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I Gave
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I made my first Presidential contribution in my entire life. I gave $250 to Barack Obama to give him a boost into the White House. I didn't do it because I believe he is the most electable candidate -- I did it because I think he is the only candidate with any real integrity left. And he has tons more "Experience" than our sitting two term President.
I am not guaranteed to get a President for my money. But if I don't, at least I get to talk about how stupid, self interested, cynical and bitter you people are who sit there and talk to each other at coffee shops about what this country needs. I actually did something -- and when you pick some stupid, old white guy to keep the war going, and going, and going, I get to say for the next eight years of entrenched, bloody, pointless conflict that I did something more than the nothing I did the previous forty years of being around when things went bad.
Just talking about liberal beliefs as a Californian means less than nothing because the people we're working against are mining the ignorant dirt farmers of those big flat square states where they have to drive 200 miles to the nearest tavern and 75 miles to the nearest white supremacist camp. To out shout the people who are continuing to exploit and mis-serve this country (and whatever countries we exploit or invade towards that end) takes more than words, it takes money.
So if you are working on food stamps, please, don't send money. But if you are sitting on your ass for over $30 an hour or burning stock dividends while you drink daquiris on some tropical paridise, coff up some cash fro someone who really means what he says, and if you think there's someone other than Obama out there who qualifies, by god give them your money; but don't think that your vote matters -- because this is about power, and the only tangible form of power that matters is money.
Please, if you think your contribution to NPR is enough to make a difference, remember that a Medium is not the final word in social change; if NPR hasn't motivated you to move some money towards people who are actually doing things, you don't matter, and if NPR can't convince you to do things with your money that matter to the larger world, it's not working and you should take your pledge money and do something useful with it.
There may not be another election in our lifetime that matters as much as this one. (Other than the last two, which are done and gone.) Caring now is a lot more meaningful than complaining later. And as someone who is prepared to do a lot of complaining later, I feel my money has been well invested.
As Bill Clinton said on the Daily Show, there are a lot of good candidates running. Mostly on one side, but you really have a luxury of options. However you only have one who's unequivocal on the war, and if you can equivocate on this war, how can you really claim to have any real voice that has not been compromised?
The only other person that is unequivocal about this war is John McCain, and he's unequivocally for it. I do not agree with his position, but by god, he has one and he's defending it; the remaining candidates still dicking around about what should be done. He will if anything push more resources out the door and while that might actually work, if that's not what you think should be done, Barack is your only option.
I think his strength can be measured by the fact that his worst weakness is his youth and "inexperience" and frankly those words come out of a candidate that reminds me way too much of a very tired whore; so if you in your daily life seek out the most expereinced prostitutes that you can find, by all means, vote that way too. I am not saying that Hillary is evil or "a bitch" because frankly, I'd rather have an evil bitch in the office than an idiot man-child like our current President. I'm just saying, she plays the political game to win, and anyone that invested in winning can be themselves played.
The best example of this is Kennedy, who fenced on Civil Rights because even after being elected he was afraid of losing his base. (Really -- look it up.) So, when it comes down to it, Kennedy both missed the ball on Civil Rights and started the Viet Nam War, as well as coming as close to pushing the button as any Predisent in history ever has, yet somehow, is remembered as being great. Like Hillary he cared about things, was brilliant and was very experienced, but he was a product of the same machine that produced the Nixons and Bushes.
If we are to free ourselves from that machine, this is our first and probably last chance. Don't miss it.
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