by 
Eight years ago, when then Gov. George W. Bush ran against then Vice President Al Gore and again four years ago when Pres. George W. Bush ran against Sen. John Kerry, there were reports everywhere of people that were going to leave the country if President George W. Bush was elected into office. They peered into their crystal balls and saw a country that no longer looked like them. They saw policies that they disagreed with, and just like every election year, the American people needed to make the “right” (or in this case left) decision or else America was doomed.
This year, though I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how the world wants us to elect The One Sen. Obama, I have yet to hear of one person say that they were leaving the country should Sen. Obama be elected. In fact, Sen. McCain (at a recent rally) tried to tell the people there that an Obama Presidency wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Showing an Attitude
I think that the biggest reason for the difference is in the character of the ones that were making the statements. In years past it was actors and actresses that were decrying the possibility of a Bush Presidency. These people are the epitome of grown up children. They believe that it’s all about them, that because people pay to watch them play the hypocrite on stage1, that they’ll listen and follow them when it comes to to the real world.
This is happening again this year, with Jason Bourne Matt Damon telling us that Gov. Sarah Palin scares him, and that he has to know whether she believes that dinosaurs and man roamed the Earth at the same time because that somehow relates to her ability to be a calm person behind the nuclear button.
These people like to think that they’re more influential than they really are. They like to believe that their popularity and the box office transfers to the ballot box. They only kid themselves.
Different Kinds of People
But I think, most of all, that the fact that people would even state that they’d leave the country if one person is elected President instead of the other shows that they’re not the kind of people that should be regarded.
Just like when you were a kid and your neighbor didn’t want to play the game you wanted to so they said “That’s it, I’m going home to play with my G.I. Joes,” so those that say “I’m leaving if I don’t get my way” are really telling us more about them than they are about the candidate they are against.
They are saying that they want the power and influence. Though it was your house, and your toys, your neighbor was telling you that he would deprive you of his company unless you did what he wanted. Same thing with those in Hollywood.
And who is it that you truly want in a crisis? Do you want the person that is willing to leave when the time gets tough, or the person that will stay with you and face it even though they aren’t getting their way?
Most of us would say the latter.
So, I believe that it is true that Republicans are more the grown-ups, more those that take responsibility, not simply because of Hollywood’s fickleness, but because for all the talk about how liberal America could become, about how dangerous it could be, and how many freedoms could be replaced with government… I still don’t hear anyone talking about leaving. I don’t hear anyone talking about no longer being an American, or how they can get to Canada.
Instead, I hear people talking about the backlash, the payback, and how long things that are done in the next four years (should Sen. Obama win) will be in place, and how much work it will take to undo it.
Then again, it has always been the elite vs. the adults.
- When I say “play the hypocrite” I mean in the classical sense of the word. Hypocrite is derived from those in Greece that pretended to be someone else on stage. I’m not, necessarily, referring to the fact that they said that they would leave, but they in fact did not. [↩]
