suburban bliss gone awry.

For a long while, now, I've felt more and more like I need to participate in the political process, that it's my -- job?  No.  That's not quite it.  It's my - duty?  Yes.  Duty.  My civic duty.  As a citizen of this incredible nation, I came around, after a lot of years of active, nonsensical discontent with a system I did nothing about, to the idea the I must somehow get involved in order to see to it that our nation continues to be a place for everyone to live as they desire, not because they're told to, but because they are free to.  Which is why I write for the MOMocrats, and DAMN but I'm proud to participate.

I just can't get over the weirdness inherent in this idea that somehow, because of our freedoms, we're free to not participate in our government.  Somebody, somewhere along the line, sold the populace the idea that we can come home from our jobs, pop into our casual gear, mow the lawn, throw the frisbee with the kids and the dog, grill up some eats, drink some beer, and chill, because they've got it all handled!  That we bought it is what I'm more saddened by, because this recession?  It's got our fingerprints on it.  We didn't do enough to rock this boat, the one headed into ever-murkier waters.

We need to get on the fucking ball, dudes.  This is our country.  If we don't want to see the equal rights parts get tossed permanently, if we don't want to allow massive corporate welfare at the expense of education and healthcare for the little gal's and guy's kids, well - we need to throw down.  Put our own asses on the line.

All of us. 

It's not a fucking right to sit out the game.  If you believe that, you've already lost.

Comments

[Major Bedhead]

Voter apathy makes me want to vomit. Or spit nails. Or both.

[Pendullum]

And it was drilled into to us at a very early age, that we all HAVE to vote...
So many people would die to have their voices heard.
In honour of democracy, one must always have our voices heard and be counted...

[Emily R]

Amen, sister.

[KL]

One of the most aggravating things to me in this primary has been the whining from the HRC campaign that Obama is wining because he appeals to activists, and inspires activism. And activists are more likely to vote.

As if this was a bad thing!

Hrumpf

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

And when it's not voter apathy it's the chatter from the Christian Right (and their other NeoCon bretheren) who whine because they don't have a "perfect" candidate. A true Republican...whatever that is. And therefore...they're just not going to vote. Because they don't want to be wrong. The same people who keep claiming that the sinking ship that is the GWBush administration was the right choice to make...are the same folks who don't want to get behind their candidate. Whatever, people. I'm just glad that the Democratic party is an embarrassment of riches right now, but even if it weren't I'm so sick of the way the RIGHT (ought to be spelled REICHT, given our loss of civil liberties) has screwed this country that I would vote for a chimp in a suit. Unfortunately, we've all seen how well they perfom in office. Not well at all.

[Gwen]

Well, the Right doesn't even have to think about their candidate right now, because they've got the Obama and Clinton Show to point and laugh at.

But yeah: wtf is so hard about voting? I have a neighbor, a Polish immigrant who is now a citizen, and she doesn't vote. What? WHAT? Sometimes I can't even look at her, the irony of her position is so mind-boggling.

[debbie - i obsess]

Can I touch on that issue of your neighbor, Gwen? (Well, as long as it doesn't make you jealous that I'm touching on your neighbor.)

I have worked with a contractor for some of the remodeling stuff on our house who is an immigrant from Romania. He is now a US citizen, but when I've mentioned my voting interests and concerns, he sort of looks at me blankly and says he doesn't know much about that stuff.

I've wondered at it. I've kind of arrived at the thought that somehow the voting process seems too complex, too out of reach, almost an issue of classism, that people who are newly minted citizens aren't worthy, somehow, of participating in the process (and I think that explains, simultaneously, the reason why so many people in the lower echelons of society also do not exercise their rights of participation; they feel like they're not entitled, which is just such a big load of crap that has been fed them, by, again, the right-wing noise machine).

we have to break that machine, man. we have to be louder, better, more clear, less disonant, and most important:

not bent on destroying our country from the inside out, which is the whole idea behind the reicht-wing machine, and it's why Obama's campaign works so well.

oy.

*steps down off soapbox, looks around for a gallon of water*

[Mommy off the Record]

You are awesome. Everything you wrote is so true.

After some of the primaries were over, the news was reporting on how high voter turnout was. That it was higher than it's ever been. And it was still only at like 30%. It's a travesty that people don't get how important voting is.