We are coming down to the crunch! Clearly, most all of us are hoping for good things to happen.
Yes, this is yet another diary calling for that party vote, why below the fold...
(The point of this isn't to be lofty. It's to say, "It's ok! Me too, dammit!)
From the comments: "It's insulting" Here's the truth. It's not. The opinion I have expressed here is advocacy. Agree or not, I'm not forcing anybody to feel, or do anything. Know that, be secure in who you are, and do the civic duty of discourse, just as I am.
Meip and I had a brief chat last night. Diaries like that, sometimes spark some interesting thought.
Well, hers did.
I happened to be thinking about the changing social politics of up and coming generations. Truth is, they are increasingly focused on whether or not other people present as who they actually are.
There are a lot of dynamics in play to potentially explain that, and I'll just lead with a couple:
- The more connected we are, the more difficult it is, or more precisely, the higher the cost associated with managing lies.
- A lie, compartmentalized our state of reason into that which is who we are, and that which is associated with the lie.
Texting, social networking, phones everywhere, and other tech to come, means we can be connected in ways and in amounts that are a very serious step up from the norms seen in the past.
Additionally, the rise of many to many, and inexpensive one to many communication has changed the game on media for good. Whether that is good or bad remains to be seen in the longer term. That it simply is, should not be questioned at this point.
I'm voting a full ticket because I don't want to give regressives any momentum or validation. I sure as hell don't want to empower those fuckers either. Times are hard enough.
So, does that impact my principles? Am I being a political whore, selfish, not true to my ideas?
Let me submit this to those people, who have told me voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil:
It costs too damn much to stand for purity. Seriously. This all comes down to both a personal and a very real financial cost. If we are to live under a law that says money is speech, then we also need to put money on the table regarding these things and see where it leads.
And that's connected to being real, as opposed to being fake.
Truth is, my cost and risk continues to escalate, and it's painful. I'm generally not a happy camper, and am going to the mat every damn month trying to just keep up the family and the basic obligations we have to bear. Adding to that isn't acceptable to me.
Adding to that takes time away from my advocacy efforts, my ability to contribute to causes and people I believe are worth it, and from my time to just do, love, be who I am.
A hard look in the mirror reveals I'm just not a bad guy. Truth is, I'm probably about 10 percent evil, not serial killer evil, but deffo mess with the people in the grocery line evil, or tweak the neighbors for the simple entertainment evil. They will live, as will I. :)
You know the up and coming people hate that kind of zero tolerance shit, and they are faced with it all over the place. Absolute hard line, stupid ass, "Zero Tolerance" for whatever it is. Tough on crime right? Tough on personal responsibility right?
Well, doesn't it suck that every "Zero Tolerance" rule I've ever encountered suffers from some awkward exception that's perfectly legal, possible, practical, and ethical? That really puts a cramp in my ass, in a fashion not unlike the classic, "Never Say Never".
Honestly, that's a fools game, and part of being real is owning up to that, recognizing idealism for the good influence it is, while at the same time being a realist in terms of personal cost and risk.
Quite simply, one has to pick their battles, or they end up with a life of war. That's as true right now as it ever was, and most importantly, it's going to be true going forward in the future, up to and through the time when we all are dead, buried, and ideally watching the drama from our vantage point in the after life.
(hope I get a good seat)
So, I'm gonna vote that ticket, and there are gonna be some asses on it, and they will probably pass or vote on some policy that I am absolutely opposed to. What does that really mean?
Well, if one is posing as some hard-liner, that's simply unacceptable, right? Some issues are sacred, not to be touched, and so on, and on...
But what if that's not possible and practical? What does one do then?
Squat, that's what, and we all live through it, we all sleep at night, and we all wake up the next morning wondering how we can fix it, and the circle of life rolls on as it always has.
Sue me then. I'm just not fucking pure. I won't ever be, don't think I can be, and I don't know ANYBODY that is.
That's real. That's the kind of real that doesn't cost much, and it's the kind of real our up and coming young voters can identify with far more than the fucked up, false choices we are handed every cycle.
So, are you real, or just a poser?
That's what your vote is all about. If you need to pose, and 'stand for what's right', then explain to me how not voting, or voting for some ass, or for some idealistic fantasy candidate actually isn't just voting for what's wrong?
You know the regressives don't have this problem, right? They are going to vote for the party, taking the good and the bad, because they are, for better or worse, 100 percent real about it. Many of them are racists, theocrats, dumb asses, corporatists, bigots, and down deep they know it, and would much rather degrade the state of things, in the hopes they come out of it looking better, not worried about the little things like purity.
That's reality, and I don't think we are a whole lot different in concept, but for one little difference:
We are supposed to be about US, you know, "we the people", not "us the idealists", and we are not selfish, we are tolerant, and we are all about the right things happening for the right reasons, the common good, so how come this is such a problem then?
Is it that lofty expectation getting in the way? Fear that good friend we've all made high statements to, might find out that we are really just all cogs in the wheel, ordinary, just trying to find a way through?
God, I hope so, because when it's that simple, it can be fixed right now.
Trust me when I say it's not going to change your life to vote that ticket. Nobody even has to know, but you of course. You will still sleep at night, and all the other things we expect, want and need each day.
Just get real, vote the thing, advance the party, and let's get together on the other side, driven by the ideas, but not enslaved by them and the cost of owning up to them, being the solid, worthy, passionate people we are.
I can't afford "Zero Tolerance" politics. Can you? Really?
Our up and coming generation is more worried about whether or not we present as who we are than they are about who we actually are. Think about that, and what it means. Think about that, and read some stories about who others are, the choices they made, the lives they lived, and realize we are all the same, imperfect, and that being that way is perfectly ok.
Nobody is pure. It costs too damn much. It costs me too damn much, and I feel better having said it.
If you get this far, there are options! We can change the game, we can push back in new ways, and there is power in the people beyond that vote. Let's build those out after this election, and give those people, who struggle with the shitty choices, some options, a time line, and a vision they can better buy into. That starts with the understanding that they are, in fact, shitty choices. It ends with us doing the work to improve those, as a means to our end. Join me in that particular fight. I think it's going to be great.
Vote the party, build the movement, sacrifice in the here and now, to prosper in the future. Life it so short --too short to beat ourselves up over forced choices.