Chaining the Black Dog

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!

•  Tipping back and forth from despair to hope.

  I'm getting mental fatigue from being bent so much!

  Rec it up!

  by ormondotvos on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 10:09:15 AM PDT

  •  I've written 3 GBCW diarys this weekend

    but I have yet to hit the publish button. I'm not sure why I haven't posted one yet, and I may yet.

    by OneCrankyDom on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 11:38:01 AM PDT

    •  Your hesitation is the best course...

      Rather than commit to despair, just back away from the gun, and think about other issues, maybe the ones for the fall elections, like election funding reform, universal health care, and removing corporate personhood.

      Hang in there...

      by ormondotvos on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 11:56:46 AM PDT

•  smiling... and knocking on those damned doors

  for sure... it's what i love about campaign season!

  ciao!

  by pfiore8 on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 10:17:45 AM PDT

•  We have had a major setback and need to get the

  anger out of our collective system. We also need to vent some to move beyond this point. It is so very hard to see the right path to travel down and watch it being pushed farther down the road. We just can't reach it. Most people here will pick themselves up and begin again because there is really nothing else to do other than give up our democracy. I hear your point just understand that venting is good. Better with each other than screaming it at our Congresspeople and candidates.

  by Owllwoman on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 10:37:19 AM PDT

•  Thinking Alike

  Glad to see another post similar to mine earlier:

  http://www.dailykos.com/...

  Thanks for writing and posting yours, ormondotvos. Now, back to the trenches!

  by StrangeAnimals on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 10:47:00 AM PDT

  •  You wrote an excellent diary.

    I commented and recc'd it.

    Good line from it:

    "Hope is not for wimps; it is for the strong-hearted who can recognize how bad things are and yet not be deterred, not be paralyzed."

    by ormondotvos on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 12:03:55 PM PDT

    •  Thanks, and...

      I went back and read some of your earlier diaries...I enjoyed the clarity of your writing, and the manner of your thinking. I'll be looking forward to your future diaries.

      by StrangeAnimals on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 12:32:31 PM PDT

      •  Thanks. I appreciate praise. It helps, a lot.

        by ormondotvos on Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 10:16:30 PM PDT