"I don't belong to any organized Party. I am a Democrat"
--Will Rogers.
We joke about it, we have deep discussions about it, we have pie fights about it, but essentially, it's true.
Which makes elections a roll of the dice for us. THEY will vote for a Republican. We have to be PERSUADED to vote for a Democrat.
Republicans will vote for Republicans. Period. Some may stay home, but they would rather see a "RINO" than a Democrat.
But not us. I don't know how many diaries or comments I've seen that unequivocally state that that person "won't vote for the President" or "won't vote for a Democrat unless...". I know the theory behind it. Withholding support--either through a vote or financially--will either make a candidate shift to your views, or the candidate is "punished" by losing. And do they learn their "lesson"? Most run to the right and try to be "more Republican" because "Republicans won".
Many of us were sitting home because we felt "there was no difference between the candidates". Because many of us felt we needed to "punish" more conservative Democrats because they weren't "progressive enough".
And some of us said "think of the alternative" and received the response of "I don't want to vote for a 'lesser of two evils'."
Well, we "punished" a whole lot of candidates this past November. At ALL levels of the government. Exit polls show a massive lack of turnout. Especially among Democrats.
Well, now the chickens are coming home.
In South Dakota, they are making it legal to assassinate an abortion provider.
In Missouri, they're voting to eliminate child labor laws.
In Florida, a felon is gutting everything but his own personal money pile.
In Ohio, they're getting ready to destroy all unions.
In Wisconsin, they are voting to eliminate unions and will call in the National Guard to deal with "any consequences"
In Congress, they are ignoring jobs and trying to take away health care and all forms of rights for women, sending them back to the 13th Century. And we have just learned that Republicans are going to follow Ryan's "road map" and destroy Social Security and Medicare in their budget proposal.
And speaking of the budget proposal, it's designed entirely to line the pockets of the Koch brothers and to completely kill the American economy, just so they can get back into power.
And some of us are STILL saying that "Obama=Republican" or "Both Parties are the same"?
Elections are won by those who show up.
We DID NOT.
And we LET. THEM. WIN.
WHO ARE WE "PUNISHING"?
How long do we think we will be able to survive as a society with these people in power? Do we think we'll make it to 2012?
And if the President isn't as "Progressive" as we would like him to be--what then? Who ELSE will we "punish"?
Elections have consequences.
And the American people are finding out EXACTLY what