WHAT'S YOUR DEFINITION OF WRONG?

Well, the sun isn't exactly shining, but it's not yet declared that it won't shine anymore.

Good for Kerry for sticking in. I've always hated this idea of concession, that politicians need to pack it in before they are really told it's over. Ohio still has votes out, and it's unfair to the people whose votes they are to declare it's over. It's not even about which candidate will win or lose for the people of America; it's about making sure the system is fair, that it works right. In 2000, Gore's opponents tried to paint him as a crybaby, and that sort of thinking is sad. Particularly since the incumbent President is riding on a ticket that claims to be spreading democracy around the world. Which example are we spreading? The one where you can lie, cheat, and steal your way to the top and choose which groups of people you feel deserves to be heard? That's just Wrong.

If you think all the talk of the vote being tampered with is a lot of nonsense, I urge you to go back and look at the examinations of Florida in 2000. There are several books about what went down out there, but quicker, shorter information to arm yourself with is also available. Rent the documentary Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election. Get the October 2004 Vanity Fair (Jude Law cover), and read their lengthy article about it. While no one is quite caught with the bag of money, the mountain of evidence that various tricks were pulled is hard to deny, and you have to accept that something went down.

Oh, fuck it. I just read on CNN.com that Kerry conceded. Thanks for wussing out on us, Democrats. Like I said yesterday, America has learned nothing. (And yes, I read about the concession a while ago, but with everyone rending their garments on Blogger today, it's taken me over an hour to actually get through to post.)

And please, people, this whole, "I'm moving to Canada" routine was tired six months ago. Drop it, or seriously, just do it. Shut up or do it. But it's going to take a lot more balls for you to stick around here and fight. In the same Vanity Fair referenced above, James Wolcott writes about how another four years of Bush will give the left an opportunity to solidify the way the right did under Clinton, which would give us the first real organized movement on this side of the aisle since the '60s. Bail on us now, and we won't let you back in! (And where are you really going to go, anyway? If we drew up a map of the world where we marked countries full of guilty people in red, and innocent people in blue, we'd have a giant red map. Wherever you go, you will encounter a common problem: humanity. The history of humanity, also known as the history of the world, is a long, tedious plot about people treating each other like shit. We ain't no better, we ain't no worse.)

Yes, a lot of what I have written over the past two days has been sarcastic, satirical, and over the top. It shouldn't mask the genuine feeling of disappointment, though. I think a lot of us are feeling let down because we honestly thought there was a realigning of our country, that there was a real coming together for change. And that phrase is key: coming together. I don't want to demonize the people who voted for the current administration, but let's be real. So much of what Bush and the Republicans do is about sticking the wedge in further between the people of America, of finding the issues that we have a harder time agreeing on and aggravating them. Most of the time, those issues are about one set of people telling another set of people what they can't do with their lives. So many of us want to get back to the idea that America is a place where we create space for people of all shapes to live as they see fit. Making "morals" the top issue doesn't really have the most moral outcome, and morals end up being the top ironic issue given how immoral Bush and Cheney and DeLay and the rest really are, and how immoral the smear tactics of the campaign were.

I shout and I complain now because I want the feeling I had at 9 a.m. yesterday to stick around, and to make the next four years the hardest four years an administration has ever had. In the words of shoulda-been VP John Edwards, "You can be disappointed, but you cannot walk away."

Or, in keeping with my theme, maybe Snoopy says it best today.

Current Soundtrack: Air America

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2004 Jamie S. Rich