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per_soloSo, I've managed to watch precious little of the Obama speech, or really any of the DNC this week.
I've gone back and forth over it, for quite a while, that Obama is what the country needs, that McCain is just going to perpetuate the same bullshit that Bush has for the last 8 years. That my vote, which I've voted in the last 4 presidential elections, ultimately means something.
I waiver back and forth on that last point. Years ago, there was a teacher who said if you don't vote, you have no right to complain (Carlin, if I recall correctly, later flipped that point beautifully). Many of the people I know who do vote have a very similar rationale for why they vote.
Ultimately, does your vote count? I don't know. Just as I don't know whether any of this ultimately matters to any of us. Yes, there is much beating of the chest that Obama is better than McCain, and gee, to me that seems like a no brainer. But, what the fuck happens if, in a little over two months, we end up right exactly where we've been for the last 2 presidential elections? Gore Versus Bush, and really, no matter what, it doesn't matter if the election was rigged, or if the chads were dangling, or what...there were still enough people that it was even that CLOSE. And I'm sorry, I know a lot of people who didn't vote for bush, but you know, I've gotten into polite discussions with a few friends, or family even (though, some of the family discussions have gone further than I'd have liked) about the voting going towards Bush. Even 4 years ago...after 4 years of Bush fuckups, where I was SURE that even if it was close, it wouldn't go to him, and yet he still got it again.
So, why, exactly, do I have faith that the same 51% margin that elected George W. Bush a SECOND time, won't look and say "well, experience means more to me", or "But, He beat Hillary, and I wanted her", "Isn't that Obama Feller a Muslim??" or even MORE insultingly, "A black man in the white house?" (and yet I can hear that from certain members of my own DISTANT family, if they even bothered to vote in the first place...so, please, friends, don't hold that one against me).
That last one? Is a BIG fear for me right now. That the faith I have in humanity in general is going to fuck up and let me down, AGAIN. Over something that, in my mind, shouldn't be an issue. The issue should be accountability, and holding people to their ideals and promises.
And yet...after 4 years of Bush fuckups, more people still saw Kerry as a pretty boy..as someone who, horror of horrors, threw away war medals he had received, whereas W was someone they could "relate" to.
And people still talk of Al Gore claiming he "invented" the internet...or that his Global Warming warnings are a feeble attempt to be noticed..much like the David Spade representation in the Clerks Animated series.
Yeah, I'm still voting, I always do, I always will...but, when I come on here in November, and bitch that once again, my state was so backwards that my vote STILL didn't matter, don't be surprised.
But, if that full fledged belief, and blind optimistic hope isn't there? That little part of me that feels like it's cozying up to the man in the wife-beater shirt (or watching a Joss Whedon show)?
Don't hold that against me...I have some sliver of hope, but it's not that big right now.
But, I also have a LOT of other things I'm more worried about...School Grades, School Loans, being able to make it to school, and keeping the rest of my REAL life going...
I've gone back and forth over it, for quite a while, that Obama is what the country needs, that McCain is just going to perpetuate the same bullshit that Bush has for the last 8 years. That my vote, which I've voted in the last 4 presidential elections, ultimately means something.
I waiver back and forth on that last point. Years ago, there was a teacher who said if you don't vote, you have no right to complain (Carlin, if I recall correctly, later flipped that point beautifully). Many of the people I know who do vote have a very similar rationale for why they vote.
Ultimately, does your vote count? I don't know. Just as I don't know whether any of this ultimately matters to any of us. Yes, there is much beating of the chest that Obama is better than McCain, and gee, to me that seems like a no brainer. But, what the fuck happens if, in a little over two months, we end up right exactly where we've been for the last 2 presidential elections? Gore Versus Bush, and really, no matter what, it doesn't matter if the election was rigged, or if the chads were dangling, or what...there were still enough people that it was even that CLOSE. And I'm sorry, I know a lot of people who didn't vote for bush, but you know, I've gotten into polite discussions with a few friends, or family even (though, some of the family discussions have gone further than I'd have liked) about the voting going towards Bush. Even 4 years ago...after 4 years of Bush fuckups, where I was SURE that even if it was close, it wouldn't go to him, and yet he still got it again.
So, why, exactly, do I have faith that the same 51% margin that elected George W. Bush a SECOND time, won't look and say "well, experience means more to me", or "But, He beat Hillary, and I wanted her", "Isn't that Obama Feller a Muslim??" or even MORE insultingly, "A black man in the white house?" (and yet I can hear that from certain members of my own DISTANT family, if they even bothered to vote in the first place...so, please, friends, don't hold that one against me).
That last one? Is a BIG fear for me right now. That the faith I have in humanity in general is going to fuck up and let me down, AGAIN. Over something that, in my mind, shouldn't be an issue. The issue should be accountability, and holding people to their ideals and promises.
And yet...after 4 years of Bush fuckups, more people still saw Kerry as a pretty boy..as someone who, horror of horrors, threw away war medals he had received, whereas W was someone they could "relate" to.
And people still talk of Al Gore claiming he "invented" the internet...or that his Global Warming warnings are a feeble attempt to be noticed..much like the David Spade representation in the Clerks Animated series.
Yeah, I'm still voting, I always do, I always will...but, when I come on here in November, and bitch that once again, my state was so backwards that my vote STILL didn't matter, don't be surprised.
But, if that full fledged belief, and blind optimistic hope isn't there? That little part of me that feels like it's cozying up to the man in the wife-beater shirt (or watching a Joss Whedon show)?
Don't hold that against me...I have some sliver of hope, but it's not that big right now.
But, I also have a LOT of other things I'm more worried about...School Grades, School Loans, being able to make it to school, and keeping the rest of my REAL life going...
