And I'm not proud of myself. I guess I'm writing because I need some perspective from level-headed Kossacks.
I have a sports acquaintance who works for her father's large hedge fund. The family is Lutheran, and very religious, devout, good people. I haven't seen my acquaintance in about a year, so I asked a mutual friend of ours tonight over drinks how she was doing. She's doing great. The hedge fund is doing great. All's good. My acquaintance voted for Bush in 2000 because of taxes. Okay, fine, nobody really knew then how bad things were going to be. But I've been thinking about her lately because before the war, we had several long conversations about what a terrible idea it was to invade Iraq. So now that things have gotten really out of control, I was curious to know what she thought. I asked our mutual friend if he knew. It turns out she is horrified by the war. Okay. So then I asked the mutual friend if he knew how she was planning to vote this year. For Bush. Why? Taxes. Even though she hates him, she hates Kerry too, maybe worse. So taxes win. And that was when I lost it. I mean really lost it. All the rage and grief I have been feeling about the actions of the Bush Junta just came pouring out in a stream of curses and yes, yelling. In the bar. I had to be quieted down. I had to be asked to leave. I HAD TO BE ESCORTED OUT. I was screaming. Taxes. 30,000 dead Iraqis, and rich people are thinking about their taxes. And these are church-going people, good people, "moral" people. I am an atheist. But to me, the most inviolable moral principle is that all human lives are equally valuable--not because humans are made in God's image but because we have all evolved in the same way and are all made of the same stuff--the same genes, the same proteins,the same carbon. Because of the way our brains work, we have a tremendous gift (though tonight it seemed like a burden) of consciousness. To deny that gift to anybody, to deprive her of it, is the deepest evil a human can do. Does any Iraqi value his life less than I value mine? Does any Iraqi love his wife and children less than I love my wife and children? Does any Iraqi feel less committed than I do to the stream of thoughts that runs through his mind, to the memories of his early life, to the feelings that are uniquely his? He was assigned a body and a place on this earth just as much as I was. I had the good fortune to be born in a pretty nice part of the world. He, alas, did not. What we have done is extinguish 30,000 separate, vibrant, meaningful streams of consciousness. For what? WHY HAVE WE DONE THIS? There is no military, or legal, or moral justification for what we have done in Iraq. Any illegal war is bad enough, but the massive scale on which we have slaughtered people staggers the imagination. Why aren't we mourning them? The excess of the evil is unbearable.
And some babe whose daddy runs a hedge fund is going to vote for Bush because of taxes.
I am home now, and calmer--sort of. Actually I'm still shaken up. And surprised by my reaction--I'm usually quite mild-mannered. But I guess tonight I was like a raisin in the sun. Thanks for letting me vent a little more.
