doomed.
At 6 a.m. yesterday, I was one of the first people at my polling place. I knew in my heart that John Kerry didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning the election, but I still held out hope. Mostly I was just thrilled to be a part of it all. My voice was lost in the other hundred-million-odd votes that were cast yesterday, but it was still there, and it meant something to me.
In the evening, when I found out that Bush had won North Carolina, I wasn't surprised. John Edwards didn't fulfill the promises he made to this state before he started making promises to the rest of the nation. Most people here resent him, call him an Ambulance-Chasing Liar and whatnot. Well, Republican Richard Burr took his seat in the N.C. Senate right out from under him. I live in one of the states that is on a straight (certainly not gay or queer) path to the gates of Hell.
I could not sleep. Eating was out of the question. I watched news about the election on television. My Internet browser did not leave the Yahoo Election Web page. I kept watching the map of the U.S. turn redder and redder.
Did I mention my family (mother, father, sister)? All registered Republicans. All voted for Bush. All have treated me with belligerence and scorn for weeks because I am a Damn Democrat, and continued to do so all through the evening. In the morning, they couldn't understand why I was unable to sleep, or why I couldn't tear myself away from the news channels or the Web page. Gosh, I guess they were as sure as Bush himself was of his inevitable victory. I guess they knew that God would make it so. Well, I am now convinced that, along with the rest of the world, God, if s/he does exist, really does hate us.
I'm disappointed in the poor turnout of younger voters. Young people control the world, and even though older people don't want to admit it, they know that it's true. I'm not saying they could have swung the election one way or another, but at least they wouldn't appear so pathetically indifferent. When issues like reinstating the draft for both men and women are being seriously considered, it pays to pull oneself away from one's puerilely trivial exertions for five minutes to cast a vote.
And now I'm disappointed, and I'm scared. And I've been profoundly humbled, too. I think about when I was a young child, and how I felt that I lived in the greatest country in the world, and I was so proud to call myself an American, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem, and my parents displayed the flag on the front porch of our house, and when we took it in for the winter I'd take special care to make sure it didn't touch the ground. Now I'm just ashamed of it all.
The whole time I was in England, I was deathly afraid that people would somehow know, just by looking at me, that I was American. I didn't want them to find out, because I was so ashamed to come from a place that calls itself "The Land of the Free," yet imposes on the freedoms of others (up to and including invading Another Country That Shall Remain Nameless for "reasons" that turned out to be completely apocryphal, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people), and even the freedoms of its own people.
I want everyone to think long and hard about what Bush's re-election is going to mean for America and the rest of the world. Think about what it is going to mean for you. Whether you support Bush or hate his guts, you have to wonder if his re-election is going to be good for you, or whether it is going to to bad for you. As a natural cynic, I'm leaning toward the latter, but you can decide for yourselves.
I know a lot of American people are threatening to leave the country now, but I may be one of the only people who really means it.
In the evening, when I found out that Bush had won North Carolina, I wasn't surprised. John Edwards didn't fulfill the promises he made to this state before he started making promises to the rest of the nation. Most people here resent him, call him an Ambulance-Chasing Liar and whatnot. Well, Republican Richard Burr took his seat in the N.C. Senate right out from under him. I live in one of the states that is on a straight (certainly not gay or queer) path to the gates of Hell.
I could not sleep. Eating was out of the question. I watched news about the election on television. My Internet browser did not leave the Yahoo Election Web page. I kept watching the map of the U.S. turn redder and redder.
Did I mention my family (mother, father, sister)? All registered Republicans. All voted for Bush. All have treated me with belligerence and scorn for weeks because I am a Damn Democrat, and continued to do so all through the evening. In the morning, they couldn't understand why I was unable to sleep, or why I couldn't tear myself away from the news channels or the Web page. Gosh, I guess they were as sure as Bush himself was of his inevitable victory. I guess they knew that God would make it so. Well, I am now convinced that, along with the rest of the world, God, if s/he does exist, really does hate us.
I'm disappointed in the poor turnout of younger voters. Young people control the world, and even though older people don't want to admit it, they know that it's true. I'm not saying they could have swung the election one way or another, but at least they wouldn't appear so pathetically indifferent. When issues like reinstating the draft for both men and women are being seriously considered, it pays to pull oneself away from one's puerilely trivial exertions for five minutes to cast a vote.
And now I'm disappointed, and I'm scared. And I've been profoundly humbled, too. I think about when I was a young child, and how I felt that I lived in the greatest country in the world, and I was so proud to call myself an American, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem, and my parents displayed the flag on the front porch of our house, and when we took it in for the winter I'd take special care to make sure it didn't touch the ground. Now I'm just ashamed of it all.
The whole time I was in England, I was deathly afraid that people would somehow know, just by looking at me, that I was American. I didn't want them to find out, because I was so ashamed to come from a place that calls itself "The Land of the Free," yet imposes on the freedoms of others (up to and including invading Another Country That Shall Remain Nameless for "reasons" that turned out to be completely apocryphal, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people), and even the freedoms of its own people.
I want everyone to think long and hard about what Bush's re-election is going to mean for America and the rest of the world. Think about what it is going to mean for you. Whether you support Bush or hate his guts, you have to wonder if his re-election is going to be good for you, or whether it is going to to bad for you. As a natural cynic, I'm leaning toward the latter, but you can decide for yourselves.
I know a lot of American people are threatening to leave the country now, but I may be one of the only people who really means it.