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So it's September 11th again. I'm skipping most of the (kindly) lj-cut meditations on today, because where somebody said, "I don't want to forget," I think I actually do want to forget.
I am more comfortable lulled back into my false sense of security, where at least I've got the hope I'll never experience terror like that again. Unlikely, but I can hold on to the hope. Where the most important thing today is that I've got strep throat and haven't slept a wink and we still have to figure out how to get PTP to the airport. I wonder if they're doing free flights again today. They did last year.
I love this country and I hate what's happening to it. I hate that the economy's so bad it's near impossible for me to find a job, and then because of that, it's near impossible for me to get health care, and that because of that, I had to call my parents to beg off $180 of their hard earned money so I could go to the low-cost-not-free clinic to get a blood test and a throat culture to tell me I have strep on September 11th.
I hate that Bush put in for $87M to fund continuing US presence in Iraq, instead of using $87M to rebuild EVERY low-budget public school in the COUNTRY. And still have enough left over to work toward universal health care.
Those are the reasons I'd vote for Howard Dean, and those are the reasons why the Democrats are screwed. Because we need a revolution, not a lot of little revolutions, little pockets of localized Marxists huddling behind their local Marxist leaders. Though, I mean, that kind of revolution works too. I saw Dr. Zhivago yesterday. That kind of revolution, workers of the world unite, definitely works, though there's usually a civil war in there and a lot of people get killed.
I don't think we need to rethink our entire form of government. I think the democratic republic model works, for the most part, pretty well. The electoral system is flawed, but that's a matter for analysts and it's also something that needs to be addressed within the system.
The other kind of revolution's the kind where we find someone to rally behind -- someone with actual ability to take control of the goverment and start cleaning up with these most basic changes. Get us out of Iraq. Sign the Kyoto Treaty. Fix the public schools. Implement Universal Health Care. Uphold Roe. I hope Howard Dean is that leader -- I think, with some training, with good advisors and good writers he could be. I think he needs a better staff -- hell, I think if he came and hired![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wearemany, kimonthejourney, mischa, rfkforusa, furies and even ME, he'd be partway there.
I mean, you just look at the sorry state of the California Gubernatorial Recall and you wonder why our party's shooting itself in the foot. We need to get together. It's the fragmentation of the left -- the diaspora of what is only vaguely known as the democratic party -- that's gonna keep this Bush in office, and others like him, world without end, until they blow us up or we blow them up, and it's for real this time, and the world ends.
I was incredibly, unbelievably terrified two years ago because someone wanted to kill ME. Politics aside, I was scared because someone wanted ME, specifically, DEAD. It took a long time to gain perspective -- for those of us who were in NYC on 9/11, it took longer than most.
Warmongering breeds warmongering. Of course Bin Laden comes out with a tape right after Bush's plea to increase US involvement in Iraq. Good fences make good neighbors. Whatever happened to the fine art of diplomacy?
Is Howard Dean the Real Thing? I don't know. He's green, mealymouthed, inexperienced, but I think his heart's in the right place. If we could only get him to speak Sam Seaborn's words, or Toby's, to get us to our feet, to our swords. I'm holding out hope for Dean, for now because he's the closest thing we've got to a chance for a unified Democratic party.
I'm voting NO on the California Recall for the same reason. We can't AFFORD party weakness when we're playing the big game. The Republicans called the recall for exactly that reason -- they knew it would divide California democrats, because we've got a tradition of being radicals, of being protestors and revolutionaries and dissidents.
I appreciate, and respect leftist radicals of every stripe. I just don't think we can afford it now.
Because, sure, Democrats are half the nation, but we don't stand a chance if every single democrat's voting for a different person, rallying behind a different cause. I don't stand a chance of getting socialized health care so I can go to a clinic that's actually free, because that won't be instated unless we've got a solid leader at the top who actually believes in that kind of reform. Dean could be that guy. Arianna Huffington is brilliant, but she won't do me any good here. Neither would Ralph Nader, who is a genius, and powerful, and well spoken, and agrees with most of what I agree with. But he doesn't have the access, doesn't offer anything toward a UNIFIED democratic party. I'm sick to death of third party candidates, of fringe radicals, local groups stirring up local trouble.
I need a guy in office who wants to get the hell out of Iraq, sit down, and start communicating with the global community again. I want Clinton back.
I'm a DEMOCRAT. I'm not even a radical one. I believe in the party, and in what we can do if we get the party into power.
September 11th and I'm scared, but I'm putting it out of my mind because either someone kills me or they don't, and I'm in no place to stand up as a patriot as long as GWB is President. I want to feel safe again, and I won't be able to until we've got someone in that office who's working for ME. Who believes in the things I believe in. Dean could be that guy. I don't know yet.
But it's gotta be SOMEONE, and just one person, we need UNITY, a common voice.
My banner for the Get Out of Iraq rally read: "I AM YOUR CONSTITUENT! LISTEN TO ME!" And Bush shrugs us off as a "focus group" anyway.
Outside the system, the closest thing we have to a Great Voice is Michael Moore. And we can rally all we want behind his dictums, and feel good about it, but Michael Moore's never going to be president, and any fringe protesting we do in his good name only brings us further from the center.
I don't like it when terrorists want to kill me. I don't like the idea of being killed, of destruction, war, of being wiped out. That's what hides me under my covers at night, simple, personal fear of death. That's why I don't want to remember September 11, 2001. That's why I want to know, REALLY want to know, "What's next?"
I am more comfortable lulled back into my false sense of security, where at least I've got the hope I'll never experience terror like that again. Unlikely, but I can hold on to the hope. Where the most important thing today is that I've got strep throat and haven't slept a wink and we still have to figure out how to get PTP to the airport. I wonder if they're doing free flights again today. They did last year.
I love this country and I hate what's happening to it. I hate that the economy's so bad it's near impossible for me to find a job, and then because of that, it's near impossible for me to get health care, and that because of that, I had to call my parents to beg off $180 of their hard earned money so I could go to the low-cost-not-free clinic to get a blood test and a throat culture to tell me I have strep on September 11th.
I hate that Bush put in for $87M to fund continuing US presence in Iraq, instead of using $87M to rebuild EVERY low-budget public school in the COUNTRY. And still have enough left over to work toward universal health care.
Those are the reasons I'd vote for Howard Dean, and those are the reasons why the Democrats are screwed. Because we need a revolution, not a lot of little revolutions, little pockets of localized Marxists huddling behind their local Marxist leaders. Though, I mean, that kind of revolution works too. I saw Dr. Zhivago yesterday. That kind of revolution, workers of the world unite, definitely works, though there's usually a civil war in there and a lot of people get killed.
I don't think we need to rethink our entire form of government. I think the democratic republic model works, for the most part, pretty well. The electoral system is flawed, but that's a matter for analysts and it's also something that needs to be addressed within the system.
The other kind of revolution's the kind where we find someone to rally behind -- someone with actual ability to take control of the goverment and start cleaning up with these most basic changes. Get us out of Iraq. Sign the Kyoto Treaty. Fix the public schools. Implement Universal Health Care. Uphold Roe. I hope Howard Dean is that leader -- I think, with some training, with good advisors and good writers he could be. I think he needs a better staff -- hell, I think if he came and hired
wearemany, kimonthejourney, mischa, rfkforusa, furies and even ME, he'd be partway there. I mean, you just look at the sorry state of the California Gubernatorial Recall and you wonder why our party's shooting itself in the foot. We need to get together. It's the fragmentation of the left -- the diaspora of what is only vaguely known as the democratic party -- that's gonna keep this Bush in office, and others like him, world without end, until they blow us up or we blow them up, and it's for real this time, and the world ends.
I was incredibly, unbelievably terrified two years ago because someone wanted to kill ME. Politics aside, I was scared because someone wanted ME, specifically, DEAD. It took a long time to gain perspective -- for those of us who were in NYC on 9/11, it took longer than most.
Warmongering breeds warmongering. Of course Bin Laden comes out with a tape right after Bush's plea to increase US involvement in Iraq. Good fences make good neighbors. Whatever happened to the fine art of diplomacy?
Is Howard Dean the Real Thing? I don't know. He's green, mealymouthed, inexperienced, but I think his heart's in the right place. If we could only get him to speak Sam Seaborn's words, or Toby's, to get us to our feet, to our swords. I'm holding out hope for Dean, for now because he's the closest thing we've got to a chance for a unified Democratic party.
I'm voting NO on the California Recall for the same reason. We can't AFFORD party weakness when we're playing the big game. The Republicans called the recall for exactly that reason -- they knew it would divide California democrats, because we've got a tradition of being radicals, of being protestors and revolutionaries and dissidents.
I appreciate, and respect leftist radicals of every stripe. I just don't think we can afford it now.
Because, sure, Democrats are half the nation, but we don't stand a chance if every single democrat's voting for a different person, rallying behind a different cause. I don't stand a chance of getting socialized health care so I can go to a clinic that's actually free, because that won't be instated unless we've got a solid leader at the top who actually believes in that kind of reform. Dean could be that guy. Arianna Huffington is brilliant, but she won't do me any good here. Neither would Ralph Nader, who is a genius, and powerful, and well spoken, and agrees with most of what I agree with. But he doesn't have the access, doesn't offer anything toward a UNIFIED democratic party. I'm sick to death of third party candidates, of fringe radicals, local groups stirring up local trouble.
I need a guy in office who wants to get the hell out of Iraq, sit down, and start communicating with the global community again. I want Clinton back.
I'm a DEMOCRAT. I'm not even a radical one. I believe in the party, and in what we can do if we get the party into power.
September 11th and I'm scared, but I'm putting it out of my mind because either someone kills me or they don't, and I'm in no place to stand up as a patriot as long as GWB is President. I want to feel safe again, and I won't be able to until we've got someone in that office who's working for ME. Who believes in the things I believe in. Dean could be that guy. I don't know yet.
But it's gotta be SOMEONE, and just one person, we need UNITY, a common voice.
My banner for the Get Out of Iraq rally read: "I AM YOUR CONSTITUENT! LISTEN TO ME!" And Bush shrugs us off as a "focus group" anyway.
Outside the system, the closest thing we have to a Great Voice is Michael Moore. And we can rally all we want behind his dictums, and feel good about it, but Michael Moore's never going to be president, and any fringe protesting we do in his good name only brings us further from the center.
I don't like it when terrorists want to kill me. I don't like the idea of being killed, of destruction, war, of being wiped out. That's what hides me under my covers at night, simple, personal fear of death. That's why I don't want to remember September 11, 2001. That's why I want to know, REALLY want to know, "What's next?"
