I was wrong
Nov. 5th, 2008 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerI found this going through my LJ-Books. I can't not post this.
Four years ago, I said:
It’s that man again
Another four years. And this time he either got a legitimate majority, or hid his callifudging rather more effectively.
We only get a far-off and distorted view of the politics of another country. We don’t know anything we don’t get from the news, from messages from friends, from Michael Moore and other such commentators. But it should be no surprise to anyone when power goes to the venal, the incompetent, the downright insane. They’re the ones who choose to go into the race, to seek the power. The rest of us have more important, more enjoyable, more satisfying things to do. When we do go into politics it’s because we want to make a difference at a local level, or maybe add our voice to a consensus with which we agree. And, since we make that choice, we can hardly complain if the people who get voted in don’t do what we would do if we were in their shoes.
Bush in particular has been on the way for a long time. Government is run by the moneyed and always has been: democracy is a joke among them, and to the rest of us a smoke screen to hide their dirty scheming. He’s just being more blatant about it than the last few have been, either because he can’t be subtle or because he doesn’t feel he has to bother. He bought his first term, quite openly, and whether he cheated on this election or not is now irrelevant. No-one will ever get the Republicans out of power again, because they don’t have to hide their manipulations any more. Over here, we have two identical parties, so the interests of the moneyed will be served identically whichever one gets in. They don’t have to care any more.
The only way out is revolution. And that will be worse, with a very very slim to non-existent chance that it might get better somewhere down the line.
I guess, at bottom, I’m just disappointed.
And![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
autographedcat commented:
...Bush isn’t America. Good, hardworking, decent folk all over the country are America. Honest, plain-spoken, determined people, both Democrats and Republicans, dedicated to the principles of freedom and justice are America. Helpful, compassionate, community-oriented people are America. When a neighbor reaches out to a neighbor, there you find us. When people pitch in together for the good of their families, their neighborhoods, and their communities, there you find us. When people do the right thing for no reason other than its the right thing to do, there you find us. When the law protects the individual from the mob. Bush and his crowd are just a passing thing, in the great wash of history. There are many ways, too many to list, where they are bad for us, and bad for the world, but they too shall pass, and the ideal that is America shall remain.
Because America isn’t a man. It isn’t a political party. It isn’t an ideology. America is a belief in a better future, in a rule of law, and in the idea that no matter how divided we become over matters of religion, race, or political ideology, we have the right and responsibility to peacefully work towards change. Right now, the American Dream may be a bit tarnished. Sometimes its hard to see. Sometimes you can be
so frustrated that you don’t know how to go on. But we will go on. We will go on working to ensure that the principles that made America the ideal do not vanish, do not falter, do not perish from the earth. There’s work to be done. And we will do it, no matter who sits in the halls of government. Because we are Americans.
I am so glad to have been wrong, on that black day in 2004 (EDIT: and I loved tracing, with hindsight, the outlines of Obama's message in Rob's beautiful, poetic response). I'll be even happier if America gets through to January and Obama's inauguration without mishap: but even if something does go wrong, I have been given back a faith that I thought I had lost for ever. That means a lot to me.
Four years ago, I said:
It’s that man again
Another four years. And this time he either got a legitimate majority, or hid his callifudging rather more effectively.
We only get a far-off and distorted view of the politics of another country. We don’t know anything we don’t get from the news, from messages from friends, from Michael Moore and other such commentators. But it should be no surprise to anyone when power goes to the venal, the incompetent, the downright insane. They’re the ones who choose to go into the race, to seek the power. The rest of us have more important, more enjoyable, more satisfying things to do. When we do go into politics it’s because we want to make a difference at a local level, or maybe add our voice to a consensus with which we agree. And, since we make that choice, we can hardly complain if the people who get voted in don’t do what we would do if we were in their shoes.
Bush in particular has been on the way for a long time. Government is run by the moneyed and always has been: democracy is a joke among them, and to the rest of us a smoke screen to hide their dirty scheming. He’s just being more blatant about it than the last few have been, either because he can’t be subtle or because he doesn’t feel he has to bother. He bought his first term, quite openly, and whether he cheated on this election or not is now irrelevant. No-one will ever get the Republicans out of power again, because they don’t have to hide their manipulations any more. Over here, we have two identical parties, so the interests of the moneyed will be served identically whichever one gets in. They don’t have to care any more.
The only way out is revolution. And that will be worse, with a very very slim to non-existent chance that it might get better somewhere down the line.
I guess, at bottom, I’m just disappointed.
And
autographedcat commented:...Bush isn’t America. Good, hardworking, decent folk all over the country are America. Honest, plain-spoken, determined people, both Democrats and Republicans, dedicated to the principles of freedom and justice are America. Helpful, compassionate, community-oriented people are America. When a neighbor reaches out to a neighbor, there you find us. When people pitch in together for the good of their families, their neighborhoods, and their communities, there you find us. When people do the right thing for no reason other than its the right thing to do, there you find us. When the law protects the individual from the mob. Bush and his crowd are just a passing thing, in the great wash of history. There are many ways, too many to list, where they are bad for us, and bad for the world, but they too shall pass, and the ideal that is America shall remain.
Because America isn’t a man. It isn’t a political party. It isn’t an ideology. America is a belief in a better future, in a rule of law, and in the idea that no matter how divided we become over matters of religion, race, or political ideology, we have the right and responsibility to peacefully work towards change. Right now, the American Dream may be a bit tarnished. Sometimes its hard to see. Sometimes you can be
so frustrated that you don’t know how to go on. But we will go on. We will go on working to ensure that the principles that made America the ideal do not vanish, do not falter, do not perish from the earth. There’s work to be done. And we will do it, no matter who sits in the halls of government. Because we are Americans.
I am so glad to have been wrong, on that black day in 2004 (EDIT: and I loved tracing, with hindsight, the outlines of Obama's message in Rob's beautiful, poetic response). I'll be even happier if America gets through to January and Obama's inauguration without mishap: but even if something does go wrong, I have been given back a faith that I thought I had lost for ever. That means a lot to me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-11-05 10:37 pm (UTC)I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-05 10:52 pm (UTC)Lots of hard work ahead for the people who make up America, too. *rolls up sleeves*
no subject
Date: 2008-11-05 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-06 01:01 am (UTC)Yes.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-06 03:59 am (UTC)Welcome back.
Ann O.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-06 04:57 am (UTC)(*also, waves hi* Welcome back. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-06 08:35 am (UTC)Thank you for posting this (and for coming back).
*hugs*