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imomusOn any other day, count me with the contrarians. Count me, on any other day, with the provocateurs, the losers, the indecent, the ironists, the elitists, the outsiders, the anti-populists, and with perverse gods of sarcasm and perpetual despair. But not today. Today I'm not a Momus but a person who stands together with the vast undifferentiated mass of people, not just in America but all over the world, who have a single, simple, fervent wish, hope and desire: that this man should become the next president of the United States of America.
By some fluke, freak, or piece of incredibly lucky fortune, a good, intelligent, sane, enlightened, cosmopolitan and potentially great man has come to the fore in American politics, perhaps as much despite the system as because of it. All the evidence suggests that he will win this election, perhaps as much despite the conservatism of the American electorate as because of it.
It feels wonderful, for once, to be so unoriginal, to be lost in this enormous planetary crowd and to share this crowd's wishes, its excitement, its probable coming delight. This, at last, is our prodigal moment, the moment when it all starts swinging back our way.
I'm not an American, though I do write for an American paper -- the American "paper of record", and the paper the Republicans despise more than any other. I don't have a vote in this election, but I certainly have a stake in its outcome, as does the entire world. At a crucial moment in history, the stakes could hardly be higher.
Like everyone else I know, I like this man. I want this man to win a great victory, and return America -- as much as any single man can, with the will of the world behind him and the wind filling his sails -- to the place of honour and standing and decency it has so sadly and signally lost over the course of these last eight appalling, disgraceful, banal, toxic, tortuous, murderous and war-mongering years, years in which that exemplary Enlightenment document, the American Constitution, has been mocked, menaced and mangled.
I say it without a trace of irony, a smidgen of decadence, or a whiff of doubt: Viva Barack Hussein Obama -- may the land truly slide for you today! Americans, do the right thing and elect this excellent candidate with thunderous certitude and righteous rectitude. And tomorrow, let a better era begin.
By some fluke, freak, or piece of incredibly lucky fortune, a good, intelligent, sane, enlightened, cosmopolitan and potentially great man has come to the fore in American politics, perhaps as much despite the system as because of it. All the evidence suggests that he will win this election, perhaps as much despite the conservatism of the American electorate as because of it.
It feels wonderful, for once, to be so unoriginal, to be lost in this enormous planetary crowd and to share this crowd's wishes, its excitement, its probable coming delight. This, at last, is our prodigal moment, the moment when it all starts swinging back our way.
I'm not an American, though I do write for an American paper -- the American "paper of record", and the paper the Republicans despise more than any other. I don't have a vote in this election, but I certainly have a stake in its outcome, as does the entire world. At a crucial moment in history, the stakes could hardly be higher.
Like everyone else I know, I like this man. I want this man to win a great victory, and return America -- as much as any single man can, with the will of the world behind him and the wind filling his sails -- to the place of honour and standing and decency it has so sadly and signally lost over the course of these last eight appalling, disgraceful, banal, toxic, tortuous, murderous and war-mongering years, years in which that exemplary Enlightenment document, the American Constitution, has been mocked, menaced and mangled.
I say it without a trace of irony, a smidgen of decadence, or a whiff of doubt: Viva Barack Hussein Obama -- may the land truly slide for you today! Americans, do the right thing and elect this excellent candidate with thunderous certitude and righteous rectitude. And tomorrow, let a better era begin.
Re: I'm...uncertain.
Date: 2008-11-04 05:55 am (UTC)You are an idiot if you don't believe that sea change takes faith, hope, and a newly-minted resolve to work for solutions together as a country. It takes a rebirth as a citizen, akin to baptism.
I am voting for Barack Obama tomorrow not because he has all the answers, but because he instills in me that very resolve.
How come you don't get it?
Re: I'm...uncertain.
Date: 2008-11-04 07:15 am (UTC)But you say that you are voting for Obama because he instills within you a "resolve"?
The fact that you advocate a candidate based on such an emotional factor is astounding.
If the man's charisma takes precedence over every other determining factor when you make your decision, than you are an individual whose character is devoid of true strength and conviction.
If your choice is so utterly lacking in any semblance of objectivity, then you are truly an idiot.
Re: I'm...uncertain.
Date: 2008-11-04 11:51 am (UTC)The Punic power fell, because there is in this materialism a mad indifference to real thought. By disbelieving in the soul, it comes to disbelieving in the mind.
Being too practical to be moral it denies what every practical soldier calls the moral of an army. It fancies that money will fight when men will no longer fight.
G.K. Chesterton
Re: I'm...uncertain.
Date: 2008-11-04 03:27 pm (UTC)I just voted. While voting, I realized my decisions on whether or not to [slightly] decriminalize marijuana or dogfighting actually has more power over setting juridical precedence than my vote for president. The presidential vote is one of pure symbolism, but not without importance.
The symbolic importance of this choice hinges on the fact that, as we've seen over the past eight years, were we to wake up tomorrow with a president-elect John McCain, we would be looking at four to eight years of an administration that would be compelled to cater to the most dangerous political faction, the Conservative Christian Fundamentalist [minority], who have been steadily chipping away at the more admirable ideals upon which our country purports to be founded.
We would give our stamp-of-approval to a political culture where lies are told, and only reiterated *con gusto* when we try to bring them to light. We would fully accept a climate where ignorance is celebrated and encouraged, and where the truth simply doesn't matter anymore.
Policy-schmolacy; I am not given to false promises of stump speeches. Obama can "Yes We Can" all he wants, but no we can't fix these problems before us as easily as his campaign promises. However, we can improve the march of what we all hope is not a moribund democracy by electing the candidate who positively reflects the direction we want to go as a nation.
I hope your 3-hour wait in line affords you the opportunity to get over your uncertainty. Your "I Voted" sticker can get you a free coffee at Starbucks, so at least you have that to look forward to.
Re: I'm...uncertain.
Date: 2008-11-04 11:45 pm (UTC)Re: I'm...uncertain.
Date: 2008-11-07 12:52 am (UTC)