So, I’ve avoided writing about the upcoming election, because I don’t know that I have anything all that compelling to add to what you’ve probably read elsewhere, and also, Ctrl-V-ing the word “arrrrrrgh” sixty-six thousand times isn’t really “writing,” strictly speaking, although it’s certainly accurate as far as my feelings about the current administration. But I do have a few things I’d like to say.

The first thing: vote. We’ve seen a lot of rights get eroded around here in the last four years, and we’ve heard a lot of horror stories lately about the compromised integrity of voting systems, but we must all participate in the system in order to bring about changes to and in it. Find out where you need to go, pack the proper ID in your bag, block off as much time as you need, go to the polls, and vote.

Do not give me that “what’s the point” crap, because “the point,” in case you’ve missed it, is that George W. Bush is an execrable president. He has embroiled us in a war under false pretenses. He has utterly disregarded — in fact, is actively hostile to — the environment. He has damaged our standing in the international community, possibly irreparably. He has announced his intention to codify discrimination against gays and lesbians with a constitutional amendment. He is an enemy of choice, diplomacy, civil rights, the Bill of Rights, the working poor, the scientific community, trees, women, your safety, and the English language. He hates reading, inexpensive medicines from Canada, and a bunch of my friends. He is an outrage, he is an embarrassment, and if I have anything to say about it, he is returning to brush-clearing on his ranch full-time come November 3.

And I do have something to say about it, actually. I have a vote, and I will use it, and you should use yours. Not American? Nag your American friends to vote. Not eighteen yet? Make sure your parents get to the polls. Don’t have a ride? Email me. It’s not the cleanest car in Brooklyn but it’ll get you there. (…Probably. Heh.)

Voting isn’t just about exercising the right to do so, or about “winning.” It’s about not losing hope. It’s about having faith — in the system, in your fellow citizens, in yourself. It’s about thinking that things can and will get better, that each of us plays a part in that happening, that each of us matters.

So, the second thing: don’t lose hope. Bush might win. Hell, he didn’t win last time and we still got stuck with him. I find the prospect of another four years of that pig-eyed jackass and his cabal of amoral bigots so profoundly frightening and depressing that I almost want to move to Canada if it comes to that.

But…I won’t. Partly due to laziness, it’s true, but mostly because the United States does not belong to Bush. He’s in charge of it, nominally, and he makes it look stupid and fucks it up on a daily basis, but it’s not his, or at least not any more than it’s mine or yours, and leaving just because he’s going to make things more difficult really doesn’t seem like an option. I don’t want to give him and his ilk the satisfaction, but it’s not just stubbornness, either. It’s that the United States is full of awesome people. It’s full of all kinds of other people — stupid people, mean people, people who can’t figure out a turn signal — but it’s also full of people who do Meals On Wheels, people who give up their Saturdays to coach Little League or pick up litter at the park, people who use their nonexistent free time to manage book drives, people who tutor ESL students for free, people who run 10Ks to raise money for cancer research, people who volunteer as Big Brothers and Sisters and at soup kitchens and to read to the blind, people who make sure everyone can have a pretty prom, people who found scholarships, people who save literature, people who carpool and write to their representatives and sell candy for uniforms and adopt pets and teeny babies. It’s full of teeny babies, teeny American babies bursting with the potential to do and become something awesome.

(Also awesome: I totally just typed “bursting with the poo-tential” by mistake. Hee.)

The United States was founded on a number of principles, some more noble than others, but I think my favorite one is the idea that, if things aren’t going so well, people can put their heads together and try to figure out a better way to do it. And we can still do that, regardless of who wins in November. I just don’t want anyone to give up and think that, if we wind up with another four years of the same irresponsible, stupid, arrogant, deluded horseshit at the top, it means that we should just throw up our hands and say the whole country sucks now and why bother. Because, I mean, not to get all “This Land Is Your Land” on you here, but…it is. A president can run the country, but the country isn’t just him. It’s everyone, so don’t give up. Take an interest. Start a petition. Go to a meeting. Have a bake sale. Care about what happens. Whatever you do, care about what happens.

Vote. Every year. It’s important.

October 18, 2004

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