Lately Politics has been a depressing obligation for me. I have serious differences with many of those running for office...and most of them are people I'm voting for. I have to hold my nose and vote for Maria Cantwell even though she blatantly panders to the military with her vote for the war in Iraq and a half-hearted bone of "it's Rumsfeld's fault" is tossed to the rest of us. No, Maria. It is your fault and the fault of a Congress who no longer listens to the people, but instead kisses the ass of every lobbyist promising campaign dollars. This is NOT representation. This is whoredom.
But the alternative is even worse...a lobbyist, a corporate clone, more of the same selfishness to enrich themselves at the expense of the working class. I'm appalled but no longer surprised that the employees of Safeco and its insurees had to take the financial hit so McGavick could get that multi-million dollar golden parachute. It's what happens when you put corporations in charge of the country. No one should be surprised. It's like getting mad at a predatory animal for ripping into a hunk of fresh meat. That's just corporate behavior. It won't change.
But my vote will go to Democrats no matter how offensive they are in their political pandering, because Bush and his warmongering religious whackos need to be reined in, they need to have some oversight, some accountability for their greed and psychotic visions...or they will get their damned Armaggedon over our dead bodies.
I turn off the news because it might as well be stamped "Made in the Pentagon" for all the objectivity it has. It makes me wonder what Bushco's illegal wiretaps uncovered in their surveillance of private citizens? Drugs? Closet Homosexuality? Bankruptcies? Mistresses? Boy Toys? What would make a Congress that once so elequently spoke against the mindless obedience of citizens in totalitarian regimes become that which they once opposed? What secrets keep them rubberstamping approval for torture, secret prisons, the destruction of the Constitution, unqualified stooges for positions that once required the best and the brightest, and the out and out thievery of their own grandchildren's natural resources? Are they even capable of feeling shame anymore?
The news is bad enough, but the constant assault of meanness, of outright lies and distortions, of attacks on character and race and sexual orientation that has become the new campaign themes of the GOP is a playground gone mad with no supervision. When I do turn the TV on, the sound is mostly muted to spare me the worst of the assault.
But something slipped through today. I saw a man speak with a kind of dignity that we haven't seen in this country for decades. I heard him talk about what would be good for America, what he would bring to us, what he would support and work to make happen for us. I was so stunned I stopped what I was doing and sat down and listened to him. I saw a man who would not bring his uncultured, savage version of diplomacy to other countries, but instead would restore our honor and dignity with his quiet intelligence and cultured demeanor. I saw a man I would be proud to have represent me and what I believe and what is good about America to the rest of the world. I saw what I've been hungry for: a dignified human being who spoke to others with respect and drew respect back for the words he spoke.
That man is Barack Obama. It is my most fervent hope that he runs for President in 2008. We need him. America needs him. The world needs him. Please, Senator Obama. Only you can give us back our dignity and respect. Please be our next President and help heal the wounds inflicted on us all by the current administration.
Design from: Ursine LogicChanging hearts and minds one t-shirt at a time.
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