How can we live together?

I've squinted and tried to see with the eyes of the people who voted for Bush, and I cannot see whatever they thought they were seeing.

Falsification of scientific data. Corrupt business practices. Disregard of civil rights. Condoned torture. Squelching of dissent. Mocking our veterans. The budget deficit.

Shockingly plain to my eyes.

Invisible to millions of people--educated people, intelligent people, people who "researched" the issues and still decided for Bush.

People who were angst-ridden, scared, tolerant, cynical, distrusting, and want[ed] and fear[ed] change so much that they clung to the candidate who had been milking their fears ever since his incompetence gave the terrorists their opportunity.

Deluded people, who believed that there wasn't much difference between Bush and Kerry, and at least Bush has a sense of humor. People who just didn't think Kerry could fight terrorism, and that Bush's environmental record isn't as bad as it was made out to be.

These people don't understand, refuse to understand, that the widespread grief at Kerry's loss came from fear for America's future, and the mass gasp of O Canada arose from revulsion at being forced to live with people who care nothing for decency and justice, and whose susceptivity to propaganda may cause them to turn on their fellow citizens at any second.

The phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid" is painfully cynical; over 900 people died in Jonestown, nearly a third of them children. But it sure seems like half the country has been guzzling it down.