And no, the fight didn't end with GOTV. It didn't end with clicking on email petitions or calling your congress people. It didn't end with passionate arguments in bars or busses or cubicles. And it certainly didn't end with sad/angry/mournful/thoughtful/bitter comments and diaries on Daily Kos. Thoreau went to jail. Susan B. Anthony went to jail. Martin Luther King Jr. went to jail. Rosa Parks went to jail. Nelson Mandela went to jail.
You don't effect change by voting for someone and then liking a bunch of facebook comments. You do effect change with a massive and committed GOTV campaign, but I hate to break it to you, once they're in office, if they're not doing what you want them to be doing, it's going to take more sweat and work and blood on your part to change that. They signed no contract with you, nor did anyone else. If no one's yet taught you that the world isn't fair then you've missed out on an important life lesson. There's no one to complain to about stuff like this and quite honestly you just look stupid standing around whining.
When people care about something, they stand up. They march. They enlist their friends and family. They practice civil disobedience. They take more than their lunch breaks off. They do more than show up for a safe rally on a sunny Saturday. They face power and tyranny with will and determination. They link arms and stand fast. They get attacked and beaten and they don't back down. They face fire-hoses and dogs and clubs and riot gear and pepper spray and tasers and guns and Jim Crow and bayonets and nooses. They might not always be purely perfectly brave and committed, but they are for long enough to inspire others, and stand up for them.
Gandhi spoke truth to power. Christ spoke truth to power. Martin Luther spoke truth to power. Ken Saro-Wiwa spoke truth to power. Mother Teresa spoke truth to power. Galileo spoke truth to power. Aung San Suu Kyi spoke truth to power. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spoke truth to power. And so on and so f'ing forth. Millions have stood up to tyranny and suffered and died, to win us the freedom we have now. People are doing it now. They are fighting in the streets, they're organizing and mobilizing, they are being beaten and shot and jailed.
For what? Is it worth it? Only if a majority, or at least a significant minority get involved. That's the only way significant change is effected on a time-scale that is less than decades. It certainly isn't effected by a bunch of people running their mouths on blogs, not matter how bitterly/eloquently/poignantly/snarkily they might complain. Because at its core, people staying home and typing madly are not much more significant than people staying home and recarpeting their homes.
I'm sure it's satisfying. And I'm certainly not arguing that I'm superior because I have deliberately not chosen that path. I'm somewhat shamed, but accepting. And i have to admit, I don't understand the people who are complaining about the now like they'd made some sacred compact with Obama and now he's breaking it. You want things different, then fight for them. And no, that doesn't include complaining on a blog. You want to stand up for something than really f'ing do! And no, twitter doesn't count!
For what it's worth.