Prayer and Probability

Tuesday's Elections
A Proper Perspective

After analyzing election results Democrats are dancing in the streets as they proclaim the dawning of a new day in American politics. A new South is going to rise again. A recalcitrant West is finally beginning to see the light. A revitalized North is going to redouble its efforts in the fight for truth, justice, and the American way. Wow, it invigorates body and soul just thinking about it. It sounds wonderful. The problem is that it is the sound of nothing more than tired and worn out clichés. It is formless utterances without a base in substantive reality. But then Democrats have been detached from reality for some time.

The main thing Tuesday’s elections tell us is that the most important thing in any election is money. To quote Greg Palast, America is “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.” Though I admit it sometimes seems as if we’re being short changed and ripped off. Regardless it portends bad news for the Democrats. Corporate America and the wealthy elites who are the real base of the GOP will pony up suitcases full of money to protect welfare subsidies and tax breaks that the Republicans have bestowed upon them for the past 5 years.

The God ‘problem’ will continue to haunt the Democrats. Tim Kaine was elected governor in Virginia because he confessed his faith. We will never know if he would have done so without being pushed into it by his opponent. Jerry Kilgore, the Republican nominee, might go down in history as being the candidate who ran the most inept and self-destructive campaign in any election. He did not lose because he called on George Bush for help, for that was a last second grasp for salvation. He lost because he deliberately threw away his faith and values ace card and left Kaine no choice except to pick it up. He ran the standard Karl Rove – Lee Atwater campaign of lies, slander, and deceit, which was to be expected. What was not expected was Kilgore’s attack on Kaine’s Christian faith. When Kilgore accused Kaine of being against the death penalty he left Kaine no alternative but to explain why, and the why was because of his Catholic faith. It was manna from Heaven.

Democrats should not expect such gifts from the GOP next year, for it won’t happen. As mean and dumb as they are Republicans have always been faster learners than Democrats, well at least for the past 40 years. The John Kerry ostrich method of confronting faith and values is a proven failure. With the gross corruption and pandering to the wealthy by Bush and his fellow Republicans the Democrats hold their fate in their own hands. Whether they are brave and smart enough to accept it will largely determine their success next November.

The Democrats' problems do not end with God and money. Science is working against them also. I do not mean the evolution - intelligent design controversy, for both science and religion deal with creation mystically and metaphorically. I mean something much more tangible, the building of rock solid impenetrable GOP Congressional districts. The Republicans hold a majority of governorships and state legislatures. Thus they have the power of the pen to use in their defense or should I say offense. They have used it quite inventively in many cases. They have drawn Congressional districts with shapes so bizarre that they make even the most elaborate mathematical fractal appear commonplace and mundane. Karl Rove and Tom Delay have become the Einstein and Turing of Bush World.

There is good news for the Democrats. Paradigms of thought come and go as their tenets fail and become unworkable. Given the condition of Bush World it is hard to believe that the Republican paradigm of greed and avarice can continue much longer. However the faithful of Bush World will not go gentle into that good night. Dying paradigms never do.

The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To Make.