okay my 80 cents on the election:
voting matters. i'm an independent, the two-party alienates and disenfranchises many people in this country and i therefore do not wholely support it. i also consider myself relatively radical (to the left), but i am also pragmatic. certainly the government won't get their hands dirty in the community sustainability actions that matter to me, but there are several significant federal legislations dealing with reproductive rights, gay rights, immigration rights, foreign policy, etc that do effect the rights and abilities we currently have in our country, and creating better policies for many underserved people in this country. while the heads of these acts fall under the eyes of judicial system (which currently leans conservative), having an executive office with a conservative agenda on par or greater than that of the judicial system only jeopardizes the more liberal policies currently in place at an even higher risk of being nullified, as well as making new, improved policies on immigration/foreign/environmental affairs more difficult to obtain. so yes, having barack obama as the next president of the united states is critical in my book when it comes to maintaining many of these rights.
voting is not just about the presidential election. state elections, in many ways, are even more important for people who are focused on their communities' sustainability. state legislature has a stronghold on the civil liberties we have/fight for, as seen in proposition 8 in california. no one said you had to fill out every section on the ballot, but you have the choice, the option, the right, the privilege to have a voice in what matters on a federal as well as local ballot. for a country that is so pressed on it's citizens believing they are owed or entitled to something and if the government doesn't provide it, then it fails. that's just laziness.
i don't think obama will be able to immediately solve many of the issues that plague this country, whether he says he will or not. no one in my lifetime has been able to mobilize, motivate, and engage as many youth as obama has in the past two years--not just youth, or even the underserved, but a mass population. that strikes something in me; to see so many people become involved and aware of politics and community, whether it's askew in liberal policy, whatever, i'd like to think that that would make people more interested and motivated to take more critical views of our societies, our politics, our environments and see what they can do to make it better and themselves. there are enough people in this country who can speak and act within their communities to make them safer and more sustainable that we should be able to create these changes ourselves and not rely on the government. we don't expect hand-outs by the upper-class because it would be condescending, so why use that same "the government doesn't give a shit about us" as a reason to be apathetic?
a great deal of my extended family is republican and supportive of mccain. i don't ever aim to change people's minds and debate on for whom they should vote. however, and this could be said to any person in the united states, whatever view they support, be educated in your decisions. most of this country suffers from ignorance on politics and economics and blindly looks at the superficial, mass media projections. one thing that isn't just in the "i go to a small liberal arts college" but also in the punk/diy/radical community is the wearing of keffiyehs. does it even have a symbol of solidarity or has it lost that symbolism and become purely a fashion trend? this question has bothered me for months, but seems to be more prevalent now simply because there's more capitalist exposure. but let's save that argument for another time.
my cousin believes obama will make the United States a socialist country. WRONG. it already is. surprise! our modern economic (keynesian) endorses government intervention, because pure laissez-faire economics (classical) proved to not work (see the great depression). a market-driven economy is inherently unstable. after the great depression, FDR instituted the New Deal in attempt stabilize our economic system. mccain likes fdr. fdr was criticized as a socialist (and continues to be). however, without him (and without WWII, honestly), our economic system would have failed for a much longer time until the government intervened. public goods, social services, etc. are all redistributive and allocative functions of the government are policies that have until now really kept our country from suffering a massive economic crisis. the government bailed out the banking system. the government now owns part of the banking system. there are socialist elements in our economic structure, and now we actually get to see how many of these elements play critical roles in stabilizing our economy. it wouldn't really make much of a difference who was in charge.
as i sat with my roommates after the announcement was made of obama's victory, one commented that she didn't get why the news harped on "the first black president." i must remind myself that obama will be the first black president, because ethnicity was not a priority for me in this election. i think for most liberal, mid-atlantic/new englanders, even those on the west coast, we forget (or attempt to suppress) that the subject of ethnicity is HUGE for many people in this country, be it in the African American community or elsewhere, a positive or negative factor in voting choice. my friend jen said, "there is so much about having a black role model in the white house that is completely awesome and is really important for our country. tons of my friends (especially teachers who work with low income kids) have been telling me about students and their indescribable reactions/faces when talking about obama. it's not just that he is black but that he is also in touch with reality, at least far more than the GOP dudes." and it's true. in north carolina, more african americans voted on monday morning than cumulatively in the 2004 election. just 50 years ago most african and west indian americans couldn't exercise their rights to vote. is racism over? no, nowhere close. but this election is monumental in our history for too many reasons.
today i am proud to be a citizen of the united states. we certainly have a long way to go, and the regulations bush currently attempts to hustle into our legislature make it an even steeper, uphill battle. still, the people of our country mobilized. change will come by our own hands, as well as the government's.
MONDAY'S RECAP!
amanda and emily stopped by and talked with me a bit about our halloween weekend (which, by the way, RULED! check out photos on my
flickr...) and the election. here's the playlist!
1) A Speculative Fiction- Propagandhi
2) What Separates Us All- Smoke Or Fire
3) America Got It Right- Anti-Flag
4) Kanye West Was Right- In First Person
5) Paragraph President- Blackalicious
6) Divine Intervention- Shambhala
7) Sunset on 32nd Street- Strike Anywhere
8) Resent & Resistance- Polar Bear Club
9) Peace, Justice, & Anarchy- Ryan Harvey
10) Fireball or "What I Learned From TV"- Spoonboy
11) The Yellow Walkie Talkie- Endless Mike and the Beagle Club
12) Can't Change Everything- 1905
13) When Nice People Think Dumb Things, Attack, and Vote- Armalite
14) He Lied About Death- Stars
i totally leave for costa rica in two months.
