November is coming up fast. Time to vote again. Unless of course you are too bored by the election season posturing to get off your ass. Unless of course you are so mad at every politician that you feel like boycotting the event this year.
Let me say that I am not overly impressed by Republicans or Democrats at this point in our nation’s history. But I do know what Republicans have done over the last 40 years and I don’t like it. And those were the old school Republicans, the ones that still had a place for intelligence and actual ideas about how to govern. More recently the Republicans have been taken over by first the neo conservatives, then the fundamentalist right, and now the Tea Party: a group so scared and angry they don’t even know what they are want to do about it; they just want to make sure that no Republicans ever govern again.
I sure as hell don’t want to vote for the Tea Party candidates and their mission of destroying the government from the inside out.
But as a proud Liberal, I’m not very impressed with the Democratic Party either. They have been soft and unwilling to take on the obstructionist tactics of the Republicans. They too often give in to Wall Street and the Military Complex. I hear a lot of liberals saying that the Democrats don’t deserve our support. And they may be right.
The Democrats may not deserve us, but we sure as hell don’t deserve the Tea Party Right!
Boycotting the election will only give the Republican Party validation at a time when they need to be proving they stand for something other than blind allegiance to the very rich and very powerful corporations. Yes, Democrats give into these groups some of the time, but they also occasionally remember to support the rights and needs of the other 90% of the population. Democrats aren’t perfect, but they don’t want to “privatize” Social Security, or let the fundamentalists of this country impose Sharia Law on our minds and bodies. Nor let us ever forget, that despite the propaganda, Democrats have always done a better job with budgets and deficits than Republicans. Yes, the Republicans won the Civil War, but what have they done for us lately??
Most elections are a choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.
But this election is a choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber and Dumber.
Tweedle Dee, the Democrat, may not be delightful, but Tweedle Dumb seems to be getting dumber and dumber the more Tea they drink.
Go Vote! Vote for your better interests. And remember: Things that are good for everybody are good for everybody. The Republicans can only take control of Congress and the Senate if large groups of voters, (women, youngsters, exhausted intellectuals, minorities) stay home out of anger or apathy. If we all vote, change will at least have a chance.
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Echoes: The above is purely the opinion of Jay Larsen.
It is based on a life time of observation and history,
But I’m too tired to reference a bunch of history now.
I’m saving my strength for voting.
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