Politics

An excerpt from an e-mail from Prairie this morning that she’s granted me permission to post:

I think my biggest fear now is that all of the momentum that was built before the election will vanish now.  People will become apathetic.  “What’s the use of trying–there isn’t anything I can do.” The post on your website from the guy saying we should support the president terrifies me.

If we don’t continue to protest with every breath, to fight with every weapon granted to us, if we decide it’s a lost cause and surrender, we will be the cause of the downfall of at least the country, if not the world. There is no way that a country so divided can continue in the manner in which our country is trying to function.  The potential that was once possible for our country is vanishing before out eyes, and unless we fight with all our strength, it will disappear before most people even realize it’s gone, never to be retrieved, into an abyss so deep and so permanent that that wonderful potential will never be recovered.

To surrender, to blindly support someone just because he is the president, is the equivalent of saying we don’t care about the future.  “Damn all of those who may come in the future.  I’m going to offer support for policies I know are wrong, for policies I know are hurting people, just because I’m too afraid, too ignorant to stand up to authority.”  We cannot allow this to happen, and yet I fear that we will.

People will go back to believing that their votes don’t count, that they are helpless to fight the oppression they see coming, that they have to support the president just because he’s the president.  Will we allow ourselves to be led like sheep toward hatred and fear?

I won’t. I’ll go out fighting in whatever way I can.

“Rusty Nails” by Nine Inch Nails from the album Rusty Nails (1994, 1:04:04).

Ugh. This is not looking promising.

I spent most of last night watching Angel episodes, doing my best to ignore the results coming in — but, of course, I couldn’t stay away entirely. Unfortunately, every time I checked in, things looked worse and worse. Eventually, I just had to head to bed and see where things stood in the morning.

Right now, things stand at 254 to 252 Electoral Votes, with Bush in the lead. New Mexico, Iowa, and (most critically) Ohio are still too close to call. Much as I’d like to believe that we could pull a rabbit out of our hat and pick up Ohio’s twenty Electoral Votes, it really isn’t looking terribly likely.

Even more discouraging is that even were we to disregard the Electoral College and look at the popular vote, Bush is leading there, too. It’s tight — about a three and a half million vote edge — but it still puts Bush ahead.

I’ve got to admit, while I hadn’t come out and said so flat out, I was pretty optimistic yesterday and in the weeks leading up to voting day. I really hoped that there were enough unknown factors &dmash; a mobilized youth contingent; the number of new, first-time voters; blocks of cell-phone users that hadn’t been factored into polling data — that predictions aside, Kerry would end up the clear winner. I thought there was a chance that we’d pull through with more than just a few percent here and there, but that there would be a definite, decisive win.

Basically, I made the mistake of forgetting one of my dad’s favorite maxims: “You will never lose betting on human stupidity.” I let hope and optimism push aside my customary cynicism. I actually thought that for once, this country would vote with its head and heart, rather than letting the fear, paranoia, and xenophobia so omnipresent in the Bush campaign to take control.

I really find it mind boggling that so much of this country’s population can support Bush. How they can look at what he’s doing to the country — politically, socially, environmentally — and what he’s doing to the rest of the world and honestly think that he is the best man to be in charge.

But it looks like that’s the case. Unless a miracle comes through in the next day or so as absentee ballots are counted, provisional votes are checked, and Ohio’s votes are sorted through with a fine-tooth comb (and Kerry, don’t you dare concede before it’s absolutely clear where things stand), Bush will continue his single-minded, blindingly theistic reign over our country.

Which scares me more than I really want to think about.

But even if Bush wins, the battle is not over. As Meteor Blades says at the Daily Kos:

Not a few people have spoken in the past few hours about an Americanist authoritarianism emerging out of the country’s current leadership. I think that’s not far-fetched. Fighting this requires that we stick together, not bashing each other, not fleeing or hiding or yielding to the temptation of behaving as if “what’s the use?”

It’s tough on the psyche to be beaten.Throughout our country’s history, abolitionists, suffragists, union organizers, anti-racists, antiwarriors, civil libertarians, feminists and gay rights activists have challenged the majority of Americans to take off their blinders. Each succeeded one way or another, but not overnight, and certainly not without serious setbacks.

After a decent interval of licking our wounds and pondering what might have been and where we went wrong, we need to spit out our despair and return — united – to battling those who have for the moment outmaneuvered us. Otherwise, we might just as well lie down in the street and let them flatten us with their schemes.

The battle for the presidency may be lost.

The battle for this country must keep going.

“Disco Death Race 2000 (full mix)” by Various Artists from the album Disco Death Race 2000 (full mix) (1996, 1:13:48).

Some of the very first early exit polls have been released. As such, take these with a large grain of salt — we’ve got a long way to go today.

       AZ  CO  LA  PA  OH  FL  MI  NM  MN  WI  IA  NH
Kerry  45  48  42  60  52  51  51  50  58  52  49  57
Bush   55  51  57  40  48  48  47  48  40  43  49  41

(via Atrios)

Thanks to the joy and convenience of voting by mail, I’ve just filled out my ballot, and will be dropping it in the mail momentarily.

For the record, my votes on two of the most important issues that I’ve been watching over the past few months: Kerry/Edwards for President and No on I-83.

“Not in My Name (Pledge of Resisitance) (Coldcut)” by Williams, Saul from the album Not In Our Name (2003, 5:37).

Some excellent comments from Doc Searls’ sister:

The story has changed. It is not about the candidates anymore. That is just cursory coverage of their bus-embedded reporters, and equal-time sound bites. He said ying/he said yang.

The story now IS the election. The election process. Not only the dangers of chaos, early-voting, registration mess-ups, the stolen signs, the various scenarios of a challenge to the results, the legalities and the larcenies.

The real story is the engagement of the people. The passion to recall. The fear of change or the unknown. The push to get the youth out. The lack of the population’s ennui amidst their fatigue from the rancor.

The recognition that, whomever you’re voting for, the stakes are too high.

And that the prime lesson learned from 2000 is that every vote CAN count.

I put on a bumper sticker for the first time (A Veteran for Kerry) this election. The one I would like to put on would read:

We can blame the last four years on Bush, but we can only blame the next four on ourselves.

Also another thought this morning as one of the morning shows were talking about a poll re the youth vote and how historically young voters vote like their parents.

I think those “historical” statistics are about to be broken. This election is divisional. It is being fought out daily between husbands and wives, between lovers, between generations in the same house, friends, at the workplace, on teams, everywhere. And I think that is because everyone realizes how important this election is for America. How we chose our next president may be about what what we are as a country, as a democracy. But who we chose is about who we are as a people. And that is very personal.

There is a lot being said about the “uncommitted” but that is the wrong word. They are not uncommitted, they are torn. They cannot make up their minds because IT MATTERS.

It is not just about being passionate over our choice, it is about trying to convince others. There might be loud, vicious political rhetoric in the medias, but there is also intense, heartfelt dialog in the homes, at work, in restaurants, in chat rooms, on the campus, in gyms, on the golf course, in the flu shot lines, at the soccer game, in the car on the way to the mall.

My favorite bit: “We can blame the last four years on Bush, but we can only blame the next four on ourselves.” So very true.

You may remember that a couple weeks ago, Bush’s hometown paper The Iconoclast endorsed John Kerry for President.

Reaction to their endorsement has been strong — to the point where they wrote a second editorial, detaling some of that reaction. It’s not a pretty picture.

We expected that perhaps a few readers might cancel subscriptions, and maybe even ads, but have been amazed at a few of the more intense communications, some of which bordered on outright personal attacks and uncalled-for harassment.

We have been told by several avid Bush supporters that the days when newspapers publish editorials without personal repercussions are over.

[…]

The new mode of operation, I am told, is that when a newspaper prints an editorial of which some sectors might disagree, the focus is now upon how to run the newspaper out of business. Out the window are the contributions the newspaper has made to the community in the past and the newspaper s extensive investment in the community.

We do understand peoples rights to pull subscriptions and ads, and to express a differing opinion, but we have some trouble understanding threats and payback since in politics there are often a variety of options. For the publishers to herald one of the options should be no cause for persecution.

[…]

Unfortunately, for the Iconoclast and its publishers there have been threats big ones including physical harm.

[…]

Several young members of our staff covering Tonkawa Traditions this past weekend were angrily harassed and threatened that they must leave, which cut short their ability to fully do their jobs and instilled in them considerable fear for their safety. These reporters had nothing to do with that editorial. They were part-time college students working to pay their way through school and better themselves.

Although several members of the community are upset at the newspaper, there are still those who want us to continue with local coverage as we have in the past. We do have concern for the safety of our staff, however, and find it troubling when they are bullied and cannot do their jobs.

“The days when newspapers publish editorials without personal repercussions are over?” What kind of bullheaded, stupid insanity is this?

So truly sad.

(via MeFi)