Dan Gilmor wrote earlier today about what a Bush win means for America:

The Republicans have an even stronger congressional majority. They have shown how gladly ruthless they can be in using their power. Bush and his allies have never believed in compromise. They have even less incentive to govern from the middle now, even though the nation remains bitterly divided.

There's no secret about what's coming. We don't have that excuse this time.

Here comes more fiscal recklessness -- as we widen the chasm between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else, cementing a plutocracy into our national fiber, we'll pay our national bills on the Treasury Bill credit card for the next few years. Many economists expect a Brazil-like financial crisis to hit the U.S. before the end of the decade. If we muddle our way though the near term, we'll still have left our kids with the bill.

Here comes an expansion of the American empire abroad, a fueling of fear and loathing elsewhere on the globe. This is also unsustainable in the end. Empire breeds disrespect.

Our civil liberties will shrink drastically. This president and his top allies in Congress fully support just one amendment in the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. Say goodbye to abortion rights in most states. Roe v. Wade will fall after this president pushes three or four Scalia and Thomas legal clones onto the Supreme Court. Say hello, meanwhile, to a much more intrusive blending of church and state.

The environment? We'll be nostalgic for Ronald Reagan's time in office.

This is not sour grapes. This is reality.

Expect an increase in theocracy in the United States. Evangelical Christians turned out in great numbers to show support for Bush. Why? Because they both have the same agenda. They see nothing wrong with incorporating their own moral beliefs into the secular law of the United States. We see this manifested in the John Ashcroft Justice Department, Ohio's brand-new constitutional amendment (along with constitutional amendments in ten other states that outlaw homosexual marriage), the official government policy on stem cell research, and the official government policy on sex education. People who voted for Bush voted for him because of these social issues. They want to see their moral beliefs become the law of the land, and now they will, since Bush can pull out all the stops in the next four years.

Expect Bush to, as Gilmor says, expand the American empire abroad. The neo-conservatives in the Bush administration no longer have to justify their actions to anyone. They've got four years of a blank check to do whatever they want just by invoking the "T" word followed by the "S" word. Talks with North Korea? Invade 'em! Iran enriching uranium? It must be for nuclear weapons. Invade 'em! To hell with what the United Nations thinks -- if they disagree with us, they're "irrelevant." Until we need to repair the countries that we broke, in which case, we'll come to them begging for assistance.

America has become a more conservative country. The worst part is that it's not an overwhelming conservatism. It's only a 3% difference between Bush and Kerry in terms of the popular vote. The people of conservative philosophy out there outnumber the people of liberal philosophy by only a few million. If this country doesn't tear itself apart in the next four years, I'll be surprised.

And you, the people who read this blog that voted for Bush, why did you do it? I'm really serious: I want to know why you voted for Bush. Post your comments. Give me some insight. I demand well-reasoned defenses of your vote for Bush as opposed to Kerry. I want to understand why someone would vote for George Bush, given what the last four years have brought us. Or maybe I can't understand.