The Bart Simpson Class Election Cautionary Tale- A PSA

[Proud Liberal Dem]

For those who remember (and even those who don't) the classic Simpsons episode (from the first or second season?) when Bart runs for Class President but loses, it would behoove everybody here to remember how in that particular episode Bart was steamrolling his opponent (Martin) in terms of popularity and appeared poised to win by a large margin only to LOSE in the end because NOBODY (not even Bart) showed up to actually vote. Consequently, Bart lost the race against Martin by a vote of 2-0. Why? Because everybody (including Bart) were so SURE of his impending victory that nobody felt like they had to bother to vote. BIG MISTAKE.

As far as WE are concerned:

While I completely understand (and share to some extent) the euphoria about the high likelihood that Obama will win the election on November 4, we should nevertheless remind mindful of the full extent of all of the vile and despicable forces we are up against and NOT rest on our proverbial laurels. Of course, it is REALLY hard NOT to be euphoric or feel great about our recent successes with Obama/Biden given the the last two elections and our overall disappointment with the Democratic Party over the last few years. BUT we need to make damned sure that all our euphoria and good feelings about this election do NOT lead us into a state of complacency about the outcome. While there do not appear to be any apparent scenarios in which McCain/Palin are going to suddenly start surging ahead in the polls, we still have 20+ days left in the race and NOBODY knows what might happen between now and then.

Thankfully, the Obama campaign (correctly) does NOT see this race as being "over" officially until November 4 and appears to be continuing on with their operation as usual. However, it is incumbent upon the rest of us as well to keep fighting against the Republicans and their sleazy tactics (including election fraud and voter suppression) and ensuring that the lies that they propagate are swiftly and forcefully countered with the truth, as well doing everything we possibly can to keep the corporate media at least reasonably honest and fair (although IMHO they're doing a much better job this election cycle than in previous ones).

And, for pete's sake, make sure all the new people that have been signed up to vote actually get out to vote and do what you can to help them get to the polls on election day. Oh, and course, make sure YOU actually vote too!

REMEMBER:

UNTIL ALL THE VOTES ARE COUNTED AND OBAMA IS OFFICIALLY DECLARED THE WINNER ON ELECTION NIGHT NOTHING IS CERTAIN!!!!!