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Seriously. Well, maybe not literally, but let me tell you something. I was really down about living in this postmodern warped version of America run by crooks who started their reign rigging elections and have pretty much flouted laws, public opinion, wisdom, morality, and all other normal guiding compasses of human behavior for the single purpose of consolidating power and enriching themselves.
Certainly, we all knew if we were alive in the 60's and 70's that America had long sinced proved itself far from perfect, but this really is an order of magnitude worse than what we've faced before.
Sooo....I was going to school full time because I needed to retrain after being one who survived two layoff rounds at my high tech company only to succumb to the eventual plant shutdown in 2001 around Christmas. <JINGLE BELLS>. I was feeling so alone in my grief, and somehow stumbled upon this site. It was galvanizing to see so many people forming strategies all over the country regarding how best to shift power back to the common people who feel we're waaayyy off track.
It has been a real boon to my intellectual undertakings to read comments from people that range from guttural RANTS to very insightful arguments about a particular policy issue. I can even understand the carping among the various factions supporting this or that candidate. It is normal. It is noisy. It is messy. It is...DEMOCRACY.
I don't want Gore telling me who to vote for, and I don't think he is. I think he is challenging the establishment because I think he saw that the key for Democrats is to pull away from the centrist mode and delineate clearly between the two parties.
There are VAST DIFFERENCES between what most Americans believe and what the GOP or DNC leadership are offering as memes. We must break that cycle, and what better way to do so than to shake up the establishment with a guy who freaks people out because he is candid and smart and politically experienced. Even if he merely forces others to fire their policy wonks and strategists and speak more to the common man and woman, then Dean's campaign will have been successful.
Here's what I have been motivated to do during my time under Bush's cruel thumb. I have somehow managed to move my rather conservative brother from Tennessee to register to vote specifically to vote for ANYONE BUT BUSH. I have challenged people in my work place and at school to rethink the frameworks set up by media outlets and the GOP party publicity machine. I think that is where we get this done.
On the ground.
You can do an air campaign (TV, RADIO, INTERNET, FLYERS...) but you need boots on the ground actively persuading their common sense neighbors to wade through the crap the media and the party insiders dish out. Don't get bogged down by the politics. Don't let others get bogged down by it. It really is simple. One man. One vote. Make a difference and help others see that. Help them see how fundamentally they have been and will be affected for the better or worse by one line on a ballot. Help them champion the cause of democracy by getting Congress to deal with the holes in the election system. Help them to see what we need is a new way of dealing with each other and the rest of the world.
I appreciate the moderators, owners, and sponsors of DU. You've given me a voice. You've given me hope. Don't be drawn into cynicism. Don't give up. What each of you are doing by talking and expressing yourself whether you are making good points or merely venting frustration is what America is all about.
Anyone But Bush 2004!
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