{Received from a correspondant who I trust. --brendan}

This is from the son of a great couple I met the day I saw Outfoxed. He was a UT student before being deployed to Iraq. Thought you might want to read the thoughts of a young soldier from Austin who cared greatly about this election... I certainly could never express myself nearly so well.

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Well it looks as though Bush won the election. I won't pretend otherwise - I am crushed. I have never been so disappointed in my life. I cannot fathom that this is what a majority of Americans want, yet there it is, right in front of me. I don't even feel angry. I feel far worse. I feel as though a loved one has died.

I don't know why I take it so hard - after all, a Bush victory does not effect me personally. Hundreds of thousands face deployment to Iraq, but I'm already a veteran. My time is almost up. I'm also not poor, not a minority, not a single mother, not a farmer or a blue collar worker. It's not me that a Bush victory hurts.

I don't know why it is that I have taken it upon myself to carry this burden, but I carry it nevertheless. And his re-election is such a heavy load for me to bear, on top of so many other burdens. Right now I don't know how I can carry on. I guess I'll simply shut down for a while, until I feel strong enough to pick myself up and keep going.

I don't understand this world. I suppose that ignorance and fear have always been more powerful than justice, but that's little consolation.

America represents 6% of the world's population. 50% of Americans voted. Half voted for Bush. Therefore, 1.5% of the world's population are Bush Americans. But the rest of mankind, 98.5% of humans, every living person who breathes the planet's air, drinks the water, and longs to live with their families in peace is shackled to their whims. It is a curiousity of our age that the policies of the United States government have more of an impact on most people than the policies of their own governments. And no other faction is so proud of it's indifference to the outside world than right-wing Americans. Most proclaim as a red-blooded, macho badge of honor that they don't give a damn about the rest of the world (symbolized by France, the UN, etc.) They say asinine things like "Those with the guns make the rules."

This is very sad to me. If I were not in the military, I would almost certainly leave the United States. I feel privileged to be a soldier and I have never known a finer organization than the US Army, but I may leave the service and go abroad anyway. I will have to think deeply about it.

It pains me to say this, but if Bush accurately represents the majority of America, then I don't want to be an American anymore.

We will now see if the predictions I made in the past will come true: The war will escalate. More Americans will be sent out here. The troop level will rise to an all-time high. Attacks against us will increase. Next up: The Battle of Fallujah.

I want to be held to each and every one of those predictions. I would like to be wrong, but I know better than that.

One thing is for sure now: I'm done with politics. Let America nail itself on a cross of gold - I'm done caring. I know millions of people have been offended deep in their souls (as Walter Cronkite put it) by the Bush administration, but people who are stronger than me will have to carry on the fight because I just can't do it anymore. The ignorance we're up against is too monumental, and there is so much money invested in keeping Americans afraid, it's impossible to compete.

One last thing: In the past I have kept up an engaging debate with at least a dozen Republicans who receive these emails. I apologize to you all, but that will have to stop now. I am afraid I will not be able to maintain the diplomatic tone I have used in the past, and personal relationships could suffer as a result. The problem for me is that you are home in a wealthy cocoon in Suburbia, cheerfully enabling the war to go on, while I have to live the reality every day. I cannot debate across such a deep divide.

In fact, unless you are related to me by blood, I would prefer Bush's supporters not contact me again. I have no doubt that many of you are good people at heart, but I simply have no desire to have any further contacts with you. This one issue far outweighs any friendly ties we may have. It pains me to say this, but you have chosen to align yourself with a group that is my sworn enemy, people whom I would go to any lengths, pay any price, sacrificing everything, to bring down. Not only that, but if you can look at this war and continue to support Bush, then we live in completely different moral universes, and I don't want anything to do with yours.

And with all due respect to your right to hold your own beliefs, you have never seen a person killed as a direct result of Bush's actions. And neither has Bush himself.

I can't think of anything else to say, except that I am immensely proud to have taken a stand against Bush America. I gave it everything I had.

Seth