Yesterday, I had a big knot in stomach about this whole election thing. I took my friend Ana to go vote, and jokingly she said that she was gonna change this year and vote Republican. Knowing Ana, I knew that this was clearly a joke... right? At lunch, we both were saying that we were hoping that that evening would not turn out to be like 2000. In my opinion, it seems like it turned out a whole lot worse. I went to sleep hoping that Ohio would come to their senses and swing into the Kerry direction. But this morning, I found that such was not the case. Kerry conceded and we have four more years of Bush. I was thinking, "How could Kerry take a knee during a time like this?!?! He is sooo letting us down!" I went to work, and I swear it seemed like someone must have died. Everyone has already gotten a mental picture of how tough our fight(s) are going to be for the next couple of years. What went wrong? What just happened here? I've heard countless stories of how people were still apathetic about voting, or in extreme cases, how staunch Dems decided to supporter Bush. Huh? Am I dreaming??? On my way to work a few days prior, I saw a few pseudo-liberal banners hanging from overpasses. One said "Make Love, Not War." But as I got closer, it read Bush '04. Wow.
All day long, I was chatting with folks about this. It couldn't help but come up in conversation, as this affects us all on so many levels... personally, professionally, academically, etc. Initially I was thinking, "Damn, we are all screwed. Please get me on the fastest flight to Canada." I mean, we have a Republican president, a Republican majority Senate, and if you are so fortunate, a Republican governor. A situation that seems insurmountable. But one of my chat buddies told me something pretty poignant. That it's just more of a time for us to dig in and not run. I like that. We still must battle on, but as Dems, we really need to get our act together. It's time to do like the Transformers and create our own Megatron.
Tonight in class, we went around the room talking about how the election affected us and our practicum. All day, I have been going through a myriad of emotions, but this discussion made me pissed. This weekend, I saw a story on "60 Minutes" about soldiers that are not adequately protected. Many are asking their family to send them bullet proof vest and helmets to protect them as they fight, as they are not provided these items. Or that they have to patch up their vehicles with ply wood as they fight in high risk areas. It boggles my mind. I cannot help but to think about how some of my friends and family are fighting in this war. And for what? And I cannot help but think about the countless families that are affected by all of the death and injury as a result. It just really pisses me off. I told my friend John that all those folks that supported Bush, they should be responsible for his dirty work and clean up. Let them explain to some soldier's family how come he's not coming home for Christmas, or ever because he has to fight or died in this war. Or explain to this family how they are going to have to deal with their son's or daughter's mental, emotional, and physical injuries. Let them tell some single mom that she is about to get kicked out of her house. Or that a father that is trying to provide for his family that he is going to lose his job, as a result of budget cuts. Of all the sucky things that have resulted from this election, I hope that those that caused it are prepared to swallow. Sorry for the harsh analogy, but that's how much of a travesty and how nasty this is.
Republicans have the nation on lock, seriously. In policy class, we were talking about following the paper trail. Who's funding who and why. The actions of pharmaceutical companies are almost as bad as the tobacco industry. We talked about how a major company (Pfizer) sponsored various events during the Republican National Convention. How they flew Gov. Terminator to NY so that he could deliver his speech. And you wondered why the low cost prescription drug initiative died here, eh? Did you know that for every dollar the Kerry campaigning got from pharmaceutical companies, Bush got two? Tonight, John also told us how the military is looking for 40,000 civilians to provide services that are needed to win the war. Guess what one of these needs are? Public Health professionals. I'll be damned. Why do I have to fight for something I didn't ask for? Where is the democracy in that? One things is for certain, this is not a time for Dems to cower in a corner and apply that "I'm just a housewife" mentality, as our teacher Roma would say. In other word, no more excuses! We gotta fight like never before. It's time that we get our acts together and take back what is ours: our rights, our voices, our futures, our lives!
