Eventually the US economy must take priority under the Democratic reign. Eventually, what I am about to rant about should take a backseat among the more critical issues facing the US.
People have been talking about the historic vote in the US; it is a vote for the first Black president and about the possibilities now open for every American. I never really thought about skin color when I voted. I am blind to my skin color. All possibilities were opened to me since I became an American. I am a registered Democrat, liberal in thinking and conservative in spending. With very limited political knowledge, I voted with the thought that America thrives on changing its course when the current flow is leaning towards a downfall. With Bush, everything was alright at first but became downhill eventually. I don't blame Bush solely for the economic collapse of the US. I blame it on the the extreme market liberalization adopted - I too, am party to that - by majority of Americans led by economists who advocated that the market has the ability to 'self-correct' so long it's left alone. The mistake of Bush and earlier Clinton administrations and even the Congress was their lack of oversight and inability to foresee the warning signs of impending economic collapse. Greenspan admitted that he did not foresee the 'extreme greed' among businessmen whose ethics belonged to animals. I worked in the US long enough to see these CEOs and middle managers whose mantra to employees is always, 'profit through whatever means' and 'productivity' and lowered overhead costs. I have heard about enough companies who awarded millions to CEOs who could deliver the goods no matter how the goods are acquired. The exotic mortgages and derivatives that led to sub prime financial crises are products of creative schemes to get more commissions and profits. These greedy men were over-confident in being bailed out by insurers if everything went haywire. The failure of the government and Congress (both Democrats and Republicans) is inability to read the signs and correct them immediately before becoming full-blown crises. Many of these politicians are beholden to these companies to begin with. And then, there is the expensive war.
The failure of Bush is his excitable state of plunging America into war without a concomitant diplomatic approach. He, too, like many Americans, have had over-confidence in US military might. He probably thought that in seven days, Iraq and Afghanistan will succumb to bombs and troops. That approach failed and Bush was not able to correct it. The failure of Bush is the unhampered rise of oil price, aided by speculation, clouded by Bush being an oilman himself and his friends from oil companies, all became increasingly suspect to the eyes of many Americans - that too, Bush had failed to correct. Bush as a person must be a nice person. But being a President isn't all about nicety.
Initially I thought of Hillary as my next President - I knew her for eight years as a First Lady. Another 4 or more years as a Senator. Americans, especially Republican white males hated her to the extreme because she was a bitch they said. For a woman to succeed in a white male dominated society like the USA, she must act like a bitch. A woman like Hillary, educated, in control and very tough, will be severely tested by males who can't let their testosterone be dominated by estrogen and progesterone. I've seen that in the Philippines. She could have been a good President. And I'd rather have a smart bitch who can steer the nation to greatness than a sweet religious conservative whose only task is to follow the Bible in everything - including my condemnation as a gay man.
That's why there was a time I thought of McCain as my next President. Contrary to the political mud slingers' accusations, he is more of a Reagan-man than a Bush-man. I have found McCain to be somewhat moderate and liberal for a Republican. He did not hesitate to go against the tide, even against his own party on what he strongly believes. I don't think he was the lackey of Bush. I don't think he followed Bush footsteps. His POW experience is also a proof of his love for his country. But what he failed on, at least to me, is his choice (or the Republican choice) of Sarah Palin. If that move was to gather more women to his camp, it was a wrong move. Sarah Palin was a political move meant to attract the fundamentalists and religious conservatives (and hopefully women) to the camp of MacCain. With all due respect, Sarah Palin's conservatism isn't my cup of tea and I am talking only for myself. What fired me up in the last election were the disgusting amendments facilitated by the Republicans - Proposition 8 in California and Amendment 2 in Florida are simple revisions of old tactics to 'smoke-out' religious conservatives from their caves to get out and vote. Who cares about gay marriage except the religious conservatives? Who cares except the Catholic Church, the die-hard Protestants and Mormons? I mean, some of my friends in Florida never even thought about Amendment 2: the wording is so misleading you'd wonder why there is such a need for that law. How can someone decide on gay marriage without the word 'gay' at all in its wording? It's the sneaky tactic that fires me. It's the misleading format of the amendment that riles me. I'd never marry a man. Heck, I even have a hard time finding love in my busy lifestyle. But noooooo, to the religious fundamentalists, any gay couple who asks to get married, or adopt a dying and abandoned child, or any straight couple who lives for decades without the blessing of a church, are indeed threatening the foundation of the world. Because John and Pete asked to get married while the other ten million gays around never even thought about it, the world will collapse. Gay marriage and abortion are such a very good tool to gather votes in the US Republican world. It doesn't matter if the economy is collapsing by the minute, it doesn't matter if thousands of young Americans are dying in wars - what matters is gay marriage and right to life. It is a most distorted world view that the likes of Bush and Chenney embody.
I can never become a Republican. I'd be condemned to hell and burned at the stake if I'd ever join their midst. My religious conviction is only one: God's greatest gift to mankind is His life and the freedom to choose. Will you accept Him into your life or not? Will you live a good life from now on or not? The very proof of God's gift to choose is the creation of Heaven and Hell. He created them so man can choose. But you will choose for yourself not Him for you.
If God were Republican, he would also create Heaven and Hell. And He'd say, everybody has no choice but to go to Heaven. In fact, He will ban, kill, hurt, imprison, decapitate, ridicule, legislate and constitutionalize anyone who tends to veer towards Hell.
So, I ask God the Republican then, why don't You just remove Hell and sins from the world since I have no choice in this matter anyway?
That's why I am embittered by the recent election. Obama as my choice for President won but that's only half of my battle. The gay lifestyle was put into focus again to stimulate voters. It is once again used to humiliate and anger a minority in the USA. A country can never expect a fair majority vote for a minority. The gays in the world are outnumbered by straights, heck, gays are even outnumbered by Republican conservatives. What in the world makes anyone think that any gay lifestyle vote will be approved by the majority? And why, in the name of God, are these tax-free living bigots in churches allowed to influence the vote of the majority of people? Why are they allowed to spend their tax-free money to finance their members to go knocking on doors to spread the news about the evil of someone like me? I thought the US is a modern country that separates the Church from the State?
I have friends, Manuel and Marcus, now struggling in their gay lifestyle. Both are suffering from HIV, both out of work, both without medical insurance and both without supportive families because the Church bigots tell everyone that Manuel and Marcus are homosexuals and they don't deserve any choice on anything, should be shunned by families, no right to be happy, no right to have the benefits of bigots like them, and if they would be given a choice, they would petition God to withdraw their right to exist as well. When Marcus got sick, Manuel never had a chance to decide for his partner of 8 years. Instead the hospital called on Marcus mother (who have not spoken with her son for twenty years) to decide for him. She didn't care at all.
I visit them as often as I could. I know that their constant isolation will eventually put a toll on their lives. I am the one who listens to their agonies, their constant battles against medical insurers, how they scrape everything just so they could pay for their medications. I am the one who wishes for their union to be legal, so one can bear the other.
The bigots who are against gay lifestyle don't know much about Manuel and Marcus. For them, gays do nothing but make love with each others at nights. Or they prowl the streets for tricks. For these bigots, people like me who built my family to secured existence and who put five kids to college by working seven days a week have no value and no right and no say on anything. They don't see me as the gay Therapist who had taken care of their parents and their children and their friends in times of physical recoveries. They don't see the gays like me who personally don't believe in gay marriage but would fight for the right of my fellow gay who believes in it. I thought that is what the American Constitution is all about: the pursuit of happiness, liberty, equality and all that. I thought America protects it minority. I thought America is not afraid of change.
So what change are you talking about because a black American became the President? What change is there really when another minority is subjected to humiliation and anger?
But I will be civil enough to control my anger out of bitterness right now. I know my lifestyle is not the priority of America right now. There are job losses and mortgage defaults; there are wiped out stocks and investments; there are wars and rumors of wars; there is a new President who will need a lot of support and time to tackle these emergent problems.
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