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Solidarity,
Part Two
August 10, 2001
by
Feldene
This message is addressed to the Democrats and others who
talk down to the Greens, accuse the Greens of costing Gore
the election, and call names and make insults - shame on you.
The rest of you, do not take this message personally, I use
phrases that are broad but they are intended for the ANTI-GREENS
only.
First let me give you some background. I grew up with a conservative
father and a moderately liberal mother. Election 2000 was
the first presidential election where I was old enough to
vote, I just turned 21. My teens were Clinton years and before
that I have vivid memories of the Reagan/Bush Sr. years that
never made sense until recently.
For awhile I thought I might be conservative. Spending my
teens with Clinton in office, I saw Clinton as 'the man' whom
I despised. The big bad government who was out to get me.
Once I approached 20, after I actually got out on my own when
I was 18, I started to wake up politically and educate myself
on American politics. I woke up to the lies I had been fed
in my teens by the media. I decided to choose my political
affiliation.
I didn't say, "Hmm, which party do I like?" I said, "Here
is what I believe is right and good - what do the Democrats
and Republicans think about this?" Of course, at this time
I was under the impression that the Democrats were liberal,
so I decided that the Democrats were my party. I defined myself
as a liberal, not a "non-conservative". It seems the only
selling point the Democrats have nowadays is "Why vote Democratic?
Well, we're not Republicans!"
There were things that Clinton did that pissed me off, specifically
supporting NAFTA and signing the DMCA. But when 2000 came
along, as a staunch Clinton supporter on 99% of the issues,
I was appalled at the thought of Gore claiming the Democratic
nomination.
Why? Because Gore is a centrist. Clinton was in the middle
as well, more than I would like to see in a perfect world,
but I don't feel he abandoned his liberal base, like Gore
did. I mentioned my memories of the Reagan/Bush Sr. years
that never made sense. Let me tell you what those memories
were. Deficit. Everytime my dad turned on the news, national
debt, deficit spending, recession, etc. It was the absolute
hottest issue, and with good reason. At the time I didn't
understand what the big deal was, but I remember that you
couldn't listen to the news for 10 minutes back then without
hearing the words 'deficit' or 'debt'.
For this reason, I knew what a farce the Reagan/Bush conservatives
were. I knew they were not out to lead this country but to
screw us. I sat up at nights fighting out this absurd battle
between the lunacy (in my mind, at least, considering everyone
hated the national deficit and Clinton took care of it, why
would anyone even consider voting for a Bush?) of a Bush running
and a centrist like Gore running. Why? Because the conservatives
are supposed to be the ones concerned with winning at all
costs, and the liberals are supposed to be the ones concerned
with idealism and doing what is right even if it means losing!
The appeal of the Democratic party to me was not because
'Hey, they're not Republican!' It was because I spent years
working for minimum wage, fighting with a shitty education
system, trying to dig out a place for myself and my ideals
in this world and earn a living without giving tens of thousands
of dollars to a BS institution who promises nothing but to
issue me a piece of goddamned paper.
But then comes the DLC.... openly admitting to centristism
for the sole goal of winning elections! Well excuuuuse me
for despising such blatant bullshit! If you want to win elections,
go be a damn Republican and pull it to the middle! John McCain
will welcome you! And he supports many things that Democrats
hold dear to their hearts. If you want to go down in history
for being courageous enough to stand up for what's right,
no matter how unpopular (racial equality, social security,
minimum wage, etc) and affect real change to make the world
a better place, be a Democrat! You'll be scorned, you'll be
ridiculed, and you'll have to fight 10x as hard to win a damn
election, but you'll know you did the right thing and those
movements have gone down in history and will continue to go
down in history. But you "party line" Democrats
who care about nothing but winning will not.
There is one, and only one thing, in the entire friggin'
world that would have stopped Ralph Nader from "stealing"
Gore's votes (as if Gore owned those votes or was entitled
to them, how arrogant of you) and that was for Gore to move
to the left. Nader would not have been given the time of day
if Gore hadn't said he supported the death penalty, if Gore
had spoken against unabashed free trade, if Gore had come
out fighting instead of acting like a scared, wet dog hiding
from the storm that is the mighty conservatives! Gore was
the only person who could have stopped Nader from taking votes,
but Gore chose not to. Instead of acting so self-righteously
towards the Greens, you should all be admonishing Gore for
allowing Nader to do it.
I will not continue to support a party that does not even
try to represent my views! You guys who call the Greens names
and talk down to them are acting like children. Your can't
even realize that Gore and the DLC are the ones who made it
all possible.
You know what's funny... when the Republicans were blabbing
about how Gore was going to lose the popular vote and win
the Electoral College, and how they were going to fight it
tooth and nail, I vowed then that I would fight for Bush if
he won the popular vote and lost the Electoral College - solely
because I believe in the people's will, even if I disagree
with the people's choice. THAT is what it means to have ideals
and stand by them. THAT is what it means to say "Hey,
this is the right thing to do. I will not violate my ethics
simply to win a damn election."
Everytime I hear another Republican-style attack against
the Greens, and yes you people DO sound like republicans when
you attack the Greens (calling names and other immature crap
simply because of a difference of a opinion), which usually
include "Well Shrub has proven that there IS a difference
between the Dems and Repugs!" I think, "Silly person, you're
proving with every word that the gap between the Dems and
Repubs is closing, by being so goddamned closed-minded and
intolerant that you resort to petty attacks."
I am utterly disgusted.
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