Cindy Sheehan resigned her position today as the most vocal anti-war annoyance out there. Yeah, as you can tell, I don’t like her so much. I respect her opinion, but I find her very off-putting that she would demean her son’s choice to die for his country. Whether or not her son was right in that decision is up to him, not her.
But, I oddly found myself cheering for her as I read her “goodbye speech” to the world. Well, not the part where she says that America is a terrible place because we don’t agree with her. Or the part where she says that her son died for nothing (see above).
No, the part that really stood out for me is as follows:
“It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt “two†party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?”
She has not only hit the nail on the head, but also shattered it. This very sentiment is why I hate talking politics to most anyone. Why I used to vote (begrudgingly) for people I didn’t necessarily like because the person I liked didn’t stand a chance. Why most all of my friends refused to vote (and most of you living in OC know these same people). Why the only reason I even voted on election day was to skip out on work for an hour.
My voice doesn’t matter, nor does my vote.
It took me a while to realize this, but once I did, that is when I started to vote for the person I wanted. Since my vote didn’t matter, then what does it hurt to vote for the person I deem most qualified? But you know what would happen if every person in America came to this same realization and voted for the candidate and not the party? We would toss those good ol’ boys out of office.
The result would be more elected officials that were in tune with the American public. No more inherited silver-spoon-fed children with guaranteed admission into country clubs and ivy-leagues.
And this goes for both parties…. for all parties. If we become truly democratic and challenge the system together then the system collapses.
Now, it’s only a matter of getting 300 million Americans to cooperate and make the right choice instead of the popular one.
Kay,
It’s a nasty Catch-22 that you’re talking about here.
If we all come together and challenge the system, than we can change it.
But not enough “good people” are out there running because they can’t afford to. We need to change the system so that normal folks have the opportunity to get elected.
We should be talking about campaign finance reform.
mL
While I share some of your concerns, and was once registered as a Libertarian, recent history has prompted me to radically revise my ideas.
The Republican party has been taken over by such a collection of theocons, neocons, scoundrels, and outright criminals that there is now a substantial difference between the political parties. Republicans have trashed our Constitution, abandoned any concept of fiscal conservatism, and engaged in a foreign policy that is reckless and destabilizing. Worst of all, they have attacked the fundamental premise of good government, substituting cronyism and incompetence for good government, turning everything into a triumph of fear-mongering politics over policy.
Their only uniting principles now seem to be profiting from government resources, fear-mongering, bullying, and vituperation of Democrats.
There are candidates in the Democratic party who represent populist and progressive politics. I like both the Sanchez sisters, and I find plenty of candidates nationally to support – people like Vic Wulsin, Jon Tester, Larry Kissell, Jerry McNerney. I love Barack Obama’s message.
Most importantly, Americans need to fundamentally reject the legacy of Bush and his modern kleptocratic Republican party.
Simultaneously, if we can take the Democratic party back from the corporate masters and create a new decentralized media, we may in fact have a representative government.
people who think their vote doesn’t count must have slept through the 2000 presidential campaign. And in the OC, the 1st supervisorial election should have put that canard to rest for good.
I’m with you Mike on campaign reform. Clean money!
While this feeling is shared by many of the electorate it becomes a self-fufilling prophesy.
Personally, my vote does count. It counts because I take the time to vote. I take the time to care, beyond party affiliation. Over the years I have voted for Republicans, Democrats and Independents and felt confident that my vote counted. My vote made a difference, if only for me to do my duty.
Make a difference, support a local candidate or run yourself and change something. I did, won; and am now working for what I believe in.
A vote is a terrible thing to waste!
As someone who is much older and much wiser than Kay Colby, I nevertheless appreciate her sharing such a moving tale of self-discovery.
Keep up the good work, sweetheart.
Warmly yours,
Pete Fundy
Senior Editorial Writer
OCLegend.Com