It's been excruciatingly painful to watch the latest seeming failure of our elected legislators to do what we think is the right thing.
I can only say that it ain't over yet; that we haven't walked that mile in their shoes; we aren't in the briefings, haven't seen the figures, haven't talked to the other members face to face in the cloakroom, or most importantly, haven't been disappointed in the voters who sat at home.
WE DON'T KNOW! Everybody's a damn expert on things they only theoretically qualify about. Regardless of academic and Founder theory about democracy and concerned citizens, one thing we DO know is that if ten percent more Democrats had voted, we'd be looking at a whole different picture.
So once again, chain the black dog of despair in the backyard, and traipse out the front yard with an armful of leaflets and doorbell the neighbors -- in the parking lot of WalMart, at the Water Park, at the grocery, at church. Make it work! Some of it is our fault for putting our legislators into an extremely difficult situation.
Just do it. The solution is not to give away the next election in despair!
We're living in a nation of spoiled grownups, and we're supposed to be the responsible adults. ALL WE CAN DO is keep working, to show more passion than they have, and OUR PASSION must be based on both reason and hope.
Don't succumb for more than a moment to anger and angst about results.
WE"LL beat them, because we're right, IF we press on!
I'll tell you, this is very tiring, this see-saw of hope and despair. I'm with you at the end, however angry some of my posts are: it always comes down to this:
The most important thing you can do is talk to your neighbors, get out the vote locally. If you want to withhold donations as a protest, go ahead, but keep talking to your neighbors. Don't let the Republican noise machine make you attack your own people!