This isn't an Al Gore diary. It isn't a plea for anyone to run or not run.
In fact, I'm not really sure why I even still read Daily Kos; all of the candidate/politician/current event diaries droop my spirits to lows unfamiliar to me.
This diary is about me -- an average citizen who reads and gets involved when I can. And it's about my impression of heroes-- how they don't live in mansions in capitals, but instead walk among us in public forums and private meetings.
I suppose I was looking at Al Gore as one of us -- someone who had been beaten down and robbed by the Bushevics -- and that he would be the catalyst to accelerate the Democratic party into true action to save the planet and its peoples. Perhaps I am just a dreamer trying to escape the night.
Here on Daily Kos, the plea goes out for citizens to act and courageously they do: letters are written, calls are made, groups are formed, blogs are created, protests are formed, money is gathered, and masses are educated. Huge waves of action washed the sinking ship of Republicanism out to sea.
What do we find in the flotsam left in government?
There are those who hold their office as commodities of power while storms of fire burn the flesh of weary creatures.
Political gamesmanship plays video controls while bombs explode in Baghdad.
Rhetoric lilts the airwaves as screams are stifled in watered rooms.
Speeches in heated stadiums give token notice to the icy bergs that float our way.
New pledges promote sweeping change while old promises are swept into overflowing landfills.
Pamphlets constituting laws are pulled from pockets while the words remain imprisoned.
Corporate unions gloss the ads of a beautiful earth while the poor sit on porches of broken labor.
Backroom handshakes gesture while banners wave with passioned pleas.
The right removes rights while the left consumes what is left.
I don't see heroes when I look to Washington. Al Gore is not the miracle for which I prayed.
I remain disheartened despite the wave of recent change. I remain discouraged despite the titanic efforts of the heroes that walk among the masses. I remain a broken spirit though I hear a call to heal.
Yet I am glad for the bloggers, for the commenters, for the callers, for the writers of letters, for the protesters, for the Keiths, Jons, and Stephens, for those who continue to be heroes -- because they give me a reason to breathe.
So maybe I do know why I come to Daily Kos. It is to live.