Rambling about patriotism.
I've never been particularly proud to be a resident and citizen of the United States of America. Sure, I got opportunities that people of my demographic in other countries might never see. But I wasn't really particularly focused on those. I was really much more interested in focusing on what it was that I was lacking that other countries did get. Socialized medicine. Amazing educational curricula that produced amazing minds that made mine look like a child's (a feat, I would like to think, is somewhat difficult to achieve). A competent leader. The list was as long as my arm.
Why should I be proud, I thought, or even moderately grateful, to be a part of America, when it was becoming more and more of a joke? On top of our political romper room on display, we had an overwhelming level of obesity going for us, and that pesky education issue that I discussed earlier. I was highly apathetic, to be honest, because hell - no one else gave a shit about America or took it seriously. I certainly shouldn't be expected to. Right?
Right?
I, of course, voted for John Kerry the first time that I was able to vote at all. I wasn't really voting for Kerry, as I suspect many others who cast ballots for Kerry weren't really voting for him, either. I was voting against another term with Bush. As my sister said about this election, I felt about the last one:
"I don't give a shit if the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man is the Democratic candidate, I'm voting for him!"
I was still a bit young, old enough to vote, and old enough to understand what I hated about this country, but I wasn't old enough to understand what difference it made - what this stuffy old guy was going to do differently from this other stuffy old guy, why I was supposed to believe anyone, or why I was expected to care about problems to which there seemed to be no real solution. It could be argued, however, that this could be because no one gave enough of a shit to make me understand. No one cared about my vote. I was young. My vote wasn't nearly as important as the votes of the "real" adults - at least it seemed that way to me.
To be fair, by the beginning of Bush's second term, things were only really beginning to muck up properly. Before then, it was a slew of mistakes, but we had just begun scratching the surface of what the consequences of those mistakes would be. That was definitely another factor in my general apathy and lack of interest in the politics dictating what our country was up to.
Kerry lost, I was pissed, but I was mainly pissed because I knew that I was supposed to be pissed, because we were stuck with Douchebag Dubya for another four years, and God only knew what he was going to screw up this time around. I didn't have any real attachment to Kerry as a candidate, to be perfectly honest.
And that's primarily why this election surprised me as much as it did.
I never, ever, evereverever saw myself as someone who would be gripped by politics. I would definitely educate myself a bit better than I had in the last election, of course, but I didn't need to know the ins and outs of what was going on because it wasn't going to make a difference. My one young vote in a red state didn't matter, and my choices didn't matter, because they were the same stuffy old guys who still didn't get what I needed or wanted. So what the hell did it even matter?
It began to occur to me that perhaps this time was going to matter when Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination, thus becoming the man running against John McCain, even older and stuffier than any other candidate that I'd even had to pretend to be interested in in the past.
I didn't really know why I gave a shit a little bit more, but I found myself interested enough to look at things, to read things I didn't read before. DailyKos, fivethirtyeight.com, alternet... all were places that I began to frequent, that I had barely even given a second thought prior to this campaign. Why did I care about Barack Obama? What made him so much more cognitively accessible than Kerry, or even Gore before him?
I believe that it is in no small part due to the fact that we met somewhere in the middle. Instead of waiting for me to do everything for him, his campaign reached out using media that had never really been fully utilized in the past to reach out its hand as far as it could for me to hold, so that we could have a meeting of the minds as opposed to a puzzle that I was supposed to solve.
Naturally, image had a lot to do with it, as well. Clean-cut, strong features, youth, a strong, articulate voice and oration skills that I had not seen in a presidential candidate in my recent memory displayed an intelligence that I never really noticed in any other candidate. For the first time, I felt like it might be possible for me to relate to the person vying for my vote.
Then there was the matter of his plans, his agenda, and his ideas for the country. That's not really the point of this entry, if it even has a point, so I'll just skip over my pontification on that for now. Needless to say, I was down with the man. I found myself (gasp!) becoming excited. Giving a shit. Getting involved. Watching. Listening.
Waiting.
Last night, I witnessed something that was without argument a truly historic event. But history had begun before the votes poured in. History happened when this man inspired lifelong Republicans, who had become just as fed up with the consequences of the Bush administration's mistakes and the continued incompetence as displayed by the McCain campaign, to join his cause. History happened when people who had never voted before, people as apathetic, hopeless, and jaded as I was, felt a swell in their hearts upon hearing him speak to us. History happened last night, and over the past months, not only because we elected our first African American president, though that is certainly more important than we have the capacity to realize in the present moment.
History happened because we have finally really elected a president who is admired. A president who seems more than capable of understanding where we have come from and where we want to go. We elected someone who has personified the long-abandoned ideal that we can do whatever we want if we want it hard enough, and work hard enough for it.
The world is just as ecstatic as I am. Comments to blogs from people living in Germany, the UK, India - these people have said things like, "Thank you, America; you have restored my faith in you." "We love you, America." "May God bless America and the world."
I feel like I had a part in that, because I did. My tiny hand in this huge pot actually got it stirring. I am an American. And for the first time in my life, I am so immensely proud of that. I did this. We did this. Nothing is impossible, no one will ever be able to tell us that we cannot get something accomplished simply because of the overwhelming odds ever again. Because we've just done it.
My President-Elect inspires me not only on a political level, but on a personal level. He's a role model to so, so many, myself included. I cast my vote for someone this time. I believed not in a party, and really not even in America. I believed in a person. And because of it, our nation is no longer going to be a joke forever. We have made history by believing in a person who relied not on corporations, but on donations averaging around $87 a person.
Elected by the people, for the people. Fucking finally. Finally.
Thank you, everyone.
Why should I be proud, I thought, or even moderately grateful, to be a part of America, when it was becoming more and more of a joke? On top of our political romper room on display, we had an overwhelming level of obesity going for us, and that pesky education issue that I discussed earlier. I was highly apathetic, to be honest, because hell - no one else gave a shit about America or took it seriously. I certainly shouldn't be expected to. Right?
Right?
I, of course, voted for John Kerry the first time that I was able to vote at all. I wasn't really voting for Kerry, as I suspect many others who cast ballots for Kerry weren't really voting for him, either. I was voting against another term with Bush. As my sister said about this election, I felt about the last one:
"I don't give a shit if the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man is the Democratic candidate, I'm voting for him!"
I was still a bit young, old enough to vote, and old enough to understand what I hated about this country, but I wasn't old enough to understand what difference it made - what this stuffy old guy was going to do differently from this other stuffy old guy, why I was supposed to believe anyone, or why I was expected to care about problems to which there seemed to be no real solution. It could be argued, however, that this could be because no one gave enough of a shit to make me understand. No one cared about my vote. I was young. My vote wasn't nearly as important as the votes of the "real" adults - at least it seemed that way to me.
To be fair, by the beginning of Bush's second term, things were only really beginning to muck up properly. Before then, it was a slew of mistakes, but we had just begun scratching the surface of what the consequences of those mistakes would be. That was definitely another factor in my general apathy and lack of interest in the politics dictating what our country was up to.
Kerry lost, I was pissed, but I was mainly pissed because I knew that I was supposed to be pissed, because we were stuck with Douchebag Dubya for another four years, and God only knew what he was going to screw up this time around. I didn't have any real attachment to Kerry as a candidate, to be perfectly honest.
And that's primarily why this election surprised me as much as it did.
I never, ever, evereverever saw myself as someone who would be gripped by politics. I would definitely educate myself a bit better than I had in the last election, of course, but I didn't need to know the ins and outs of what was going on because it wasn't going to make a difference. My one young vote in a red state didn't matter, and my choices didn't matter, because they were the same stuffy old guys who still didn't get what I needed or wanted. So what the hell did it even matter?
It began to occur to me that perhaps this time was going to matter when Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination, thus becoming the man running against John McCain, even older and stuffier than any other candidate that I'd even had to pretend to be interested in in the past.
I didn't really know why I gave a shit a little bit more, but I found myself interested enough to look at things, to read things I didn't read before. DailyKos, fivethirtyeight.com, alternet... all were places that I began to frequent, that I had barely even given a second thought prior to this campaign. Why did I care about Barack Obama? What made him so much more cognitively accessible than Kerry, or even Gore before him?
I believe that it is in no small part due to the fact that we met somewhere in the middle. Instead of waiting for me to do everything for him, his campaign reached out using media that had never really been fully utilized in the past to reach out its hand as far as it could for me to hold, so that we could have a meeting of the minds as opposed to a puzzle that I was supposed to solve.
Naturally, image had a lot to do with it, as well. Clean-cut, strong features, youth, a strong, articulate voice and oration skills that I had not seen in a presidential candidate in my recent memory displayed an intelligence that I never really noticed in any other candidate. For the first time, I felt like it might be possible for me to relate to the person vying for my vote.
Then there was the matter of his plans, his agenda, and his ideas for the country. That's not really the point of this entry, if it even has a point, so I'll just skip over my pontification on that for now. Needless to say, I was down with the man. I found myself (gasp!) becoming excited. Giving a shit. Getting involved. Watching. Listening.
Waiting.
Last night, I witnessed something that was without argument a truly historic event. But history had begun before the votes poured in. History happened when this man inspired lifelong Republicans, who had become just as fed up with the consequences of the Bush administration's mistakes and the continued incompetence as displayed by the McCain campaign, to join his cause. History happened when people who had never voted before, people as apathetic, hopeless, and jaded as I was, felt a swell in their hearts upon hearing him speak to us. History happened last night, and over the past months, not only because we elected our first African American president, though that is certainly more important than we have the capacity to realize in the present moment.
History happened because we have finally really elected a president who is admired. A president who seems more than capable of understanding where we have come from and where we want to go. We elected someone who has personified the long-abandoned ideal that we can do whatever we want if we want it hard enough, and work hard enough for it.
The world is just as ecstatic as I am. Comments to blogs from people living in Germany, the UK, India - these people have said things like, "Thank you, America; you have restored my faith in you." "We love you, America." "May God bless America and the world."
I feel like I had a part in that, because I did. My tiny hand in this huge pot actually got it stirring. I am an American. And for the first time in my life, I am so immensely proud of that. I did this. We did this. Nothing is impossible, no one will ever be able to tell us that we cannot get something accomplished simply because of the overwhelming odds ever again. Because we've just done it.
My President-Elect inspires me not only on a political level, but on a personal level. He's a role model to so, so many, myself included. I cast my vote for someone this time. I believed not in a party, and really not even in America. I believed in a person. And because of it, our nation is no longer going to be a joke forever. We have made history by believing in a person who relied not on corporations, but on donations averaging around $87 a person.
Elected by the people, for the people. Fucking finally. Finally.
Thank you, everyone.