I can't help but notice that today's diaries are full of infighting and discord, with many self-inflicted wounds (Deaniacs v. Kerry, gays v. Diane Feinstein, etc.) And a lot of talk about insider politics. We need to remember the real stakes here.
I was flying through O'Hare airport yesterday, and I ran across a dozen teenagers in new military uniforms (18 or 19 year old kids) headed off to somewhere. I am 26, and I felt old compared to them, and I couldn't help but thinking about what awaited them. The majority of our military is in Iraq, headed to Iraq, or just back from Iraq, and these kids may be undertaking the assault of Falluja any day now. These kids are the real stakes.
We are talking about scrawny kids with faces full of acne. I know they volunteered for the service, but do they know what they are in for? And who is watching out for them, and making sure that their sacrifice is being made for the right reasons? President Bush?
John Kerry lost, but he lost by a very narrow margin. We lost some Senate seats, but in very conservative states. I don't think the Democratic party is in crisis. With a slightly larger share of the suburban vote in the Midwest, Florida, and the Southwest, and a better turnout in the cities, we will win in 2008. But that's just my opinion, and a digression.
What we need to remember is what we are fighting for, and who we are fighting against. We are not fighting against each other. We are fighting against a neo-imperialist foreign policy, a blatant disregard for individual rights, the destruction of our planet, and the growing inequality within our own country.
And, if some people are angry that John Kerry was nominated instead of Howard Dean, or Diane Feinstein critized Gavin Newsom, well that's not at the top of my agenda.
More than anything, we need to think about these kids that are being sent off to Falluja.