God takes sides...

God takes sides….
(An Editorial article without the usual links and what not)

Or so we have been lead to believe in the last few months. In India,
when the elections happen, religion comes to the forefront rearing its
ugly head. The socialists are quick to pounce on it and start
aligning themselves with the so-called non-religious groups trying to
castigate the religious right. This sort of politics has been one that
has earned ridicule for the country both from within and from the
outside. Even being a person of faith, I was disgusted to see the
temple or mosque or church and state coupled so tightly together in
determining the future of the country. For long I looked at the US as
that democracy that strictly delineated the church from politics. The
country elected its leader not based on his faith but his adherence to
his principles for the better good of the country. While the 2000
elections first sowed the seeds of doubt in my mind, this election
confirmed the fact that say what one may, the US is as religiously
fanatic as any other country in the world, albeit in a different form
and manner.

Ohio was the most affected state in the entire union due to the
economic downturn. While the bosses in the Eastern seaboard continued
to prosper (thanks for some good tax cuts), much of rural America
struggled as more and more manufacturing jobs were lost and more sons
sent to the war in Iraq. The Iraq war has been the bloodiest in the
last couple of months and marines are lost everyday to suicide
bombers. Estimates put the civilian deaths in Iraq at more than
100,000. Given all this statistics, one would expect anyone standing
against the GOP candidate and now President elect George Bush to win
with overwhelming margins (Reagan, anyone?). But that was not to be.
Not only did the President wrap up Ohio but he gained all of 4 million
votes more than last election and won the popular vote which he lost
by half a million to Al Gore. The states that lost the most since 2000
were the states that overwhelmingly voted for Bush. The lower and
middle-income people turned up in droves to vote for their President.
What happened?

Well, for starters, the opponent of President Bush should have been
Howard Dean. People were finding it hard to differentiate between Bush
and Kerry. And for those who didn't, the GOP hype machine created
enough fear in the minds of people to make them vote Republican.
Fear, as someone said is always the key. This time it definitely was
the case. But what really clinched the deal for President Bush was his
ability to reach out to the vast evangelical moderates and Christians
who in the past had not voted or divided their vote between the two
parties. This time, the issues of embryonic stem cell research, gay
marriage and abortion stuck a very big chord with the increasingly
religious American populace. While Kerry initially downplayed his
religious beliefs, he was forced to play that card for the risk of
losing a big chunk of votes and lose he did.

For once, the economy, a losing war and a possible draft did not rank
among the issues that made a difference in the presidential elections.
Instead, fear and a generous helping of church going voters ensured
that the President stayed in the White House for another four years.
While I hope for a more sanguine and fiscally and environmentally more
responsible government in the second term, it definitely scares me to
think that in America too, religion is given that much importance in
the election of its Commander-in-Chief.