[Note: There is meat below this Intro sauce] Cue the oompah music. Cite Kossack Diary Rule #3. Then ignore it, as you might the Constitution. Back that up with anecdotal evidence regarding Chaos theory. Then log in, buckle up and see how long you can ride the mechanical bull of politics [intended, thank you for noticing] you've chosen to believe. Everybody now, throw up your hands in disgust or frustration. Exercise does a body good. Get comfortable and focus on FISA as your mantra. Feel the flow of Che [uh-huh] through your chakras. Rinse and repeat.
If you managed to get through that intro, I beg you to accept my apology. For those with little tolerance for sarcasm or nonsense, I am sorry you have left, but I certainly understand. Hey, I even annoy myself sometimes. Okay, often. Like, what does the clown title have to do with this diary? Not a damn thing.
I been around, you know? 57 years, anyway. I took the wild ride in the 1960s, after breaking with parental thought control. It all seemed so easy and simple then. Everything was black and white except for the tv and the splendid psychedelic visions. You were either for The Revolution or you were a Republican. You could totally love Bobby Kennedy, George McGovern, Eugene McCarthy and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the same time, even. As we all know, there is nothing like societal injustice and a military draft for an immoral war to rally folks and inflame passions. If you felt like taking it to the streets all you had to do was put up a few posters around town. Local rock bands called you to ask if they could put on a show. No phone calls, cajoling, begging necessary to get out a crowd.
We were darn good haters, too, and we could focus that on a paranoid, secretive, lying, oath-betraying, criminal President Nixon. We had the mojo going and the Democrats in Congress were with us and we gloried in that focused, collective power which drove the SOB and his minions from power. The only reason we had to deal with him in the first place was due to the corrupt, conservative Democratic bosses tossing Hubert Humphrey up as their candidate. We felt betrayed, I can tell you. For good measure, the Chicago police bludgeoned a lot of good people. Hell no, we ain't forgettin'. I know I felt kind of sorry for Nixon's replacement, Gerald Ford, on account of his famous bumbling and stumbling, despite the pardon for Nixon. Perhaps I'd softened.
Around that time we were forced into adulthood, with jobs and marriages. Jimmy Carter, whom I revere still as a humanitarian and decent man, got elected. Things looked good. So eventually we took our eye off the ball and more or less assumed things would be ok. Mission accomplished.
I hope you know the rest of the story, as it is painful to recount. Some-fucking-how a grade B actor who promised to destroy the government got elected. On our watch, yes. Disillusion and a profound political depression set in for a lot of us. Oh yes, we threw up our hands and said Fuck this shit, I quit!
Since then I've meandered around in presidential elections. Never voted Republican, never will. Went for John What's-His-Name in 1980, as we all knew Carter could not win against the actor. I've been blamed for Gore's fall, but come on, the votes didn't count anyway. I live in Florida, after all. Never liked Bull Clinton, I saw what he and the DLC were doing. Seems like the most he ever did was co-opt Republican policies. Again, I was angry enough to vote for Nader (sorry, I formally renounce him now} to try to send a message to the DLCers. Besides, I felt it would have been no contest if Gore had allowed Bull to campaign for him. Then for good measure I became an Independent. Not that the democrats noticed. Kerry, yeah. Not much fight in that guy, apparently.
Ok now. I'm as desperate as I've ever been. Lets wrap this up:
There has never been a candidate that fully represented my leanings and interests.
I have never supported a candidate who delivered everything he promised.
I hate that politicians in general seem to be in it for money, for power and all the sex it can gain them.
I resent the notion now that I have to fucking purchase back my government. Against higher bidders.
I cannot remember a time when I did not feel that I was voting for The Lesser of Two Evils.
My bitterness toward Democratic representatives continues to grow.
I have, at times opted out of caring about this nation.
I have quit the Democratic Party in disgust. Update: I am back as a Dem. Should have mentioned that.
I wish I could emigrate to a civilized country. Can't meet the requirements, damn it.
Do you recognize your own emotions here? Are you in one or more of these political stages of grief and bitterness?
Apparently I am not too angry, bitter, disgusted and hopeless to reach a conclusion shared by others here. Because I cannot leave, except by extreme rendition, I am going to have to try to reengage so that I might hang on to my precious, diminishing hopes. For me, that means one day, one election, one politician at a time. I have managed to morph from idealist to realist (yes, your reality mileage may vary) by the constant beatdown administered primarily by the guys I know are bad - Republicans.
I'm getting my mojo hand back. I will pony up to buy back my government. I have a clear direction. It lies ahead of me - and you.
Let me get my flame retardant suit on. Ok, flame on!