november 7

consequences

I am totally ashamed of myself. Two years ago, after the debacle that was the 2000 election, I vowed I would watch GW and all that claim to represent me and I would HOUND them and make sure they know where I stand, what I want, what I believe, what I think will help those who don't have much of a voice.

And did I do any of that? No. I did not.

And I know fewer people are doing this. People don't even bother to bitch about government anymore. We're too alienated from the process.

And this is what happens.

Did I vote? Yes, of course. But I know some people didn't and for once, I can't say that I blame them. When you're barraged with idiotic, non-sense and often just plain nasty TV ads that are full of half-truths and outright lies no wonder no one wants to vote. When you're faced with choosing between candidates who are spineless, no-platform whiners and self-righteous chest-beating egotists who can't comprehend the concept of representation, why vote?

But really, the Dems need to get their shit together. I find it darkly humorous that just about every Dem I know who is reasonably intelligent and informed can see the problems and solutions better than the party leadership. Check out this post at TUS (scroll down to the long post by Curtis). And see CubicleGirl's take on the whole thing.

So if the last election was the wake-up call, this is the snooze alarm going off in your ear. I know the Democrats aren't going to get their shit together unless the members of the party, the registered voters, start screaming in the ears of the leaders. We have to tell them what we stand for so they can represent us. And hold them to it.

So here's my list. What I stand for, what I want:

1. Continue to secure a woman's right to choose

2. Secure Oregonians' right to choose when they end their own lives

3. Fix our badly under funded educational system. (I'm thinking about saving all my cocktail money and sending it to the school district. Maybe I can start a fundraiser: "Cocktails for Kids!") This includes continuing education for adult workers whose jobs are or are soon to be obsolete.

4. Related to that, attract new business to our region with an educated workforce, NOT corporate welfare.

5. Educate the public about the realities of forestry and agriculture today so they will see that we're losing jobs in these sectors regardless of what bird we want to protect and, related to the above issue, bring them along to the point where they see that the only way we can preserve rural communities is with retraining and rethinking how we get our food and how we preserve our wilderness. It's a basic issue of long-term economic issues vs. short term.

6. And related to that, point out to the radical left that the strategy of making a little bird the center of our forestry issue ISN'T WORKING. None of us are stupid enough to think the issue is that simple. Just tell the truth: We need to preserve forestland for the health and welfare of PEOPLE now and of future generations. PEOPLE are part of the ecosystem, too.

7. And thinking more globally, going to war with Iraq is just asinine. I'd like to know who the economists and military leaders who think bringing a nation of people to their needs is a sound strategy for inspiring them to rise up against a dictatorial leader? Perhaps that's a viable short-term strategy; let them suffer for six months and then arm them against their own government. But after 10 YEARS of poverty, sickness and the complete crumbling of their infrastructure, the people are too weak and tired and bitter to do anything the Western world says. The only thing this war will accomplish is further demoralizing the Iraqi people (not to mention killing many of them), alienating our allies in the West, further alienating tenuous allies in the Middle East, and bogging the US military down in the long, arduous tasks of rebuilding another country. We've barely uncovered all the problems in Afghanistan; we haven’t even begun to rebuild that country. We're falling apart at home! How can we take responsibility for destroying another state and then commit to rebuilding it?

8. And then there's healthcare. I have no idea how to fix our fucked up healthcare system. I know a few things: a) the drug industry is more focused on creating medicines than make money, not help people; b) healthcare is too expensive in part because of the greedy drug companies, our litigious society that forces medical providers to carry loads of malpractice insurance; c) the quality of healthcare is declining because we don't have enough providers. But I have no idea how to fix this. I think it will be very painful. The system will probably collapse before we can fix it.

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I've been telling myself that it's okay that I'm not more politically active. I run a business. I contribute to the economy. I pay my taxes. I vote.

But that's not enough. I need to check out what my reps are up to. I need to email them and tell them what I expect of them. I don't have to sign up for a committee. I don't have to knock on doors. I don't have time for that and I think that's okay. Staying informed and speaking up doesn't take much time or energy.

- november 7