought was founded on freedom, I see this as an affront to the Constitution. We are becoming the country that we ran from when we split from England.

Science which could cure many up to now incurable diseases will be halted because of some sick religious opposition to it. Science and religion are opposite ends of the spectrum of human existence. Despite what some people have tried to prove, there is no correlation between the two. So we must choose: do we move forward as a country, as a species, and accept science, or do we stay where we are, afraid of change, afraid that some invisible man in the sky will condemn us to some invisible place under the earth where it's very hot for eternity? The time for organized religion has come and gone. There may well be a God. There is no place on this earth for the hatred, xenophobia, homophobia, racism, and ass-backwards thought that comes with religion. It was a noble idea. But so was communism. So were so many other ideas that humans thought up, then proceeded to fuck up. But here in America, the greatest country in the world, the last superpower, we're drifting dangerously close to a theocracy. The church must stay completely away from the state. Or what's next? The Christian majority is taking rights away from women and gays. Who's the next group? Who's to say that we won't all be forced to become Christians or die, if the country keeps driftin the way it's going.

Saying that gays are not allowed to marry says that gays aren't capable of love. It relegates them to the realm of animals. There is no difference between this and having separate water fountains for whites and blacks. We are regressing as a nation, and this truly disturbs me. The fact that we sit back and allow this to happen disturbs me. I'm ashamed to be an American. I love this country and what it stands for, but under the current administation, I'm ashamed. I never thought I'd see the day when our freedom, what this country was founded on, would be stripped from us. And I'm neither gay nor a woman. I just think that all people are people, all humans are humans, and we're all equal. Not socially or economically or politically, but underneath all that, I don't believe that one person on this earth is better than any other person. I just think that everyone should be treated the same. Calling on religion to separate people is wrong. I've been saying it for years. God is weeping because of what is being carried out in his name.

I don't want to imagine what will happen to America in the next four years. I see it as only a slight stretch of the imagination to say that this country might not even survive. As the disparity between rich and poor gets bigger and bigger, as it will under a completely Republican government, people will become more and more restless. It's happened time and time again throughout history. As we lose our rights, we'll get more and more restless. The parallels between this time in our history and the beginning of the fall of Rome are scary. We've given our government license to do whatever they want. We've okayed corporate scandal. We've shown that we are a hateful, scared society of people who look to religion for how to think instead of looking at the world around them, within themselves. The anti-American sentiment around the world will grow stronger and stronger as we fight a war we cannot win. Between attacks on our country and growing civil unrest, this country is headed towards disaster. We only have 50% of our people vote each year, proving that we're lazy pieces of shit. We don't deserve what we have. Maybe that's why the revolution won't come: we're too apathetic to do anything about the injustices about to be carried out against our own people. We won't care until it affects us, and then it will be too late.

Stand up for our rights. Do not let this government strip us of our freedom. It's not time to build a united America. It's time to fight for our country back, now more than ever.