post-"venting and screaming" rambling

[geekchick]

[Believe me, I haven't been this sanguine about the situation all day, there's been a great deal of venting and stomping of feet and anger. This is me calmed down quite a bit.]

I didn't realize just how much I had emotionally invested in this election until I saw the news of Kerry's concession phone call. I feel drained; I've gone through the shock, denial, fear, despair and anger in the course of the afternoon. Frankly I'm still hanging out in "fear", because at this point Bush, who rode into office waving the "compassionate conservative" banner and then proceeded to toss that flag on the floor and stomp on it, now has absolutely zero incentive to even pretend to know the word "moderate" since he doesn't have to try to maximize chances for a successful re-election bid and he's got both a clearly Republican Congress and at least one upcoming Supreme Court appointment. Plus now the Senate Democrats get to duke it out for the minority leadership position, which might just nicely distract from other business (So I think in my more cynical moments. Like right now.)

Unless some miracle occurs -- but given the concession speech by someone who has much better data access than I do, I'm not expecting one -- this election is over. I'm giving myself a bit of time to mourn and rail against the apparent results, but then it's time to pick myself up off the floor and *do* something about it.

I keep seeing people swearing loudly, up and down, that they're going to leave the country because of this election. Me, I'm going nowhere. Despite my distaste and horror at many of the actions the government has undertaken which do bring to mind at times the idea of running away screaming, I still think that it is my responsibility to stay and work from inside to help try to reverse the tide of hatred, intolerance, fundamentalism and authoritarianism that brought us the PATRIOT Act, Abu Ghraib, "the Bush doctrine", and attempts to deny basic rights to others on the basis of one religion's tenets. If everyone who objects to these things picks up to leave rather than staying to fight against them, then what happens? One thing to remember is that despite any claims to the contrary, this was *not* a landslide validation of Bush's policies; he won 51% to 48%, hardly an overwhelming victory (although possibly it is considered one by someone who lost the popular vote and considered *that* a "mandate"), and even with apparent record turnout it was nowhere near 100%. I am, admittedly, sad that it was even close, much less that there was any sort of majority at all. Call me naive, but I do think that it's possible to make a difference though; stories like this give me hope. Yes, that was one person, but who's to say that there aren't others out there who might be willing to listen? No, you'll never change everyone's minds, but you can make a start. Volunteer, get involved. I've never been an activist before, at least not in the sense of doing anything other than throwing money in the direction of organizations that I support; my goal is to change that, and to do my best to not let principles I believe in go down without a fight, and I think (and hope) that if anything good comes out of this election it will be that it will inspire more and more people to get involved, to organize, and to work to achieve the same sort of organization on the left that exists right now on the right. To quote a post from Winning Argument:

In 1964, the Lyndon Johnson beat Barry Goldwater by 23 points. Goldwater managed to carry just 6 states and Johnson won the electoral college 486-52. But the conservatives didn't give up. They didn't spend a lot of time wringing their hands. They regrouped and fought back. By 1968, Nixon crushed Humphrey in the electoral college 301-191 and won the popular vote by a million votes. If you oppose Bush, now isn't the time to feel sorry for yourself. Now is the time to get to work.

And from Howard Dean's message today to Democracy for America:

Tens of millions of us are disappointed today because we put so much of ourselves into this election. We donated money, we talked to friends, we knocked on doors.

We invested ourselves in the political process.

That process does not end today. These are not short-term investments. We will only create lasting change if that sense of obligation and responsibility becomes a permanent part of our lives.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

We will not be silent.

Thank you for everything you did for our cause in this election. But we are not stopping here.

So, y'know, get to it. The pendulum has moved far off to the right, but it will eventually swing back to the left and might get there a little sooner if you lend a hand to give it a push.

[Before you get all upset at me for my comment about "what happens if everyone leaves?", let me say that if you honestly and truly think that there is no hope left and that you'd be happier elsewhere, I do respect that decision. It's not the decision I'm making, and I hope that you can in turn respect that. I think that this country has enormous potential for good, which sadly is all too rarely realized; the hope is still there though that maybe one day it will be.]

Comments

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

If we get to the point where citizens are "disappeared" without due process, or they start putting people in camps, then it is time to consider emigration. Hopefully, things won't slide down to that level over the next four years, so I'm not leaving.

[geekchick]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/04/election.main/index.html

"Attorney General John Ashcroft could be one of the first Cabinet members to leave the administration. Sources close to Ashcroft told CNN on Thursday that they believe it is most likely the attorney general will submit his resignation in the near future, possibly within the next two weeks.

Private signals from Justice Department sources have indicated for some months that the attorney general has no plans to serve a second term."
[...]
"Moderate Republican Sen. Arlen Specter cautioned Wednesday that President Bush did not earn 'a mandate' in his election victory and said the president should be "mindful" of potential confirmation problems should he have the opportunity to nominate a justice to the Supreme Court."

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Are they hinting that Ashcroft could be nominated to Rehnquist's Supreme Court post? (horror) Confirmation problems, yes, if any remaining Senate Democrats have spines...

[geekchick]

No, nobody's hinted at that that I've seen. If you'd read the rest of the article they said it was likely a health issue, at least in part. And the point of the Specter quote being that there seem to be some Republicans (Specter's next in line to head up the Judiciary Committee) who are not necessarily inclined to rubber-stamp just any nominee either.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I'm not in the absolute depths of despair, but I am disappointed - less in the presidential election and more in the regional/state races. The social issues (guns, gays, abortion) that I thought would mean small beans turned out to mean a lot more, and not in a good way. I'm saddened to discover that many, perhaps the majority, of Americans have little use for my values and even myself.

However, much as it may be tempted to just get up and leave, it's not a real possibility for me - I can't afford to leave and besides, this is my country, I should see it through. Dean is right - the time to act is now.

[geekchick]

The social issues (guns, gays, abortion) that I thought would mean small beans turned out to mean a lot more, and not in a good way.

To paraphrase something I saw elsewhere, with "moral issues" being the impetus for so many people coming out to vote, it's interesting to see that people look to a drug-using, alcoholic liar for moral leadership. He (or rather Karl) did a fabulous job drumming up support on those three particular issues though.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

For my part... I'm a mixed extremist. I'm for guns, gays and choice.

For all that people like Avedon rail against guns as being pointless against an army, but (as Iraq points out) a small number of people (maybe 20,000) can do a fair bit of harm to an army, of 130,000

If we accept the numbers, there are some 100 million firearms in private hands. There are 300 million people, and an army of 1.5 million.

I want them to be worried about armed rebellion, because they can't, dare not, based on the present constiuentcy, try to remove those guns from private hands.

I don't think it will come to that pass but: Trust in God, and keep your powder dry.

TK

[winterbadger]

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.