Deep Breath

Tomorrow it happens. (Illustration from Jesus’ General.)

One way or the other, it happens. The
American election of 2006 happens. The Iraq election
happens.

For those who have worked toward this
day for over two years, practically since the moment networks gave
President Bush a second term, tomorrow is the Moment of Truth.

Deep Breath.

For those who have worked for the
Republican cause the hardest
it is also a day of reckoning. But for most rank-and-file
Republicans, I suspect, not so much. It’s easy to say “oopsie”
when an Administration, even a generation’s Political Thesis, goes
bankrupt. It’s easy to just go along, to stay invested just because,
well, it’s “your team.”

If everything the Democrats have said
is true, you won’t be put up on war crimes charges. You’ll go on.
There were millions of good Germans who supported Hitler, but never
his crimes. They were just nationalists. They were just
conservatives.

Oh, now I’ve gone and done it – I’ve
brought the “H” word into it. No one is allowed, ever-ever-ever,
to dare compare George W. Bush to the demonic paper hanger.

We’ll see. If there is ever a full
accounting of this age, we’ll see. And then, if he was just another
American President, albeit one who “made mistakes,” I’ll
apologize.

But what if you’re wrong?

What if the
Trillion Dollars wasted in Iraq is just the tip of the iceberg? What
if it’s true that 600,000 civilians have died in under 4 years
because of us, twice the total Saddam Hussein toted up in 20 years?
What if it’s true, that there’s a network of secret prisons,
sponsored by America, around the world, where they specialize in
torture, where “Waterboarding” is “no big deal,” and where
most of the people are innocent?

What if it’s all true, that the 2000
election was a fraud, and  you went along with it. The American
electoral system was subverted, and you went along with it. The
middle class was destroyed and you went along with it. The Earth was
tipped into a Global Warming Armageddon and you went along with it.
The American economy was bankrupted and you went along with it.

Better not think about it. Better just
vote Republican and never find out. Because I guarantee that, if
Republicans hold Congress tomorrow, no one will ever find out. No one
will ever know who did what, and why, and when, and if All Hell
Breaks Loose you can continue living in Denial, saying “I didn’t
know. No one knew. How could one know such terrible things?”

Tomorrow is your last chance to find
out. It’s the last chance for all of us. So what’s it to be, my
Republican friend? Denial or knowledge?

Deep breath….