I Am Going to Barack the Vote

I have been silently watching the Republican National Convention all week and following the Sarah Palin controversies blow up in the news. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more angry in my life. I remember when John Kerry was running against George W.Bush in 2004. I remember thinking, things will change, finally things will change! But they did not. I was pretty sure the good people of this country would realize what an idiot Bush was and not elect him for another term.

I was wrong.

I don’t want to really get into specifics, mostly because I don’t have the energy on a Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. to discuss the shortcomings of Sarah Palin, how utterly wrong John McCain is and how much I hate FOX news. I just want to point out a few things

For one, it is so upsetting to see the crowds at the RNC, cheering for the utter bullshit that is McCain and Palin. Look across the people there, all you see is a sea of white. A sea of white with cowboy hats on cheering on ideals that are so misconstrued it’s ridiculous. Bring on the guns, take away a woman’s right to choose what she wants to do with her own body, tell everyone that the Democrats want to raise taxes and take your money away from you. This is their message.

There are two demographics who round out the general Republican population: Rich white people and poor white people.

Rich white people are voting for McCain because the Republican party has convinced them that the Democrats plan to screw them out of their hard earned money. Poor white people are voting for McCain because the Republican party has convinced them that some kind of terrorist attack is so imminent, that the only person who can protect them from it is a 72-year-old man who doesn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shiite.

There is a montage right now playing at the RNC showing the September 11th attacks, the Oklahoma City Bombing and other horrific events. This is how Republicans work. They convince people to vote for them by instilling fear. Fear of attacks, fear of people taking away their rights and their land. Fear of everything outside of the boundaries of the U.S.

I feel so sorry for all those people who actually believe in the ideals that McCain, Palin and others are perpetuating. I feel angry, but mostly I feel sorry, because there is no way to reason with a Republican. If they happen to think that Apples are purple, no one on God’s green earth can convince them otherwise.

Senator Graham of South Carolina is at the convention right now, spewing the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard. “Victory in Iraq,” “Barack Obama doesn’t get it,” “we cannot afford to lose,”  “We’re going to win this war.”

I feel nauseous. I feel so nauseous that people like him have convinced crowds that Iraq is about winning or losing. Tell me, have any one of those people ever met anyone living in the Middle East? Do they know where Iraq is? Do they understand that the people of that country are living like second class citizens.

This election is not only important to the people of this country, but to the people of the entire world. Everyone is looking and observing, trying to see what move we’ll make next. Dooce said it best:

I get the feeling that people around the world are looking at this election as a gauge to see if America is finally ready to wake up and realize that we are not the only country on this planet. They are waiting to see if we are going to put yet another fundamentalist loon in charge of public and foreign policy, someone who doesn’t think that global warming is in any way caused by humans, so screw the rest of you who live here on this planet, we need that cup of oil with breakfast in the morning.

To my readers who do not live in America, who are not American, please know that there are so many of us here who are disgusted with what we have let happen in the last eight years and are doing everything we can to ensure that it stops. We are just as scared as you are of those around us who have their fingers in their ears and are going LA LA LA LA LA in an attempt to convince themselves that their behavior and their policies are not in direct violation of the teachings of the God they thinkput them in power.

Perhaps when I’ve calmed down, I might be able to come back and explain my positions and feelings as eloquently as she has, but for now, I feel angry. At the same time, I feel hope. I feel hope that the majority of this country will come to their senses and realize how desperately we need Barack Obama. I wish Tim Russert were alive to see all this.