Accusations have been leveled against "anti-Obama" liberals, pointing the finger at us for the defeat in 2010 and conservative "victories" in Wisconsin. But are they true? Are they fair?
I voted in 2010. Got my absentee ballot and voted in every race.
At this point, I will do the same in 2012, with once exception: The presidential race.
I cannot in good conscience vote for President Obama because he has willingly propagated, supported, defended or simply refused to prosecute, war crimes, Wall Street crimes, and gross violations if the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th amendment, plus the continued, willful and unlawful suspension of habeus corpus, absent any declaration of war or insurrection.
I know that there are folks who love to make the "lesser of two evils" argument, or point to other admirable acts and accomplishments as reason why I, and others who feel as I do, should vote in 2012, in fact MUST vote for Obama in 2012.
I am sorry, but in my case, this is not going to happen. While I certainly applaud those things Obama has accomplished (and as numerous Kossacks have pointed out, and impressive list it is), this does not balance out the negatives. Also, it seems to me that for several of the accomplishments (health care and DOMA), he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the right decision.
I would also point out that President Obama has, by his actions (overt and by proxy), made clear that my views (and the views of those who share them) are irrelevant, my opinion, unwanted, and apparently, my vote unwelcome since I refuse to just "shut up and clap harder".
This attitude is reminiscent of the Vatican's attitude toward rank and file Catholics:
Pay, pray, obey!
No matter how heinous the crime, no matter how many children are raped, no matter how many lies are told, criticism of the church, its policies and the Pope are met by the "faithful" as treachery and disloyalty. I am told that if I want change I should support the institution and its leaders, and pursue a course of quiet dissent to change things "from the inside".
Confronted with that view in 2002, when the Boston scandals broke, I walked out of the church and never returned. For me, simply being in the church lent it my endorsement, and I would NOT endorse pederasts.
Now some folks have just got offended, because I just equated Obama's policies with child molestation, and will doubtless argue that nothing Obama has done equates to harming children, to which I respond, "Oh really?"
I certainly would argue that killing children is actually a notch higher than simply molesting them, and how many children have died in the last two years by America's hand?
And please, spare me the "accidents happen" argument. Please spare me the exhortations to "pragmatism". In politics, when anyone starts talking about pragmatism, someone is about to take it full in the face, and you can be damned sure that it will not be the politicians, or the wealthy.
Leaders lead, and Obama could have lead us out of George Bush's abattoir. Instead he chose not to lead, he chose to stay, he chose to allow the corpse machinery to keep chugging along, with the same engineers to stay at the throttle.
Yes, the world is a gray place, but there are events in our lives, moments in which the starkest black and white choices are called for, choices by which we are judged.
The president and his administration have chosen the dark path, and the only excuse they have is "political necessity".
Each day we remain in Iraq and Afghanistan, money and resources that could be used to help children, are instead spent on the instruments of their deaths.
I will not have their blood on my hands. This my choice. You must do what you feel you must do.
As to "What happens to America if the GOP wins?"
It will get the fate it deserves, the fate reserved for a country whose citizens cannot be bothered to actually pay attention to what the truth is and what is being done in their name. It will go into the history books for future generations to read about, for future school children to ask: "How could they let such atrocities happen? How could they squander so much money on death and destruction?" How could they behave like monsters?