Seeing red

It’s 2 a.m. Tuesday morning. I’m flipping nervously between CNN, MSNBC and Fox as I try to keep track of endless maps and electoral vote tallies. I should be in bed happily dreaming about the new future of my country, but instead I am watching the cursor blink on my computer screen.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. We said “Vote or Die!” we called first-time voters, we drove people to the polls, we sponsored events, we pleaded with our conservative friends and family members, we waited in line to vote for hours. We worked so hard and perhaps we hoped too much. The Red Sox won, but can we?

What happened? Community activists, political scientists and media pundits will ponder this for years to come. While it was believed that new voters would undoubtedly boost Sen. John Kerry, it now seems that poor people of color aren’t the only citizens often absent at the polls. Rural whites, Evangelicals and independents also have a tendency to avoid electoral politics. Even though Bush’s approval rating was low and even conservatives questioned his plans for Iraq, Bush shot out of the election gate at a clip that left Kerry in the dust. North Carolina easily turned red. And then Florida. As I write this, Fox has called Ohio for Bush while CNN thinks it’s “too close to call.” Maybe it’s too early for Democrats to give up, but there’s a lot of red on that map and the people have spoken and by a margin of three million voters, they’ve said “Bush.” And given the probable Republican majorities in the House and Senate, their color of choice is red.

Even if Kerry wins, as liberals and leftists, we’ve still lost this election in every other way. Even though Bush has been, by most accounts, a mediocre at best President, it’s two in the morning, and I’m still listening to Judy Woodruff. Even though we tried to reach Americans on the economy, healthcare, education and the worsening situation in Iraq, we failed to do so. Even though we put endless hours into this campaign, Bush might still be a two-term President.

Up until this point, I always liked to think that most Americans shared many of my values and Catholics, working-class whites, and my fellow Kansans had simply been hijacked by the Republican Party. Now I face the cruel reality that perhaps most Americans do not share my values. Maybe my America is not their America. Maybe America is a conservative, fundamentalist Christian country and we as liberals are living in denial of this simple fact.

Even if Kerry wins, and I hope by Thursday he will have, American liberals need to reassess our values as well as our tactics. Are we out of touch with many of our peers? Alternatively, do our values resonate with many of our fellow Americans but not our mannerisms or our tactics? The once proud blue of a farmer’s overalls, the American flag on a suburban home and the neighbors pick-up truck is now confined to a few pockets on the electoral map. We can either stand our ground and watch as we are reduced to tiny islands in a sea of red, or we can learn from the experience of this election and make every effort to become a party people vote for, not just the party people choose to vote against the other.

On the other hand, I find myself wondering if the problem isn’t with liberals but with Americans themselves. Tonight I think I know what a moderate Muslim must feel like as the crowds gather in support of the latest fundamentalist leader. As much as the Democratic Party needs to change, I am truly frightened by the fundamentalist swing our country has taken in the past few years. Maybe this isn’t my country anymore, and I am destined to become an expatriate somewhere in Europe or South America. This is a beautiful, amazing country, but when I am told that up to 25 percent of American voters are fundamentalist Christians who think abortion is murder and gay marriage is a more important moral issue than child poverty, I feel like following the advice of conservatives and packing my bags for another country.

Regardless of who wins this election, it might just be too much red for me.