Josh Levinger

In case you missed President Bush’s second inauguration speech, let me sum it up for you with one word: freedom. Freedom with a capital F, as in FDR’s famous four, Capitol Hill fries, and Mel Gibson wearing a kilt and blue warpaint. Apparently, the terrorists hate us for our freedom, and we’re going to do our damnedest to spread it around the world just to piss them off. But there was something missing between the lofty liberal ideals, and the hidden religious rhetoric, something very basic: a definition. What exactly is this freedom that is God’s gift to humanity?

When still-President Bush offers freedom to the rest of the world, is he pushing our democratic ideals like free press and speech, or merely capitalism? When he tells jailed dissidents that “when you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you” does he mean that we are willing to go to war with every two bit despot, and China too?

We as a nation have made this promise before, and failed to keep it. After the first Gulf War, the first President Bush told the Shia majority to rise up, that we would support them. They did, and were duly slaughtered by Saddam, by the helicopters we allowed him to keep at the ceasefire talks in Safwan. President Bush later called the loss of life “unfortunate.” In an apparent attempt to rectify the situation, we went to war with Iraq again, and are now learning that its people desire freedom from our occupying forces nearly as much as they did from Saddam. Or they are at least free enough to articulate their desires through roadside explosives.

But the President’s speech was not about the past, and wars we’ve already fought in freedom’s name. It was a clarion call to the future, and the wars we have yet to fight. It was a clear signal to Iran and North Korea, the last standing members of the axis of evil. We will show them the road to our kind of freedom, open markets and an “ownership society”, whether they like it or not. Because freedom doesn’t mean Islamism, or Communism. If the people choose one of those ends, we won’t stand by them. We stood by and watched as democracy was suspended in Algeria in 1992 when Muslim extremists were prepared to win in a landslide.

We are currently preparing for an election in Iraq where perhaps 30% of the voters will be disenfranchised because “some pockets” will be too dangerous for voting. The expected pro-Shia results will not likely lead to a federal constitution, where the rights of the ethnic minority Sunni and Kurds will not be protected. Is this our idea of freedom, an election where we choose who can and cannot vote, and then apply the results equally to everyone? Or does freedom mean civil war, and chaos that makes the current insurgency pale in comparison?

Where is the freedom in the military bases we are building in Iraq to tighten our grip on the Middle East? Where is the freedom in the Patriot Act, passed without discussion, and soon to be made permanent? Where is the freedom in holding old men captive indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay?

The United States is no longer that shining city on a hill, that beacon of light to the world. Lady Liberty needs to adjust her torch, before we send her back to France. Despite President Bush’s uplifting speech, those huddled masses may be stuck yearning to breath free for at least another four years.

– Published in final IAP issue of The Tech

‘The people have spoken, the bastards.’ While John Kerry’s concession speech didn’t include this gem of a quote by congressional candidate Dick Tuck, it certainly could have. Kerry made the usual entreaties for national unity, healing, and an end to the partisan divide, but they rang hollow. His running mate John Edwards claimed that ‘the fight will go on’, but it’s hard to see where we have left to fight.

George Bush won the popular vote by over three million, solidifying his party’s leads in the House and Senate, and defeating the Senate majority leader. By anyone’s count, it was a good day to be a Republican.

Republicans will likely interpret this victory as overwhelming. Compared to the squeaker in 2000, it is a mandate from the people. But given how he governed when he lost the popular vote, I shudder to imagine how this victory will manifest itself in his policy proposals. He will almost certainly get to appoint three or more Supreme Court justices, as well as the new Chief Justice. There is renewed momentum for a ban on gay marriage, which will legally have to come as a constitutional amendment. Our preemptive foreign policy will continue and expand. The Patriot Act will be reinforced. The tax cuts will be made permanent. Social security will be privatized. America will continue to spread freedom from the barrel of a gun.

But before Democrats become utterly despondent, let’s remember that 48% of the country, over 55 million people, voted against George Bush and his ideology. This was not a blowout, and we put up a good fight, but we were clearly beaten.

Whatever it was, John Kerry didn’t have it. Maybe he pulled out of Missouri too early, or spent too much energy on Florida. Maybe he was too negative, or not aggressive enough. Maybe the campaign outsourced too much of the ground work to the 527’s. He was probably too nuanced and equivocal. There will be plenty of time for recriminations and accusations among groups on the left. The now leaderless party will wallow in its own self doubt and pity for the next few months. It’s hard to tell whose head will roll that hasn’t already been cut.

Before we degenerate into finger pointing, let’s savor this moment of sadness. There is a lesson to be learned here: a majority of Americans support Bush. Why exactly is a matter for the pundits to argue, but it’s undoubtedly true. Americans see something powerful in their plain spoken leader; something that we who get our news from the New Yorker and the Nation don’t. Although some of us would like to dismiss Bush as an ignorant cowboy, his victory forces us to realize that he is more than that. He is the man a slight, but clear majority of us chose to lead in these troubled times.

Bush promised in his victory speech to try to earn the trust of Kerry’s supporters. It’s hard to see how he will, but I’ll try and give him the benefit of the doubt. He didn’t steal this election, we lost it fair and square. Now it’s time to see what Bush will do with a lock on all three branches of government.

As our military surrounds Falluja yet again, ready to reinvade, I’m not hopeful about the future. Bush often says that history will judge his mistakes. Now that he doesn’t have to fear the electorate again, this is certainly true. But history is a harsher judge than the American people, and this chapter is Bush’s to write.