Political suicide -- a losing proposition

Michael Moore sent out a message the other day, "17 reasons not to slit your wrists" because of last Tuesday's vote. Then today's NYT reported that a 25-year old man from Athens, GA, distraught because of the election, had driven to New York and the World Trade Center site where he committed suicide with a shotgun. And these are only a couple of the many references, half serious, half jocular, to suicide because a majority of American voters (a slim majority, but a majority nevertheless) has rejected us and the values we hold most dear.

Killing ourselves? Hey, that's not even a good joke. Moore's "17 reasons" not to were not very convincing, all along the lines of "Well, it's not really that bad" -- but it is that bad. The election of Bush and the support he got from American voters is really bad news for the economy, for civil rights, for the environment and world peace. But it's no reason to commit suicide, especially not solo suicide.

That's the trouble with modern American liberals. They would rather die than raise a fist. The right-wingers behind Bush's victory are also ready to fight to the ultimate consequences (as long as they can send other people's sons and daughters to do the dying). The old-time liberals, like Patrick Henry, Sam Adams and all the others were willing to fight to the death for what they believed, but not to go peaceably without doing serious damage to the enemy. That's the American tradition we need to revive.