I’m Staying

Guess what, assholes, I’m gonna stay right here. You know why? Because that way my ranting and raving can be accompanied by a louder and more effective tool, my fucking vote.

I just watched two devastating documentaries on the Sundance Channel. The first was about Karl Rove, and the second was about the mess in Florida in 2000. They made me even more sad and disenfranchesied about the state of this country than ever, but two scenes caught me in particular. Scenes that reminded me of how lucky I am to be an American, and exactly what that means — the power I received, essentially for free.

There was an ourpouring of grief and disgust in one Broward County church, a bunch of people basically saying what I have heard from a lot of my friends lately. The stuff of “why should I bother”, “I don’t count anyway”, “they get what they want no matter what”. And the reverend said simply “that’s what they want you to do, they don’t want you to care. That’s all part of the plan; you know what? we got to keep on fightin’, you can’t… you can’t give up.”

The second was a quote from a press conference given by Kwesi Mfume, President of the NAACP: “we recognize that this strange and sometimes twisted democracy that we have, is our democracy nonetheless; it is what we make it, and as stewards of that democracy I think we have a very special responsibility to make sure that we improve upon it, and that we leave a democractic form of government, and quite frankly a republic to the next generation… that they can be proud of, and recognize, and is one that has survived the test of time and it will survive this, and it will be better because of this.”

Brenda & I have discussed the idea of leaving this country, in the wake of the last several years’ disgusting display of arrogance and ignorance on the part of most of my neighbors, my fellow citizens. But on the other hand, to leave now means two less votes of reason in this great nation, and two less chances to not only speak out, but to actually vote. More importantly, it’s two less chances to affect a change when that vote seems to be discounted, if the spirit is willing.

From here, we can make sure that our votes always count and that the votes of every American count as well. From here, we can debate with the mailman. From here, we can put signs on our lawns endorsing our candidates, even if they get stolen. From here, we can bitch within earshot of some of these misguided souls who either insist on listening to FOX for their “news”, or the the people who chose to bury their heads in the sand altogether.

From here, we can be Americans, and recent events have made me want to be more American than I ever have. May god help the assholes who would take the sleepyness of the electorate for granted now.

Of course, I have to discuss this all with Brenda first. She may still want to leave. But I think I make a good case for grinding it out.