On the evening of October 22, 2000 I was in St. Louis, Missouri joining two thousand or so others in a chant, “Let Ralph Debate! Let Ralph Debate!” I was 22 and passionately opposed to Clintonian neoliberal policies of corporate globalism and militarist nation building. Policies I knew Gore would continue unabated.
When a Democrat pleaded with me to see how medieval Bush was, my response was that there was no true difference, the only difference being rhetorical. Sure, I said, Bush used conservative rhetoric to energize the GOP base and Gore used liberal rhetoric to mobilize the Dem base, but once in office both would cater superficially to the All Holy Center while secretly doing the bidding of corporate power. I was also in denial as to the American people when it came down to it would vote for such a clear buffoon as Bush. Another one of my justifications for dismissing the supposed Bush threat was, “how much damage can the bumbling moron really do?” I am ashamed to think I used such an argument and such statements haunt me to this day.
It is as if in those dreams which start out ordinary, perhaps even pleasant, and then descend into nightmare, slowly at first and then you, the dreamer, suddenly become aware of the fact that yes, the dream has turned into a horrible nightmare. The first hint of the nightmare came quickly, with evidence of a sinister confederacy was at work to manipulate the electoral outcome of the election. But even this had a certain silver lining for the justifications of voting Nader, since this electoral drama had done early damage to the legitimacy and the mandate of a Bush administration. I returned to my line, ‘How much damage can Bush really do.” Oh the naivety! Had I forgotten the power of appointment and thus the power of evil by proxy? Of course the intensity of nightmare strengthened and threatened to crack the pleasant meadow of my delusions at the point of the Ashcroft nomination, my cringed but still I slept.
The summer of 2001 was not a good one for Bush, it was one of discontent but alas all summers must end but who could possibly have foresaw how that summer would be swept away from under our feet. The power of evil by appointment quickly paled to the horrific power of evil by demagogy, a cult of demagogy insured by a national emergency which gave license to declare a great war that would endure forever and ever with out end, amen. Elements of dissent were quickly bound, gagged and blindfolded by strips of the American flag that the Regime had shredded up to free itself to inflict draconian measures, all the evils ever thought of were unleashed at this opening of opportunity.
On that autumn day nearly three years ago, I was indifferent who won in 2000. Now, I shudder to think what utter hell this regime will unleash upon us if given another four years. For God sakes, I am well aware of that Democratic Party is as beholden to multi-national corporations as the GOP, but we must not be blinded by the reality that there is a very, very real culture war upon us in this country – a cultural and social war that upon the outcome of which all else depends.
How can we seriously work for social progress in the third world when we are spending all of our precious activist resources fighting the rise of the Fourth Reich at home? I beg you not to sacrifice whole generations of human history for the sake of sticking to your ideological wars.
How can we expect to advance progressivism in the 21st Century if our public schools are dismantled? We can ill afford to squander this election, the costs have already been too high. I beg you, all of you… Greens, socialists, libertarians, everyone... this election is in our hands, the hands of the informed activists; the impact we can have on this election is enormous.
People are starved for real information, people are starved for hope, a reason to care, a reason to vote. It’s a matter of getting people registered and to the polls. The population must be informed of the vast evil and ignorance and Bush and it is up to us, activists of all populist and progressive ilk to act as carriers of that message. I call on you all, to work for real change, for progress.
Let us dedicate ourselves to inaugurating a Democrat in January of 2005 so we can celebrate that April at the annual protest against the IMF with a true protest against the ills of corporate globalism instead of Bushist ultra-nationalistic fascism. Let me conclude with my promise that in the next presidential debates of October I will not be on the streets screaming “Let Ralph Debate!” but rather I will be outside the Wal-Marts and public libraries of America giving people flyers on why to vote Democrat and asking them, “Did you hear how much of an idiot Bush sounded like against Dean?” Or Kerry, Gephardt, Kucinich, Graham, Edwards, Sharpton, Mosley-Brawn and, yes, even Lieberman. Join me my fellow progressives of all ilks in this battle cry, “Anyone but Bush, anyone but Bush!”
http://www.deselectw.com
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