The fight does not end here
Just watched Kerry's concession speech. The dining hall was silent. I'm definately down about it, but being a Northeast girl, I'm as much responding to the anti-Bush head-shaking fad than having genuine feelings.
More than ever, I'm realizing how symbolic and substance-light politics are, on both sides, and how -- if I want change -- I'll need to do a lot of it myself. I've recently begun to understand the potential that people like you all, my peers, and myself have for large effect, and I'm heartened by Edwards's message: the campaign may have ended, but the fight has only just begun. I now know, however, that it's not about politicians doing all the work for us. The fight is our fight.
Check this out: Point number one: Nader did not lose the 2004 election for the Democrats.
Nader did not lose the 2000 election for the Democrats.
The Democrats need to get their fucking act together and start running a decent campaign instead of leaving potential voters feeling disenfranchised, so that they don't even need to worry about some egotistical jackass of a third party candidate.
Point number two: If I see one more person bitch about how they're potentially moving to another country, I'm going to scream.
Like hell you are. You live in the richest country in the world, you never have to worry about anything, our elections don't involve you getting OPPRESSED or SHOT AT unless you happen to be a minority living in Florida and Ohio (and to the best of my knowledge, none of you ARE), and you think your world is going to hell just because the guy you didn't like won?
Bush is a fucking ass, but Kerry isn't the saviour from above that everyone seems to be suddenly painting him as. He wasn't going to suddenly pull us out of Iraq. He wasn't going to just magically overturn the Patriot Act. He was going to get into a fucking toe-to-toe drag 'em out deadlock with a Republican Congress that would put '93-'94 to shame, get absolutely nothing accomplished, piss off the half of the electorate that didn't want him to begin with, lose seats at his midterm, then get voted out in '08 when the Bushies came back with a vengeance with Jeb at the head of the table.
Yeah, you can go fucking move to Mexico, or Italy, or whereever the hell it is that you think is going to be better off than here. I really hate to break it to you, but it's not. Canada has its own problems. So does Great Britain. If you think minorities are oppressed HERE, go visit Australia for a week or two. Go try living anywhere in the Mediterranean, then come crying back to me in a month because you can't buy chicken or peanut butter.
The world doesn't end just because someone you don't like got voted back into office. Now you all know how the Republicans felt during eight years of Clinton.
I think Bush is a self-righteous, pompous ass as much as the next person, but my day-to-day life isn't going to change just because he won except for it giving me more fodder to bitch about. I'm not going to suddenly be more oppressed, or have to start censoring what I say in public because the Gestapo is just around the corner, or have to stop getting an abortion.
Granted, the potential effects on the Supreme Court really ARE something to bitch about, but let's be honest -- does replacing Rehnquist with a pro-life justice really have any effect on the grand scheme of things?
Kerry wasn't going to pull our troops out of Iraq. Kerry also wasn't going to magically get the rest of the world to send troops IN to Iraq -- do you really think the French watched us go through the hell that is Vietnam without learning not to get involved when another country wants to pull out of a military engagement? They got it right the first time in the '60s, they're sure as hell not going to switch spots with us this time around.
It sucks that Bush won, but dear lord. So did Nixon. So did Ronald Reagan, and George Bush Senior, and Jimmy Carter, and HE was a fucking Democrat. We've had a shitload of horrible presidents in the modern era, and we didn't suddenly lose all our rights because of it.
There is obviously an ideological rift in this country right now, and the Democrats are on the wrong side of it. If they want to win in 2008, they're going to need to change that. They're going to need to start appealing to church-going voters, they're going to have to shut up about things that they might normally want to talk about, and they're going to have to run a fucking MINORITY CANDIDATE, which is never going to fucking happen because the Democratic party is just as repressive as everyone claims the fucking Republicans are.
I need a goddamn drink.
And let's also not forget Kerry's message, that American now needs unity of purpose. He conceded because another petty ballot fight would just lead to more wreckage to the country's cynical and damaged self-esteem; if we truly want things to work out for our side, we must realize that we need the other half of America to help. And they won't help us when we look at them like they're dumb freaks. We need to quench the anti-Bush despair and be serious.
More than ever, I'm realizing how symbolic and substance-light politics are, on both sides, and how -- if I want change -- I'll need to do a lot of it myself. I've recently begun to understand the potential that people like you all, my peers, and myself have for large effect, and I'm heartened by Edwards's message: the campaign may have ended, but the fight has only just begun. I now know, however, that it's not about politicians doing all the work for us. The fight is our fight.
Check this out: Point number one: Nader did not lose the 2004 election for the Democrats.
Nader did not lose the 2000 election for the Democrats.
The Democrats need to get their fucking act together and start running a decent campaign instead of leaving potential voters feeling disenfranchised, so that they don't even need to worry about some egotistical jackass of a third party candidate.
Point number two: If I see one more person bitch about how they're potentially moving to another country, I'm going to scream.
Like hell you are. You live in the richest country in the world, you never have to worry about anything, our elections don't involve you getting OPPRESSED or SHOT AT unless you happen to be a minority living in Florida and Ohio (and to the best of my knowledge, none of you ARE), and you think your world is going to hell just because the guy you didn't like won?
Bush is a fucking ass, but Kerry isn't the saviour from above that everyone seems to be suddenly painting him as. He wasn't going to suddenly pull us out of Iraq. He wasn't going to just magically overturn the Patriot Act. He was going to get into a fucking toe-to-toe drag 'em out deadlock with a Republican Congress that would put '93-'94 to shame, get absolutely nothing accomplished, piss off the half of the electorate that didn't want him to begin with, lose seats at his midterm, then get voted out in '08 when the Bushies came back with a vengeance with Jeb at the head of the table.
Yeah, you can go fucking move to Mexico, or Italy, or whereever the hell it is that you think is going to be better off than here. I really hate to break it to you, but it's not. Canada has its own problems. So does Great Britain. If you think minorities are oppressed HERE, go visit Australia for a week or two. Go try living anywhere in the Mediterranean, then come crying back to me in a month because you can't buy chicken or peanut butter.
The world doesn't end just because someone you don't like got voted back into office. Now you all know how the Republicans felt during eight years of Clinton.
I think Bush is a self-righteous, pompous ass as much as the next person, but my day-to-day life isn't going to change just because he won except for it giving me more fodder to bitch about. I'm not going to suddenly be more oppressed, or have to start censoring what I say in public because the Gestapo is just around the corner, or have to stop getting an abortion.
Granted, the potential effects on the Supreme Court really ARE something to bitch about, but let's be honest -- does replacing Rehnquist with a pro-life justice really have any effect on the grand scheme of things?
Kerry wasn't going to pull our troops out of Iraq. Kerry also wasn't going to magically get the rest of the world to send troops IN to Iraq -- do you really think the French watched us go through the hell that is Vietnam without learning not to get involved when another country wants to pull out of a military engagement? They got it right the first time in the '60s, they're sure as hell not going to switch spots with us this time around.
It sucks that Bush won, but dear lord. So did Nixon. So did Ronald Reagan, and George Bush Senior, and Jimmy Carter, and HE was a fucking Democrat. We've had a shitload of horrible presidents in the modern era, and we didn't suddenly lose all our rights because of it.
There is obviously an ideological rift in this country right now, and the Democrats are on the wrong side of it. If they want to win in 2008, they're going to need to change that. They're going to need to start appealing to church-going voters, they're going to have to shut up about things that they might normally want to talk about, and they're going to have to run a fucking MINORITY CANDIDATE, which is never going to fucking happen because the Democratic party is just as repressive as everyone claims the fucking Republicans are.
I need a goddamn drink.
And let's also not forget Kerry's message, that American now needs unity of purpose. He conceded because another petty ballot fight would just lead to more wreckage to the country's cynical and damaged self-esteem; if we truly want things to work out for our side, we must realize that we need the other half of America to help. And they won't help us when we look at them like they're dumb freaks. We need to quench the anti-Bush despair and be serious.