Flibbertigibbet

'Hate' is Such a Strong Word

I was talking to a Liberal friend of mine tonight and he asked me what I made of the election results. I told him that though I am no fan of George Bush, I was not displeased that Kerry lost.

I have to put things that way lest someone mistake me for a supporter of the Republican Party and all that it has in store for the American people. It is sufficient at the moment to say that I do not.

My friend pointed out that George Bush hates me. In his words, our president hates me because I am the member of a minority, that sinful lower 10% (ish) of the population that is homosexual. It cannot be denied.

Another friend of mine said that she does not think Bush hates me as a homosexual. I smiled grimly to that and said, "I have no doubt that he is one of those hypocritical Christians without the strength of his convictions; his claim is that he hates the sin not the sinner." I make no such distinction as the sin does not exist without the sinner. George Bush does hate me because I'm gay whether he admits it or not.

But my being gay is not something George Bush or any soft-headed, right-wing mystic can take from me. If Bush were a white supremacist, he could not take the color from racial minorities. If he were someone who hates fat people, wheel chairs, or ben gay, he could not make people thin, walk, or young again.

Something that can be taken from me is my money, my property, my freedom to move and speak my mind.

In the end, George Bush will likely take some of each of those things from me, indeed he already has with things like medicare legislation, campaign finance reform, and even the Patriot Act.

I did not vote for John Kerry though. When it comes to hating me, John Kerry hates me and many others for another reason. In the most essential ways, John Kerry hates me for the same reason George Bush hates me, but on the surface there is some nuance to grasp. John Kerry hates me for my success.

When my friend told me that George Bush hates me as a minority, I told him that John Kerry hates a minority, too. He hates the rich. He hates the independent. He hates me, too.

I am a person not destined for success. I am a person who has chosen success. I am a person who has chosen happiness. I am a person who has chosen freedom. And John Kerry explicitly hates me for that.

How do I know this? Because John Kerry is a Liberal, whether he will admit it or not. But he has stated explicitly how much he thinks the "rich" should be punished for being rich and how they owe something to those who can't or won't do for themselves. Kerry has stated that he doesn't think that the defense of our freedom is worthwhile unless other countries agree to it.

John Kerry is of the political breed that venerates minorities for the fact that they are so woefully downtrodden. I'm gay, so John Kerry wants to love me because I have to put up with people yelling silly things from their cars when they see me holding hands with a date. John Kerry thinks it's an outrageous thing that three of every four of my fellow Georgians think I am unworthy of a union recognized by the state. (Sometimes Kerry agrees, but let's not digress.)

But John Kerry hates me because for reasons that are unclear to him and those who support him; I am successful. "The man" can't hold me down.

There are others like me. Some of them are some kind of minority or another. The kind that are most loathed by Kerry are the rich. In that we are all singular individuals we are each our own minority.

Nevermind that without the "rich" there is no poor. Nevermind that apart from people who get paid by the government for failure, laziness, and general worthlessness, we all have to earn what we own. Nevermind the fact that what we earn is ours and not, as Liberals often believe, everyone else's.

To add insult to injury, I'm not the sort of person who can be anything else but successful. My accomplishments are as certain to me as Newton's apple falling to the ground because they come from my mind and my hands as a result of who I am. My very identity as an individual and the success it brings is, for my intents and purposes, axiomatic.

John Kerry hates me for what I am and if we look back, George Bush is the same. There is so little difference between the two that it is hardly worth the effort to make a distinction. Unfortunately, a distinction is to be made and I voted for George Bush.

Just don't tell me George Bush hates me. I know all about it.