There is a divide in this country today, miles wide and fathoms deep. It has cleaved our great nation, and has only grown — and will only continue to grow. But it’s not a left/right split, or Democrat/Republican one. It’s lunatic/non-lunatic.

Our culture has been swept along in a tide of emotionally-resonant, steadfastly anti-rational entertainment, and politics is at the head of the wave. The course of our country, the future of our people, is being determined by lizard-brain responses to images designed to trigger sub-rational responses.

Michael Moore and Ann Coulter aren’t opposed to each other, they are each other: determined propagandists, using the language and mediums best suited to strike at the emotional core of their audiences. They do not work from a common set of facts, and would ignore them even if they existed. When they speak well, they’re Henry V on St. Crispin’s Day. When they speak poorly, they’re a spittle-flecked wacko with an “End of the World is Nigh” sign. But that’s just a matter of presentation: they’re all lunatics, asking us to stop thinking and start feeling. And to start feeling what they want us to feel.

This determined emotionalism — which is another way of saying anti-rationalism — is what drives us today. You can find it distasteful, you can find it depressing, but it’s most important impact is that we have turned over the direction of the country — our future — to the part of our psyche that doesn’t want to think.

It’s not about smarts. The lunatics aren’t stupid — just the opposite. It’s about the willingness to abandon the deductive process in favor of epiphany. It’s about the abandonment of the brain in favor of the gut.

Jon Stewart has said all this, of course, and said it better. But it hit home, hard, because I recently discovered — realized — that I am not immune. I edged up against the lunatic side of the divide the past few weeks. I went — close, anyway — mad. I was angry, irrationally furious, to the point of raging at the world — appallingly, my children included — that things were going they way they were. I stared into the abyss, from the wrong side, and it scared me.

A potential reason for my brush has to do with how I spend my time: on the Internet. The Web is a festering cesspool of lunacy and emotion: Free Republic, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, Atrios, Instapundit, on and on and on. Facts only enter the picture when they’re favorable. Emotion rules. There is no common ground, nor a desire for any.

That’s a problem.

Left or right, Democrat or Republican, these labels don’t mean much in the face of the looming (or nearly complete) lunatic take-over. Dispassion and reason are qualities that need to be nurtured and promoted from every political viewpoint, even — or especially — in the face of spittle-flecked wackos.

The question is, where do we start?

—Greg Knauss

What was the deciding factor for most Americans who got up off they asses and/or sent in their absentee ballots on time and voted? Nope, not the economy. Not terrorism, either. Not even Iraq. It was religion.

Abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research stand on higher ground with this electorate than any other issue, and Bush’s campaign made the most of it. Or perhaps they made the issue an issue—either way, a lot of the credit for Kerry’s defeat goes to a grassroots Republican door-to-door effort to scare the population into believing that America would go to hell in a flaming handbasket if George W. was not returned to office as had been ordained in the Bible. Or something like that.

Anyway, forget everything you learned in civics class and forget about the trivial issues like employment, the environment, world peace, intelligence and thoughtfulness. It’s all about the Jesus.

—Lance Arthur

So, that’s that. Kerry just conceded. Congratulations, America—you’ve voted for four more years of invasions and war, economic decline, deficit, poor education, fucking the environment, shitty healthcare, running Social Security into the ground and more. Good for you. Oh, and let’s not forget that Bush might have the opportunity to nominate three justices to the Supreme Court. See you later, Roe v. Wade. Oh, and I hope none of you people with cancer or Parkinson’s expect to see a cure any time soon. At least not in this country.

The saddest thing about this whole election is that America is changing for the worse. We’re becoming more and more conservative. What happened to the progressive America? What the fuck is wrong with you people? Is this all that you want in life? Is this the American dream? You think Bush is a fiscally responsible president? All you bastards who lost your jobs over the past 4 years still voted for him. What’s wrong with you?

I’m especially outraged by the exit poll statistics on how many people voted for Bush because of his “morals.” This is the closest election we’ve had in a long time and for all intents and purposes, it was decided by religion. I’m sickened. Canada looks really good to me right now. I’m sure I’ll write something a little more eloquent at some point but for right now I can’t even get it all out. This is a sad, sad day for this country. I’m ashamed.

—Garrett Murray

It’s 0133, November 3rd, 2004. I’m sitting on the floor of my living room, with a towel around my waist, a blanket across my shoulders, and a whole heap of fury in my heart. I simply cannot believe that this country has re-elected George Bush. I just cannot believe it.

I want to write something angry, something abusive. I want to yell at the 51% of America that couldn’t see past their own self-centered, jingoistic, downright ignorant selfs, and realise the enormous potential for harm that they’ve just rubber-stamped with their vote for Bush.

I want to scream at the 51% of America that decided they’d rather be represented in the World by a psychopathic, right-wing, religious zealot, than by a man like John Kerry, who by all accounts has enormous intelligence, enormous empathy, and a genuine wish to make the World a better and more sensible place.

—Dunstan Orchard

Since I’m in the mood to just quote other people, I bring you the words of Emily J (I’m not sure she wants her full name showing up in google), a woman I have a deep respect for.

I’m thinking about becoming a repulbican. . . .

Think how easy it would be. I would always be able to vote for winners. I could just care about myself. I wouldn’t have to care that in a few years, two men who love each other will be prohibited from marrying each other. I wouldn’t have to listen to rational discussion, I could just keep saying, “They hate us because of our freedom.” I wouldn’t have to think that maybe we did something awful and suppressed them and terorrism is their only way of fighting back.

Think about it. I could marry rich, have 2.5 children, live in the suburbs, and live a totally sheltered life. I could believe that America is good and Muslims are bad and everything in between is just immoral.

Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

Four more years!

—Emily J

I voted this morning, cast my ballot at about 7:30 AM or so. I was number 51 to vote in my precinct, which is respectable.

The line was about 20 minutes long or so, which was shorter than I was expecting. I had no hassles in getting my ballot (I registered earlier by mail), and several people I know were able to same day register without any problems.

If you are interested, you can find a bunch more I Voted stickers on Flickr.

I support Kerry | I oppose Bush