What can I say, we had are ass handed to us. We lost seats in both houses of Congress, and Bush won the presidency, both in the popular vote, and the electoral vote. People are ranting about electronic voting problems, and voter intimidation. I am pretty sure both happened, they always do, but the honest truth is that we just lost, and looking for excuses and scapegoats is a waste of time.
I come from a fairly political family. My brother has been both a politician and a political strategist. During this campaign cycle I stuffed envelopes, made phone calls, put literature on doorsteps, wrote data mining software for a get out the vote effort. I gave $3500 to various candidates. I won’t detail whom, suffice it to say, they were all Democrats, and they all lost. I wasn’t alone. Democrats showed record volunteerism and donations. We rivaled the Republicans in fundraising, which is something that was impossible according to all conventional wisdom. We should but be proud of what we accomplished. But we still lost…
What am I trying to say here? Am I discouraged? Yes. Am I depressed? Yes, Am I tired? Yes. Am I going to take a few days to relax and lick my wounds? Yes. Am I going to give up? NO!
We started something. We started a reformation, and revitalization of the Democratic Party. We started to turn it into a modern, progressive party. It will take time, and effort, and maybe some more lost elections. But we need to do it. Both of the major parties have major endemic problems that have to be addressed, and we are addressing ours. Every time we lose it delays our progress, and increases the burden we will have to bear, but one day we will be victorious, and we will bear that burden, and we will turn America into the kind of country and culture we want it to be.
It may take years, or decades, but until then I will be giving my time and money to candidates who represent my ideals, and who want to remake America into a progressive culture that welcomes all who can contribute. We may have lost this battle, but the campaign is far from over, and I will be dead and rotting before I give up the fight.
Posted by louis at November 4, 2004 10:28 PM | TrackBackWell said.
Posted by: Eric at November 4, 2004 10:49 PM