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I'm only going to lay this out in this manner once, so pay attention.
I have two boys--the oldest will be 13 next June. He's not likely to face the draft. He has one kidney and a history of psychological issues (which is something I have my own issues with, but that's beside the point at the moment).
I'd like to see him grow up in a free country. His mother's apolitical, despite being one hell of a smart woman. She thinks that all politicians, like all rich people, are "butt-sucking scum." And that's putting it far more gently than she would.
He lives with her, so she's more of an influence on his day to day life than I am. Me, I'm the distant parent who he idolizes (probably MUCH more than he should).
I was talking to my father about the whole voting machine debacle with my son in the car at one point and my son asked me "why did they do that?" and I replied "because they wanted to win."
His response? "That's not right."
Damn right it's not right. My son, like myself, has an innate sense of fairness that probably means he'll grow up to be a liberal despite his mother's apolitical nature. Her attitude is more of the "if it ain't me, I don't care" variety. She's smart, but about as empathic as your average river rock.
But America's status as anything even remotely resembling a free country is in such danger right now that the vast majority of Americans don't have anything approaching a clue. They've been indoctrinated and force-fed pablum by the media so long that they don't know if they're coming or going.
We here at DU know the stakes as well as any. We know the words that matter. Habeas Corpus. Posse Comitatus. Martial Law. The Patriot Act I and II. Not to mention the Bankruptcy Bill and two (count 'em) TWO ideologues now sitting on the Supreme Court.
We've got a War in Iraq, a War in Afghanistan, and we're making (pointlessly) threatening noises at Iran and Syria while North Korea is thumbing its collective nose at us. The Republicans will most likely do ANYTHING to steal our votes and the only thing we can do ahead of time is plan to vote in such numbers that it's impossible for them to manage it.
If we fail we might as well kiss our Constitution and everything we've been raised to believe about our country goodbye. Rather than arguing whether gays should be able to get married, we'll be arguing about whether they should be killed. Or at least thrown into detention camps where they can't molest GOOD little boys. Whether than arguing whether a Wiccan soldier should be able to have a pentacle included on his headstone, we'll be arguing whether pagans should be branded before or after they're thrown into Christian re-education camps. Whether than simply listening to the RW spout crap about the ACLU, we'll watch the ACLU being torn apart and its members sent to the camps in droves.
Right now there's one thing that matters above all other things. We need to wrest control of this country from the insane clown posse currently at the stick and try to get ourselves back on course toward the SANE side of the universe.
And I'll say this. If I think anyone is actively campaigning to sabotage what may be the most important election in the history of this country, if not the world, I will throw that person under the wheels and never look back.
This is all bigger than one person, or one issue. This is about what kind of country my kids will grow up to inherit... And if by some chance one of my boys ends up gay, I'll want him to live in a country that's learning to accept it, albeit slowly, rather than one that was thrown to the wolves in the interest of ideological purity.
When I find a knife in my back, I become a not-very-nice person. I, unlike some, have never thought a ruthless streak was a completely useless appendage. When you're fighting starving dogs, it's good to have a few teeth yourself.
Something to keep in mind.
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