The DNC Convention

I have only been really into politics since the run up to the 2004 elections. I hated GWB so bad that I wanted to not have to suffer through another 4 years with him at the helm, him of the codpiece and "Mission Accomplished" swagger. A substantial interest in politics came to me late in life. I remember when I turned 18 and voting for the first time, and it was for Dukakis of course as I am a life long Democrat. Even though I didn't realize why at the time, I knew that Reagan and his policies didn't sit well with me and didn’t think another 4 years of Republicanism was the way to go.  After that election and Dukakis lost, I didn't really feel anything and went on with my life. When the 1992 election rolled around, I was on board the Clinton train and even have an old VHS tape my brother and I took when we went to see him speak. Now that I think about it that was my first political rally. I voted for Clinton the first time around but found myself disillusioned enough by the time his second term came that I didn't vote at all. When Gore and Bush were running, I voted for Gore but without any thought, he was a D and that is just how it went. I never realized until that moment what a Presidential election really meant. I saw the crowds throwing garbage and rioting during Dubya's inauguration, felt cheated that even though WE had voted for Gore that OUR vote had been superseded by a non-elected body of black robed "justices", and feeling disgusted but not sure why I just knew it was not right. 

The first 4 years of Shrub was an endless stream of terror alerts, fear mongering, and the start of these useless wars. This was where the idea of an Imperial Presidency started to bloom. His growing of the debt, torture, spying on Americans, and stripping our civil liberties all contributed to my despising of the Decider and wanted someone, anyone to take his place. Kerry/Edwards seemed good and I liked their ideas. Edwards was the first candidate to talk about the poor of our country for a long time and Kerry seemed like an honorable man. I made sure to try to watch all his speeches and the debates, kept informed with reading and news programs/talk radio and even attended a few events. Watching the election results roll in was very disheartening. Just like last time it seemed that there were lots of election night shenanigans (which is a whole other topic and if you are interested Google election fraud 2001 and 2004 and be prepared for the amount of information that pops up most by respected journalists) and Bush won despite the exit polls heavily favoring Kerry. The sad thing is that if Kerry had inspired more people to vote the rigging wouldn’t have mattered. But this started a trend of my paying attention. It can be distressing and depressing to always know what is going on but I pride myself on being able to talk intelligently and factually about world and national events. 
 

I didn’t like Obama at first. When the candidates for 2008 started to declare, I immediately gravitated to Edwards (this was before his troubles) because I had liked him so much before, although my favorite candidate is Kucinich but I knew he had no chance. I watched all of the candidate’s debates; saw all of them speak at (except Clinton and Biden) at local events which there were a lot of as I live in a battle ground state. It is one thing to see someone on TV and in person; it also gives you a feel of the excitement the person generates in the vibe of the crowd. After Obama won the nomination, I went to see him and it was like a festival and the air was electric. The only other political event that even came close was Ron Paul. I even, for the first time, but certainly not the last caucused. I volunteered to work the polls on Election Day and donated time and money. 8 years of Bush had taught me how important elections are, how much they matter even long after that person is gone. 

Democrats aren’t perfect. We are still feeling many of the decisions that Clinton made to this day. Outsourcing started under him with NAFTA, the seeds of the economic collapse were planted with the repeal of Glass-Stegall, and a generation of low-income Americans was adversely affected by welfare “reform”.  It seems that Clinton has taken on the rosy glow of constant polishing that Regan has acquired and hell if he isn’t an amazing speaker. We aren’t perfect but I think that in the end Democrats look forward and our very inclusivity is our strength. 

I’d been feeling pretty apathetic this election cycle, Obama policies had left me very disillusioned. He had pretty much embraced the Imperial Presidency, hadn’t rolled back any of the draconian laws passed by Bush in fact he’s made them worse, no Wall Street person was thrown in jail, he let the Republicans frame the debate too often, gave up the public option on health care, and kept on killing innocent civilians in drone attacks. This wasn’t the change I could believe in. I was going to vote but that was about it, until 3 days in Charlotte. I sat down a watched the whole thing, every speech, every film clip, and every soaring crowd shot and felt my passion returning.

I know I was being play by the pomp and propaganda. The incessant cries of “USA, USA, USA” started to sound jingoistic and vaguely nazi-ish by the end, but damned if I wasn’t moved to tears more than once. The constant untrue cries that we are the greatest country in the world were a little much. I’m sure the Romans believed that too and so did Britain and we see how that worked out. We are judged by our deeds not our words and our deeds say we have far to go. I want us to take the best parts of other countries and make them our own; we can do if only we have the will. The speeches gave me that hope. Clinton’s speech blew the roof off while reminding us of the absolute hate there is for Obama (read any comments after articles about them and it is just disgusting in its nastiness) and a little nun named Sister Simone was a barnburner. There is still so much more work to be done and it would be a disaster to put Mittens in the white house. If things get that bad I know that I am lucky. My dad was born in Canada and I have dual citizenship, which means I can immigrate if need be. Other people don’t have that option and being a liberal I wouldn’t be able to just walk through the door and never look back saying “I’ve got mine”. I’ll leave that kind of thinking to our conservative friends. So it just makes me want to fight. I will be volunteering to register people to vote and working the polls again this year. I am donating money and time. Voting is so important, we must all do it, we must participate in our democracy or see it disappear. Romney’s election would prove once and for all that our democracy can be bought and sink into a cruel oligarchy. I know there are many who think that we are already there, I don’t believe that but I do believe that we are dancing on a knife-edge. So many people say they don’t have time to think about politics or politicians but they sure have time to think about you, so it is up to us to force them to do what WE want.  It really is now or never.