A close friend of mine has been experiencing some serious apathy lately. I am a big Barack Obama fan and have been trying to convince her that he's worlds better than Clinton and McCain and Bush, and that she needs to have HOPE.
Recently she said something like,
"If McCain wins, we'll live. Just like we lived with Bush. It sucks, but we'll live."
Sorry Kelli, you knew a lecture was coming. :) Here it is...
Yes, it's true. WE will LIVE in the most literal sense of the word. But what kind of standard is that!? Does quality of life mean nothing?
As white middle-class, non-Jewish women, we would have also "lived" under Hitler's Germany, America's black lynchings or South African Apartheid! Should we just be apathetic to the fact that though we have "lived" with Bush, there are tens of thousands of people who have DIED because of his policies? Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and 4000+ American soldiers - none of them able to "live" with it under George W. Bush.
But beyond that (if you can get beyond the death of tens of thousands and still feel apathetic), we need to look at the quality of life that we'll "live with" under McCain. The Iraq War means not only tens of thousands more dead, but hundreds of billions of dollars foolishly spent. Our economy is at a breaking point and many people are already going hungry or quitting their jobs because they can't afford the gas to drive to work. Can you afford $6-7 gallons of gas next year? Our social programs are being bankrupted to pay for a corrupt war. While you and I will survive under McCain (yet still feel a pretty good pinch), many others are going to be losing their homes, their jobs and god knows what else. College tuition will become unaccessible for even middle class folks. People will be poorer and more in need of assistance, yet there will be no governmental assistance available! McCain has no economic plan and is not in touch with the state of the economy - under him, things will get a LOT worse.
What about our legal system? Can we afford to have McCain replaced a couple of Supreme Court justices with young, right-wing conservatives who will overwhelmingly control the bench for decades? Contrary to popular belief, this affects the country in a lot more ways than just abortion rights. A conservative court could further erode social programs, allow broad (and corrupt) executive power, further erode affirmative action, and roll back decades of progress on gay rights, women's rights, etc. I don't want my child living their entire life in such a climate!
Yes, if McCain is elected this November, it's almost certain that you and I will "live." And, it will suck. But, tens of thousands of others will not just live with it. They'll die. This is not rhetoric - it's absolutely guaranteed under McCain. And many, many more will be forced to sacrifice in ways that they cannot even imagine.
I understand the apathy and feelings of hopelessness. But, we MUST not tune out now. We MUST not let them win again. We must have hope and believe that someone new to the game will be true to his word and help move us out of these scary times and into something new and better. We must give Obama a chance. While we can't know 100% that he will be successful in all that he promises, we DO know 100% of all the ways McCain will fail us.