Last night again, I did not sleep well. It could have been the huge does of chocolate from my birthday cake, or it could have been my brain was still processing Slacker Uprising. It opened the wound of the 2004 elections and I kept traveling back to January 2000.
So everyone take yourselves back in time. I lived in Wisconsin at this time, I was looking for work and just went through an ugly divorce. Add to my worries the computer systems were going to crash and I should be stock piling food and water to last two weeks, remember
Y2K ? It was a snowy year in WI, my gutters were clogged and ice was growing on the sidewalk to the house and I could not find salt in any of the area stores. Back to topic, Bill Clinton was a lame duck president, impeachment proceedings having finished the previous year.
Al Gore and
Joe Lieberman won the blue ticket but who would they run against? Would it be George W Bush, or John McCain to lead the republican ticket? I have to admit I liked John McCain, he seemed an honest man who would bring his common sense to the white house, I may have given him my vote had I the chance. As we know Bush/Cheney headlined the red ticket. I did not get that involved in the election, I vaguely remember Gore was a bore, it was the lesser of two evils we had to choose between, unless you were nuts and voted for Nader. I did not know very much about the "spoiler", I was dutifully voting for Gore because W scared me. November came I did just that and well to everyone's surprise George Bush claimed victory. I remember feeling that "we" the blue voters were cheated but did not think it was the end of life as we knew it. I remember very funny articles in
The Onion. Then the attack on the WTC, and everything changed.
Bailouts for the airline industry, shopping as a sign of
patriotism, the
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 aka the Patriot Act is passed into law, from my perspective things were getting ugly. Then the preemptive strike on Iraq. The divisions in the country were huge, rather than come together as a strong nation we separated into "us" and "them". If you were not for the war you were unAmerican and on the side of terrorists. Just writing this makes me so sad.Let's fast forward to 2004 elections. Before Kerry was chosen, I fell for
Dennis Kucinich, a man for peace. Voters at this point know that the reasons for the War were
lies. It seemed logical that Kerry would win by a landslide, who likes liars, right? But we must love them because in steps the
swiftboat campaign and Kerry starts losing ground. Personally I was more involved in this election especially emotionally. I needed this country to rise above Bush. I was living in Ohio, I think at least two of our Kerry signs were burned others just walked away. I did not love John Kerry but I would vote for him. I wanted a blue victory. I think I was in shock when he "lost", saddened that voting issues prevailed. I was angry, I drove a big volvo wagon and wanted to smash into cars with Bush stickers. I did not like the smug republicans telling me to get over it. This is also the election in Ohio that banned same sex marriage. So get over it we do.
Now election time 2008. Again I supported Kucinich in the primaries and was disgusted that he was blocked by his own party from participating in
debates. The media made it a race between a woman and a black man, who care about a man for peace? After Dennis was out, I thought maybe Edwards and then Hillary but we got Obama. I tried very hard to get on his boat. I read his ideas on his website, I do not like his stand on education (fixing No Child left behind), I do not feel his healthcare proposals go far enough, and well he totally lost my support when he did not filibuster FISA but voted for
it! Did you know AT&T sponsored the
DNC? I have no love for the Democratic party but holy cow McCain/ Palin is beyond scary! Remember Joe Lieberman from 2000 well he spoke at the
RNC?!? I am not sure what to do, I live in CO a swing state. I want to vote for
Nader, I really believe he is a better choice. But I was raised Catholic and I am not sure if I could live with the guilt if Obama lost CO and maybe the election. This is what keeps me up at night vote with my heart for a man I believe will bring change to this country, or again for a third time vote for the lesser of two evils?
Which brings me back to Michael Moore and his movie, as much as it saddened me it did inspire me. I want to
open the debates and will do what I can for this cause. As an independent voter I want all my choices to debate so I can clearly decide where to cast my vote, I do not want the media to choose for me. Let's take back our country, I am getting involved. My plan today is to put signage in town, and I just might order a Nader
shirt to show my support and maybe even open up conversation while I am out and about.
