Okay, I read Pontificator's diary this morning,
http://www.dailykos.com/... and I started to respond to a comment I read by St Louis Woman that got me thinking about the "don't get too excited" contingent. While typing my reply, I realized I had much too big a rant in me to relegate it to just a comment reply. So, hence, this diary.
I don't think I was alone in my grief after the 2004 Presidential election. I had so much confidence in the American people to right the wrong that the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia to be exact, had inflicted on us, that the idea of losing never entered my mind because I had done the work. And when Kerry conceded, I cursed and shouted wore black to work. I was so devastated that I couldn't even watch "The West Wing" because it was too political. I was so distraught that I actually looked up housing and employment options in Toronto. It took a lot of courage and energy to get my ass off the couch and start working again. But I knew we couldn't afford to stop fighting. The Bush Administration has done and continues to do so much damage to this country that I don't know if we will ever recover. But we have to.
So I got my ass off my pity pot and went back to work. I continued my contact with my State Rep., Brad Sherman, and my 2 Senators, Diane Feinstein and the phenomenal Barbara Boxer, (Boxer for Pres. anyone?). I joined the organizing committee for YearlyKos. And slowly my optimism came back. When I saw 1000 motivated, intelligent, active, well-informed progressives in a hotel in Las Vegas of all places, how could I not be encouraged. I went to DemFest and saw the tremendous work being done in the Francine Busby case, http://www.busbyforcongress.com/. I heard Debra Bowen speak about her plans to clean up the elections process in California when she is elected Secretary of State http://www.debrabowen.com/. These are real people fighting the good fight and I couldn't help it, I got optimistic. So what would be so bad about letting me? My point is, we all recognize the consequences, but let's not beat ourselves over the head with it. We can win because we are smart and we adapt and we now have a better idea of what we are up against. So let's dare to be optimistic. It's much more motivating and inspiring and productive to feel like we actually have a chance. And let me be excited because I signed up 3 new voters today. I know that there are 25,498 unregistered voters in my area. But now, there are only 25,495! Let me enjoy that.