By DONNA J. VOLATILE
It is now the morning after, the morning after, and Kerry supporters should be moving from mourning into anger as the ice cold splash of reality begins to settle in.
Your guy lost, plain and simple but was he really your guy to begin with?
Most of the people who got behind Kerry were people vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq and the use of pre-emptive strikes. Most of you are caring, thoughtful and intelligent people who truly wanted to make a difference. Yet, in mass you got behind a man who didn't represent your ideas and values, a man who couldn't define himself or differentiate himself from his opponent, a man who supported the invasion of Iraq and continued to do so throughout his campaign. Was Kerry really your guy?
All of you claimed you wanted regime change! Some of you really believed your guy would be capable of saving the country by implem! enting real change but many of you got behind Kerry because anybody would be better than Bush.
Hey, don't feel too bad, you were in some pretty good company! You had a wagon load of intellectuals, progressives and even some down right radicals that climbed on board the same bus. You all fed into the fear factor, not the Republican one, spewing trumped up terror alerts and threats but rather the one put forward by the Democrats: DON'T VOTE FOR NADER OR ELSE!
The Republicans cleverly played the fear factor and the terror card but the Democrats were equally duplicitous and devious in their political maneuvering. I wonder if it ever occurred to any of you just how un-democratic the democrats truly were throughout the course of this election? The Democrats didn't promote democracy, they impeded it and in the end, they decimated the third party alternative and spent billions of dollars doing it.
Regardless of whether! or not the Bush cartel stole yet another election (and there is plenty of evidence to suggest they did...), you backed the wrong horse. A chimpanzee was able to figure out a Diebold electronic voting machine faster than any of you pushing buttons for Kerry. I'm sorry, I don't wish to be mean. The truth hurts and you've got to hear it, better to hear from a friend who knows that in spite of good intentions you all behaved like naive and errant children.
So, here's the reality, slowly sinking in, as another day dawns over the evil Bush Empire: we cannot change the system from within. The Democratic party is washed up. You were failed by Kerry and by the party that foisted him upon you, against your better judgment.
There was no choice in this election! Repeat after me: There was no choice in this election, only the illusion of choice, more than that, the bill of goods you were sold was the illusion of democracy. Maintaining that illusion cost billions of dollars, like an over budgeted Hollywood epic that fails at the box office, that money would have better spent elsewhere.
Now, those of us that didn't jump on the Kerry bus were greatly relieved and yes, we gloated just a little bit but by the time John Kerry conceded, few of us had any doubts: the fix was in. Kerry caved before they had a chance to tally the remaining votes! Once again, just as in 2000, the democrats didn't put up any fight and instead called for unity. Unity?! Everybody just fall in line, get with the program, let bygones be bygones, let's all learn to get along, after one of the most emotional and divisive political campaigns in our history?!
Well, all of this may have come as a shock to many of you and some of you are probably still reeling from the aftermath but most of us: the anybody but Bush and Kerry crowd, those of us who voted our conscience, not out of fear, tried to warn you early on that this would be the probable outcome.
Okay, all that being said, where do we go from here?
THE OLIVE BRANCH AND THE SWORD
We invite all of you back into the fold but understand, we're not among those who want to reinvent the Democratic party. Those days are through. They have proved they aren't worth another minute of our time. Were inviting you into a new world, a better world. This is a place were we the people decide what we want for our country and who should lead us there. We do not accept the lack of choice that has been imposed on our society. We will create our own choices. We have the power to do that. Out with the old worn out two party system: De! mocrats and Republicans, which now clearly resembles the one party, no alternative debacle.
How to get there? This battle starts today! Dry your eyes, dust off your bottoms and pull yourselves back together! Do not mourn! Become indignant and get ready for the fight! Take back your power! There is no room for defeatism and despair. We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to get busy organizing the third party alternative: the party of, for and by the people!
Do not offer unity to the powers that be, not to the Democrats, not to the Republicans, let us all unite under a new banner, a banner of real choice, one that offers real leadership and represents the good in us all. We are peace loving people who believe in social justice and equality for all! We can make it happen if we band together under one common flag: the flag of humanity.
Every society needs a little revolution now and then. The Revolution starts now!
http://www.counterpunch.org/volatile11042004.html
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