Kevin Hayden: Losing it or Just Being Funny?

Posted on October 19, 2004 in Anxiety Blogging Campaign 2004 Mailbox

Kevin Hayden sent me an email out of the blue. Opinion is divided over whether the content of this mass-spattered missive is a manifestation of Kevin’s panic or intended to be tongue in cheek. It’s a reprint of an article he posted to the American Street, a blog I must confess that I seldom if ever read. Judging from the bloglinks, he reciprocates the favor. Why he went beyond the circle of the Democratic Party elite to tell me and a few others who are also not on his blogroll that he wrote this article is pretty plainly nothing but blatant self-promotion.

But back to the question: is Kevin suffering from a panic attack or is he just trying to be funny? I think a little of both:

…what will become of the 5,936,237,541 political blogs AFTER the election?

If Bush wins, I figure it’s three years in Gitmo for half of us, for ‘re-education’ and make-pretend-non-torture. If Kerry wins, it’ll just be drunken orgies, mandatory abortions, and lesbians marrying Middle America’s cornfed daughters, then we’ll surrender the country to Osama al-Hussein in return for his record opium crops. But that’ll get old by Thanksgiving.

And that kind of talk was old in the summer of 2003.

When we dive into anxiety-impelled depression, our disease may spawn gallows humor. Kevin’s depressed that the campaign has become so divisive, so petty with so little talk about the real issues. Yes, I agree on this count. Conspiracy theories serve as the Dobermans of both the Republicans and the Democrats. Kevin seems to be trying to tell us to relax in a very tense fashion, to get real, to see things as they are.

I can’t say that I find this beat-em-with-sarcasm approach very helpful. It hasn’t helped us convert Bushies to reason and it isn’t bringing anyone to sanity now, is it?

Kevin asks in his column and his private email just what we plan to do. I replied via email:

Keeping my cool. Writing poetry. Preparing myself to make effective witness to either administration.

You see, though I feel it is imperative to put the Bush Administration out of office and incarcerate as many of its members as we can before they flee to Chile, I do not expect the Kerry Administration to be without taint or reason to protest. I support Kerry because he has shown something Democrats haven’t shown in a long time: guts. He fights. This candidate has a clear plan, a mind able to appreciate the complexities of the political sphere, and determination to win the presidency. His platform mostly reflects my interests. And, as I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph, we have got to put George W. Bush out of power, preferably in jail with all his cronies. This is simply the most corrupt, most dangerous, and outright worst administration that America has seen. We have Caligula in the White House.

On the other hand, I am not satisfied with Kerry’s explanation for why he voted for the War in Iraq. When it counted to take a stand, he and his vice president did not. If Kerry is elected president, I shall bring the issue of the war to him. I shall hold him accountable for the actions of American troops there. And I will continue to struggle to bring the troops home.

In some ways, there’s no changes. In others, I hope to see a few issues resolved, if not once and for all, then at least for the remainder of my life. First and foremost among these are the citizenship rights of millions of Americans who have been denied their right to vote. For this reason, I am following Common Cause and Votewatch reports very closely. Second, I want a return of journalistic accountability. I celebrate blogs as a venomous antidote to the skew of the pundits. The news industry has become too buddy-buddy, too unwilling to examine its own failure to report facts. The questions that people ask during the town hall debates clearly demonstrate that the majority of American voters, Right and Left, want substance not discussions of style. I shall continue to fight the licenses of the Sinclair Group and any other news organization which attempts to consolidate its ideological hold over the airwaves. Third, we need to reunite this nation. No one has done more to divide it than the Republican Party. During the Civil War, states turned against other states. Now we watch our neighbors in terror. Is he an informer for the Justice Department? Is she a terrorist? Would they drive me to the hospital in an emergency if they knew my politics?

I mourn for America and I want to bring peace to my neighbors. I think of all the candidates in the field today, John Kerry possesses what it will take to put an end to the massive corruption of the corporations and make us trust our neighbors again. This is why I support him. I believe that he will help us to reach out to those who might support the losing (hope!) Bush side in the November elections and bring them back into the neighborhood. Certainly, not all will come, but I believe John Kerry can bring most of them to the town barbecues and socials. This is the most important thing the successor to George W. Bush can do for America. It will require encouragement from all of us and thoughtful witness, not just to Kerry, but to our neighbors.

If Bush wins, then the struggle shall be to keep the voice of intelligent dissent alive. I know that the American people do not support him. His lead is an illusion driven by sketchy polls and rabid ideologues with the power to put their point of view where people can see it. The news is calculated to make us despair, which is why I do not watch it. If Bush wins, too many people will not believe in the vote. It will not surprise me to hear that he stole the election again. I dread what this will mean to the relationships I have with my neighbors, all of whom watch each other, wondering what is going on in the darkness behind the brow. I fear civil war.

But I promise this: even if Kevin’s most fatuous nightmare comes true, they will not steal the song in my heart. I intend to live as long as I can and as well as I can. I shall labor to be myself first so that I can be a friend to others and a good citizen of these, my beloved United States of America.