2004 – The Year That Was

By Steven Snyder

 

It’s somewhat appropriate that I am finally finding the time to write this year-end essay on the day of George W. Bush’s second inauguration.

 

Not to sound too cryptic, but I think 2004 was the year that started the countdown. It was the year that furthered the Iraq quagmire, that took sanctioned American homophobia to new heights, that furthered the economic divide of this country’s classes and that limited free speech in entirely new ways.

 

No, I’m not striving for hyperbole, and I’m not the depressed, apocalyptic type. I just think things are getting worse, not better, and I am worried about the ultimate direction this country is taking.

 

It has been said that things swing back and forth like a pendulum, and that our current wave of conservatism – or what I will call closed-mindedness – is a backlash against the ‘70’s. Alright, that’s fine, but in the meantime we are starting to make matters worse in ways that are not easily-correctable.  

 

We had a chance to change our course last year, but failed, and I have always had confidence that, thanks to our Constitution and thanks to our open lines of communication and the free press, the United States will always adjust, adapt and persevere. But now it will take longer and we will drift further in the wrong direction before coming back.

 

We will be in Iraq for years. The elections will not occur by January 30. The insurgency will not die down. Even though we have dispatched the National Guard to the country, and have continued to keep servicemen and women there past their end dates, we will send more troops, anger more terrorists and will find ourselves in a far worse situation in January of 2006 than we are now. Not to mention that the Arab world will despise us even more than it does now, as it becomes clear that we are to be a long-standing occupying force in the country.

 

Gays will not be any more accepted a year from now than they are today. In the states where referendums passed, their likelihood to secure benefits and rights for their partners will evaporate. Who knows if George W will bring his constitutional amendment, banning gay marriage, before Congress.

 

As the economy continues its stagnant progress, many more Americans will find themselves downgrading to lower-paying jobs, and many more corporations will move operations overseas. Rising costs of education, health care and decreasing wages and job opportunities will squeeze the middle class further.

 

And from the Patriot Act to the FCC’s appeasement of larger corporations eating up local, independent radio outlets, there are fewer, more restricted voices in this country. Same could be said about the movie scene, where larger movie studios are eating up independent distributors, where Landmark Theaters is starting to dictate the nation’s movie tastes, and where the “art house” has simply become another forum for the big dogs to try and win awards. How was “Napolean Dynamite” able to eat up indie screens for more than half of 2004?

 

So I see this as the countdown to the revolt. Not sure what form that revolt will take, but likely a revolt at the polls, of people fed up with the direction the country is taking. Unfortunately, if Bush gets to appoint more than one Supreme Court justice, that countdown could last a generation, or more.  

 

…..Not to mention that the biggest story for the world in 2004 occurred five days before its end. The Indian Ocean tsunami, and the death toll that is currently above 220,000, is undoubtedly the 2004 event that will forever be remembered by the majority of those on this planet.