A diarist I respect to the moon and back,
Maryscott O'Connor, wrote
a diary the other day stating that "she would not vote for Hillary Clinton" were she to become the Presidential nominee in 2008.
Maryscott... and others... have eloquently spoken of being tired of always having to choose between a repugnant Republican and an only slightly less repugnant Democrat... the "lesser of two evils."
Without getting into Hillary Clinton specifically... she's not my top ten candidate either but we can start having that fight in a couple of weeks... please let me explain why... when the primaries are over... I'll take the lesser of two evils every time out.
I have a close friend who will start to be effected by Huntington's Disease sometime around 2020.
Huntington's disease (HD) results from genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells, called neurons, in certain areas of the brain. This degeneration causes uncontrolled movements, loss of intellectual faculties, and emotional disturbance. HD is a familial disease, passed from parent to child through a mutation in the normal gene. Each child of an HD parent has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the HD gene. If a child does not inherit the HD gene, he or she will not develop the disease and cannot pass it to subsequent generations. A person who inherits the HD gene will sooner or later develop the disease. Whether one child inherits the gene has no bearing on whether others will or will not inherit the gene. Some early symptoms of HD are mood swings, depression, irritability or trouble driving, learning new things, remembering a fact, or making a decision. As the disease progresses, concentration on intellectual tasks becomes increasingly difficult and the patient may have difficulty feeding himself or herself and swallowing. The rate of disease progression and the age of onset vary from person to person. A genetic test, coupled with a complete medical history and neurological and laboratory tests, help physician's diagnose HD. Presymptomic testing is available for individuals who are at risk for carrying the HD gene. In 1 to 3 percent of individuals with HD, no family history of HD can be found.
That's the doctory version.
The version I think of is my friend forgetting how to walk... go to the bathroom... his tongue involuntarily jutting in and out... his muscle control gone...
And more importantly then all off that, his increasingly limited ability to interact with his fantastic wife and his now two-year-old son.
The only hope for curing or limiting the effects of Huntington's disease is in stem cell research.
The only hope for the kind of commitment to stem cell research that will yield results before 2020 is electing Democrats to the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Presidency.
And that's it: Game. Set. Match.
Look, I'm not suggesting I'm a single-issue voter, but the lesser of two evils is INFINATELY less evil then (in almost all cases) choosing the candidate with the R next to his/her name or sitting on my hands and not voting.
And so...
1) In the primary season, I fight like hell for my guy or girl no matter how unlikely it might be that my guy or girl can win that primary or even win the general election.
(See me and Marcy Winograd vs. Jane Harman in CA 36.)
This is my chance to avoid ever having the "lesser of two" evils discussion; my chance to make the party in my image.
2) Once the primary is over, I fall in line behind the Democrat, because in ALMOST ALL CASES (not all) that Democrat gets me one step closer to the very simple reality of a better world for those I love.
We live in a country with a two party system. In most cases it's D or R.
3) I choose not to fight tomorrow's battle when today's battle is still at hand if there's even the remote possibly that tomorrow's battle might cause me to lose today's.
The clock is ticking.
2020 gets closer every day.
If I don't help get a Democratic House and Congress this year... a Democratic President in 2008... if the religious right continues to be pandered to by protecting the blastocyst from bogymen doctors who are doing the devil's work of trying to make sure my good friend can shoot hoops with his son well into the year 2030... then what the fuck am I doing?
(Crossposted from www.myleftwing.com)