My thoughts about the upcoming general election

[pat]

I have been ruminating a great deal over the past months about the 2004 Presidential election. (Who hasn't?) I have read a lot of debate in various fora. Earlier this week, Sunday I think it was, someone posted a link to a discussion in liberal about Ralph Nader. And my thoughts solidified, much like crystals form when you drop dust into a supersaturated solution.


In many -- nay, most -- elections, I can understand how people I respect can come to support a different candidate from myself. This was true with Ronald Reagan in 1984 (although to a much less extent in 1980), George Bush the elder in 1988 and 1992, and Bob Dole in 1996, and even maybe GW in 2000. (Although I think GW's behavior in office was to some extent foreseeable to anyone who did their homework in 2000, the scope of his malfeasance takes even me aback.)

Not this time. Not this year.

In an ideal world, John Kerry might not be the Democratic candidate. (At least, not in my ideal world: I voted for Howard Dean, even though Dean had dropped out by the California primary.) The Republican candidate would be someone less in thrall to special interests and less willing to undermine the Constitution. A third-party candidate such as Ralph Nader would be a viable alternative.

But you know what, people? We don't live in an ideal world. We live in the real world.

And so I, patgreene, hereby publicly state that, in regards to the United States Presidential election of 2004:

If you vote for George W. Bush, I will not respect you.

If you vote for Ralph Nader out of some sense of ideological or political purity, I will not respect you. (If you further bolster your actions by announcing that "there's no significant difference between the Democrats and the Republicans," I will seriously question both your intelligence and your sanity.)

If you choose to make this a single-issue election, whatever that issue may be, and refuse to vote, I will not respect you.

If you choose not to vote out of apathy, I will not only not respect you, I will view you as a child.


And, furthermore, if you do any of the above and GW gets (re)elected, I don't want to hear one word from you about what bad shape the country is in for four years. Not. One. Word. Not about the trashing of the environment. Not about the economy being in the toilet. Not about the White House helping fundamentalist Christians in their war against the rest of us. Not about the horrific erosion of civil liberties. Not about anything. Because, dammit, you have seen the man in action . You know what he is capable of, and you are aiding and abetting him in his malfeasance, by not doing everything in your power to get him the hell out of there.

No, John Kerry is not perfect. Yes, there are positions I wish he would change. But he is head and shoulders above the man who holds the office of the President now.

We are in a CRISIS. If you cannot get your ass out of your ivory tower long enough to see that, then politically I have no use for you whatsoever.

Comments

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

You said it. I voted for Kucinich in the primary. In an ideal world, he could have actually won. Since it's not an ideal world, I'll be voting for Kerry in November. There isn't anything (short of either one of us dying) that could change my vote at this stage.