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11/03/2004: "Dark day in America"

Well that settles it. The Bush administration has successfully brainwashed more than half the country. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that many Americans walk around with blinders on. Our country is lazy, spoon-fed, spoiled and brain-dead, and that's just the way President Rove and VP Cheney like it. Scare tactics work: Do not question authority, or the terrorists will win. Do not question this administration, or you and your family will be in grave danger. A vote for Kerry is a vote for bin Laden. Kerry. Bin Laden. Kerry. Bin Laden. Obey. Here's a flag and your $300 back. God Bless this great country. 'Nuff said. Now watch this drive.

As I watched the election results online last night, I was nervous. I'd never in my life cared so much about the future of our country. I'd voted for the first time, and I was damn proud of it. I'd been looking forward to voting all week, and I was determined to squeeze that one civic task into my busy schedule. Then, Tuesday night, when I saw Florida turn red, I thought I was going to cry. That was the twist of the knife in Kerry's back, the point of no return. I think I'm just now getting over my depression.

How could we? How could one in good conscience support an administration of lies, subterfuge, deceit and denial? An administration that has sent more than 1,000 Americans to their deaths? One in bed with Big Pharma, laughing all the way to the bank as the cost of health care and medications go practically unregulated? An isolationist administration so full of hubris it not only doesn't want to play in the sandbox with the other industrialized nations, it kicks sand in their faces?

These are the questions I can't reconcile. Note to Pinky: You're one of the smartest, most likeable people I know, and we have a lot in common. So what is it about the GOP that clicks with you? Is it that you find the other party's values more disagreeable -- the lesser of two evils -- or is it family tradition? If there's anyone whose well-thought-out answers on the subject of conservatism I would take to heart, it's you. (You don't have to take the stage and start a thread here; e-mail's fine.) It's fascinating to me that we come from very similar backgrounds and family histories, yet our paths have diverged on this one subject.

I'm not bitter over the outcome -- really. Upset at the result, yeah. But not sore. I did my part, and so did a record number of Americans. That's something to be proud of. And although four years is plenty of time for Bush and his puppeteers to further restrict Americans' privacy rights, stuff their pocketbooks with more no-bid contracts and bankrupt the country, it's also four years for the liberals to take action on many lessons learned.

Current mood: Reflective

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