Monday, October 4, 2004

And the Number One Reason to Vote...

There was a time when I truly believed that the person who sat behind the desk in the Oval Office held the fate of the world in his hand. I think I must have absorbed the grim panic of my parents, teachers, and other adults during the Cuban Missile crisis, an incident that could have indeed meant the end of the human race…even though I was too young to understand what was going on at the time. I remember being physically afraid when Richard Nixon stepped down in disgrace…wondering whether this meant the end of civilization as we knew it.

As years went by, and the world neither ended nor raced forward toward Utopia with the change of Chief Executives, I adopted a more laissez faire attitude toward the presidency. I had seen a truly good man become an absolute disaster of a president. I had held my breath as a washed-up Hollywood actor was handed the reins of the republic, but the world still turned in spite of eight years of that insanity. I watched as an over-achieving, mostly amiable Southern politician took over the post; and was hounded practically from the moment the first oath of office was out of his mouth, by the opposing political party that could not accede to the will of the people and let him BE the president. To the point of nearly having him removed from the office via what amounted to a legalistic coup d’etat. By the 2000 election, I figured that if all this intrigue could be going on at the highest levels in Washington, and I could wake up in the morning, look out the window and see the world still standing, it wasn’t really of earth-shattering import who ended up with their hand on the bible on the morning of January 20, 2001.

And then came George W. Bush. Over the last 3 ½ years, we Americans have been treated to a taste of the havoc that can be wreaked, on our own shores and across the globe, by a truly bad president. I would never have thought it possible that one man could be the force behind so much horrible policy. And that those policies would have so altered our standing among the nations of the world, our ability to voice and appreciate opposing political viewpoints, our tolerance for the diversity that is part of our national heritage, that we truly ARE teetering on the brink of disaster in this country. This is what happens when an affable, academically average, "down-home" millionaire--the front man for a network of power-hungry politicos and business executives—is given (or, more accurately, siezes) the power of the leadership of the free world. All of the people out there who are saying, "This is the most important presidential election of our time" are not just providing a melodramatic sound byte. They are seeing these exact things, and having the same head-slap experience that I am having. We became too complacent. We all believed somewhere in the back of our minds that the matter of who sat behind the desk in the Oval Office was not, in the end, going to affect the world all that much. How wrong we all were, and now we’re paying for it. The world is paying for it. And I am back to feeling that old physical panic, only to the tenth power, about whether the world will still be standing after the votes are counted.

12 comments:

  1. I pray there are many more who feel as you do Lisa and Rock The Vote to get this country back on track This is NOT the time for APATHY!

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  2. Hello Lisa-
    Too right! (<Gayla, standing and applauding her friend and great speaker: Lisa.) I have read and re-read this entry about 10 times now, fantastic. I truly think you should submit this to someone Lisa. Don't you? It's so perfectly phrased and your diction and word placement is perfection. It made me even more determined to get people to vote. I will be working one of the booths this year, supporting our only hope, which is Senator John Kerry.

    Well done Lisa and I hope you really consider submitting this to CNN, JohnKerry.com, MSNBC, GMA, The Atlantic and more......

    Schoolgal064

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  3. Eloquent, passionate and not preachy or bitter (I've never thought bitterness was a problem in your rants, but there's a lot out there that is) -- some of your best political writing yet, and I mean that as high praise. (Not to mention that I agree with you completely.)

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  4. I truly believe this is a *do or die* election. The damage after the last four years is incredible, yet, I think still salvageable. After four more years of Bush? I'm not so certain that the damage could be undone. I'm definitely voting & urging everyone I run into to vote!

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  5. You expressed yourself so well. Yes, the power in the office is huge and, in all my years, I never realized how strong that power is either. My feeling is GB is going to win. I don't think that's a good thing but I feel it and hope I'm wrong.

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  6. Wonderful Intelligent piece.  This election is the scariest of my life.  I tried to warn people I knew before the last election, it seemed no one would listen.  Now all the things I feared then have come to pass and created even more fear of the Bush regime in me.  He has already changed America for the worst.  I wonder what became of people studying the issues?  Whatever happened to thinking?  I just know that if people would only stop to really consider the facts for 10 minutes that the election would go to Kerry...I guess most people just don't bother with thinking anymore when the spin doctors will do it for them.  

    I would love to use a copy of your graphic on my web page.  

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  7. Lisa, you are so passionate.  I really admire that about you.

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  8. This is incredibly well done.  I hope you are submitting it to at least your local op-ed page.  

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  9. Wow!!! This gave me chills. You know I am just as angry at the Democrats for this as I am at the Republicans. I feel like after 9/11 they laid down and allowed Bush to wreck havoc. I still have to wake up in the morning and look around and say everything is okay here and now. I think otherwise my fears of the "What Ifs" would be dibilitating. Wonderfully written Lisa! :-) ---Robbie

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  10. Wonderful entry and I couldn't agree more.  If you really want to get an idea of the mentality we're up against take a look online at the Texas Republican Platform.  It advocates withdrawing from the UN, making rape punishable by death, eliminating all state sponsored preschool programs and state funded college scholarships and education grants, calls for making child custody by homosexuals illegal, returning prayer to our schools, overturning Roe vs Wade and recognizing the US as a Christian nation.  It also advocates the use of corporal punishment in public schools while providing laws to grant teachers immunity from any claims of liability in its use.  They want to overturn any and all laws that infringe on a citizen's right to bear arms. They want to eliminate all bilingual education.  This is the party of George W. Bush.  Very scary!

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  11. Oh that is a very good entry, and I totally agree!  And I just read one of the comments about the Texas Republican Platform, and it scared the heck out of me!  My goodness.  

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  12. And what can you do?  I am voting.  But I am one vote and I have talked to at least four who are voting for the bad guy. {Sigh}

    Well expressed.

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