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for a stronger america.
Nov. 3rd, 2004 03:11 ami don't hate america.
four years ago today i was in highschool, too liberal for my own good, politically active, and too young to vote. i hated george w. bush. he was a murderer, and an idiot, and simply not a good person. but this decision was made without me. i'd forgotten until today how depressed i was by the whole thing. that man had his fingers in my country. from there, he'd get them into the rest of the world. i was already distrustful of america, and i already had a hard on for small, neutral countries. but it was that election that made me hate this place, and doubt the people who live here. so, i decided, i'd leave. and i did. i spent approximately one eighth of this term living abroad. it wasn't much, but it helped. people were often angry at me for being an american, but at least they understood why i was angry. this was close enough to nine eleven that most americans didn't. then again, in athens, at the start of the war, big greek men surrounded liz and her london roommates and me. they followed us onto subway cars, to our hotel. it kept happening. we weren't sure if it was because we were women, or americans, or both. and the last time i was in britain i was harassed and followed by a man in tesco late at night who kept talking about george w. bush. that man breathes violence. perhaps i digress. it's late, and i'm running on mint tea and anticipation and fear. i'm not making as much sense as i would have hoped.
to the rest of the world, i'm so, so sorry. i honestly believed that given all that has occurred over the past four years, america would begin to develop a conscience. even if kerry pulls ahead, the numbers are too close. it would seem that i was wrong. significant numbers of us are making this decision again. bush is not merely an evil man who stole our country. he is a product of what we are. he is america, boiled down. he is ugly, and scared, and stupid, and rich, and far, far too powerful. i'm sorry for what we have become, and all that we have allowed to happen, and all the horrors we've yet to commit.
but i don't hate america. today i saw people who cared about democracy. for the past few months, people like my friend robin have been registering americans to vote. and they didn't care who you were voting for, only that you would be allowed to make the choice. and today, people all over the country, people like my friend liz, went out to stand in the rain and hand out pieces of paper, and stop voters from being chased away from the polls. and others volunteered to sit in little white rooms on folding chairs and take names and organize signed cards and explain the booths for hours. and today live journal and instant messenger and cell phone text messages were filled with almost nothing but the word. vote. vote. vote. sometimes the messages were about kerry. but most of the time, it was beyond that. vote. don't let them stop you. wait in line for as long as you have to, because this is important. people begged, and screamed, and prayed. and it worked. for the first time in decades, we've reversed the trend of decreased turnout at the polls. we taught and warned and encouraged each other. information and hope spread through word of mouth and word of blog in a way i've never witnessed before. to me, that is what matters. it hurts so much to know that the majority of us want george w. bush to be our president for the next four years. but i'm so glad that so many of us said something. remember that now more of us know that we're angry. we know that we want things to be different. and i honestly believe that means that we'll do something about it. we are not done fighting yet. we're americans. if we're good at anything at all, we're good at making noise. let's do it.
i still care far more about the health of the world than the interests of any one country or continent. although i know i shouldn't, i continue to yield to the temptation to quote virginia woolf in such situations. but, for the first time in years, i love my country, and i have hope that one day we can be better than what we are. gods bless america.
(this is all your fault, robin. thank you.)
four years ago today i was in highschool, too liberal for my own good, politically active, and too young to vote. i hated george w. bush. he was a murderer, and an idiot, and simply not a good person. but this decision was made without me. i'd forgotten until today how depressed i was by the whole thing. that man had his fingers in my country. from there, he'd get them into the rest of the world. i was already distrustful of america, and i already had a hard on for small, neutral countries. but it was that election that made me hate this place, and doubt the people who live here. so, i decided, i'd leave. and i did. i spent approximately one eighth of this term living abroad. it wasn't much, but it helped. people were often angry at me for being an american, but at least they understood why i was angry. this was close enough to nine eleven that most americans didn't. then again, in athens, at the start of the war, big greek men surrounded liz and her london roommates and me. they followed us onto subway cars, to our hotel. it kept happening. we weren't sure if it was because we were women, or americans, or both. and the last time i was in britain i was harassed and followed by a man in tesco late at night who kept talking about george w. bush. that man breathes violence. perhaps i digress. it's late, and i'm running on mint tea and anticipation and fear. i'm not making as much sense as i would have hoped.
to the rest of the world, i'm so, so sorry. i honestly believed that given all that has occurred over the past four years, america would begin to develop a conscience. even if kerry pulls ahead, the numbers are too close. it would seem that i was wrong. significant numbers of us are making this decision again. bush is not merely an evil man who stole our country. he is a product of what we are. he is america, boiled down. he is ugly, and scared, and stupid, and rich, and far, far too powerful. i'm sorry for what we have become, and all that we have allowed to happen, and all the horrors we've yet to commit.
but i don't hate america. today i saw people who cared about democracy. for the past few months, people like my friend robin have been registering americans to vote. and they didn't care who you were voting for, only that you would be allowed to make the choice. and today, people all over the country, people like my friend liz, went out to stand in the rain and hand out pieces of paper, and stop voters from being chased away from the polls. and others volunteered to sit in little white rooms on folding chairs and take names and organize signed cards and explain the booths for hours. and today live journal and instant messenger and cell phone text messages were filled with almost nothing but the word. vote. vote. vote. sometimes the messages were about kerry. but most of the time, it was beyond that. vote. don't let them stop you. wait in line for as long as you have to, because this is important. people begged, and screamed, and prayed. and it worked. for the first time in decades, we've reversed the trend of decreased turnout at the polls. we taught and warned and encouraged each other. information and hope spread through word of mouth and word of blog in a way i've never witnessed before. to me, that is what matters. it hurts so much to know that the majority of us want george w. bush to be our president for the next four years. but i'm so glad that so many of us said something. remember that now more of us know that we're angry. we know that we want things to be different. and i honestly believe that means that we'll do something about it. we are not done fighting yet. we're americans. if we're good at anything at all, we're good at making noise. let's do it.
i still care far more about the health of the world than the interests of any one country or continent. although i know i shouldn't, i continue to yield to the temptation to quote virginia woolf in such situations. but, for the first time in years, i love my country, and i have hope that one day we can be better than what we are. gods bless america.
(this is all your fault, robin. thank you.)
