That Joke Isn't Scary Anymore

Fear. What is it good for? Two terms, maximum. I was just on the phone with my parents and I used the following analogy that I thought I would share.

McCain/GOP tried to use fear, again, to win the election. The problem was that this time Americans were too old for that trick. Eight years ago, we were like the 6 year old at the Haunted House. Scary, scary, scary. Four years later, we were 10 year olds, pretty sure that what we were seeing was bullshit but that little bit of doubt was still lingering in(some of)our minds enough to push the button for a Bush second term. Four more years pass, and suddenly we're 14 year olds and all those silly things that used to scare the shit out of us are now so obviously contrived (and false) that instead of being afraid, we laugh. It's funny. The game is over.

Fortunately, the GOP thought that fear would be enough yet again. Indeed, it had never failed them before. So for months and months they said, "boo" and "boo" and "boo", and for months and months we giggled and laughed and feigned terror. But at the end of the day, there was no plan "B", no fall back plan, no issue based plan. In fact, no plan at all. And why should there have been a plan? They had never needed one before!

In the end, the truth about the Bush Administration (and Republican party) turned out to be scarier than any lie the Republicans could make up about Obama. It didn't matter what they falsely accused Obama of; socialism, communism, Muslim, terrorist, William Ayers, Rev. Wright. Nothing was as scary as the truth about the past 8 years. The Patriot Act, the suspension of Habeus Corpus, legalized torture, spying on American citizens phone conversations and emails, an endless illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation, and on and on and on infinitum.

Cyclically, America has once again reached electoral puberty and we have started thinking for ourselves again instead of accepting illusion (propaganda) as fact. In this election, we had a choice. Fear or Hope. We chose Hope. It will take more than Hope to fix the wrongs of the past 8 years but where there is Hope, there is a way. Let's use Hope as the keystone to making our country and the world a better place.