Moving Ever Forward, Hindsight In Tow
Chris and I went and saw Henry Rollins again last night, for the second time in less than a year, his show in Portland last November 1st being a helpful catalyst for our moving here, as we had purchased tickets while we still lived in Spokane and knew we wanted to be living in Portland before his show. He was every bit as incredible and well-spoken, every bit as passionate and authentic, as he was the first time we saw him, the only difference being this time he spoke for 2 hours and 45 minutes straight without stopping once or taking a single sip of water, whereas last November he spoke for 3 hours straight and took one quick swig of water. The man is a performance machine, and his spoken word tour really is worth falling asleep hours past my preferred hour any night of the week.
Rollins does nothing if not incite the rabid intellectual and the political in me, and so it seemed fitting that tonight I found a post I wrote in 2004, the day I voted for John Kerry instead of George W.
It was amazing to remember how many people close to me gave me such (often times, but sometimes not so) playful grief about refusing to vote for a candidate based solely on the fact that he was a Republican and I was a “Christian.”
I was the black sheep for not voting for a man who ended up being completely toxic for our country, detrimental to our foreign policy, and hazardous to the thousands upon thousands of U.S. troops who have been fighting and dying on foreign soil for foreign oil for far too many years.
Here is that post from November 2nd, 2004, the post which after re-reading made me feel that much more proud that I refused to blindly vote for the candidate my church told me to vote for, that I refused to vote along traditional party lines for the mere sake of it.
——————
Today I’ve had five people heckle me thus far about who I voted for in this presidential election. I anticipated playful dissension from my grandma, and received it joyfully. My sister jokingly called me a “heathen,” while my other roommate just stared at me, and then asked if I was just joking, when after they asked, I told them I voted for Kerry.
I even had a co-worker today throw up her hands in frustration after speaking with me and groan, “I just don’t understand how a Christian could not vote for Bush.”
Well then I guess I’m not a Christian? Maybe in her book. And then maybe in all reality I don’t like her definition of “Christian.” Just like I don’t like Bush standing up in front of our nation and playing poster-boy for a Christian leader, claiming his Holy right to lead us into unholy wars, speaking inarticulately and just generally looking foolish.
In my book, I am a woman who heard the same rehearsed stories as so many others attending conservative churches throughout the nation, and then, went out and did my own research and reading on the controversial issues surrounding this election. And ultimately I decided my point of view better aligned with Kerry than it did with Bush. And so I made my decision. My decision. Mine. A decision granted to me by founding fathers admiring liberty and freedom so much as to warrant it worth dying for.
The fact that so many in this mainly Republican state and almost wholly Republican city disagree with me is what makes this country of ours so great. Because they have a right to disagree with me, and vote their candidate, their beliefs, even their whims. Just as I have the right to march right through the middle of them and vote for (gasp!) A DEMOCRAT!
Our nationwide ability to debate politics, to dissent and assent where appropriate, or to remain undecided, our right and ability to vote for whichever candidate(s) we feel will best represent us, well, any way you look at it, that’s pretty damn awesome.
We’ve only forgotten to revel in our freedom because we have grown so comfortable with it.
Days like today remind me why I am thankful for independence and individuality.
——————
I don’t regret my decision for a single moment. I do regret Bush being in office for eight years, and have yet to meet another person, Democrat or Republican, who after these eight years doesn’t regret his presence on some level. That in and of itself, I’d like to believe, is progress. Toxic is toxic, no matter which party you align yourself with, and it’s time for us to vote a candidate into office that is ethically and intellectually sound.
Our country deserves at least that.
When anyone asks me what Obama is really going to change, my answer is always the same.
“I hope everything.”
I like this a lot.
I hope everything.
perfect. just perfect.
Amen.
I would never, never in a million years have thought that YOU, Kerrianne, would have voted for W… so there you have it, I knew you’re a thinker for yourself.
Me too, sister. ME TOO.
And if one more person suggests that I “drank the Obama kool aid” I will throw something at them. I have done my research. I am a smart, educated, thinking woman who stands by her choice.
Ehem.
Raises hand.
“HI! My name is Loralee and I do not regret my two votes for Bush.”
(Now you can say you have met one. I do like being singular. Grin).
I’m moderate-(ish) politically. Inside of Utah I am considered QUITE liberal. OUTSIDE of Utah I am still pretty uptight, I guess. I’m socially liberal (meaning I strongly support gay marriage, health care, blah, blah, blah) but am also a fiscal conservative. I am not a huge Bush fan but I do not regret my votes because I truly feel that it was better than the given alternatives that were placed before me. I still do.
Do I regret things that happened while Bush was in office? Yes. Do I think that things could be handled differently with hindsight? Oh, yes. AND…do I think that the other alternatives to Bush would have landed us in similar situations that would have been as bad or worse? Yes. Yes I do. However, there is really no way to say what would have happened either way. It’s just an opinion and trust me…If you think you got ribbed for voting for Kerry, try being me and saying that you really don’t regret voting for Bush. (It’s about as popular as screaming, “I HAVE GENITAL WARTS” into a megaphone. Hee.)
I wish there had been (In my opinion) better alternatives than Bush but I also did soul searching and research and I cast my vote for someone that I thought could handle it and I do not regret it.
That said? I’M SO NOT VOTING IN THIS ELECTION. I don’t like either of them and for the life of me I cannot figure out why anyone would want to take the job on. :S
——————-
I love you. Very muchly.
But part of me died a little inside when you said you weren’t voting! Totally your choice! TOTALLY, and I totally get it. But voting! It’s such a big freedom!
The adage “better to regret something you’ve done then regret something you haven’t done.” I do not regret my votes for Gore and Kerry. However I would forever regret not voting. I agree with you Kerri. You’re insight, foresight, and hindsight are smart and thought out, not premature decisions at all.
You know where I stand… in the middle, to the right. Fiscally conservative, socially liberal, to be specific.
That said, I am growing increasingly angry that the left has to be so far left, and the right has to be so far right.
I don’t like that ‘Republican’ increasingly means BIBLE-THUMPING CHRISTIAN and ‘Democrat’ means PINKO COMMUNIST. And that both parties are happy to keep it up! Don’t they realize they are losing so many votes in the middle?
I find it interesting that you felt uncomfortable when you admitted to your friends that you voted for Kerry (and in Oregon!!) I find that it is far more socially acceptable to be liberal than conservative. I have to hide, rather fearfully, that I am technically a Republican. I’ve lived among rabidly liberal people, so I have to hide out. I have done so for the past eight years. Otherwise, I will be called an uneducated redneck. Which I am not.
————–
I completely agree with you about the widening divide, and I’m not a big fan of the ever-growing gap between the two parties, either. That was my problem then (the stereotypical party lines that were being drawn for me), and that is my problem now. That being said, I don’t know that I agree with you about it being more socially acceptable to be liberal than conservative. I think that all depends on who you know, and largely, where you live. I don’t think it should be that way (it should be socially acceptable to be whomever you are), but I’ve experienced that as the case 9 times out of 10. I myself come from rabidly conservative stock, so I completely understand. I’ve been called a “baby-killing hippie.” Which I am not.
I should have also prefaced that when I wrote the original post I’m referencing here, after the 2004 election, I was living in Spokane, Washington, which is a highly conservative and overwhelmingly Republican city.
Great post, Kerri. I am voting here in Canada TODAY. It is a hard thing to decide as I think all of the parties have pros and cons to them. I, too, hate the behavior by supporters of both parties (As I Twittered last night).
It would be great if everyone could work together…
P.S. I needed to say one more thing in regards to LVGurl’s response… maybe it’s my European background, but for me, Democrats in the US are still far more right than both the “conservatives” and “social democrats” in the country I grew up in. Does make the choice for me pretty simple, I guess… but it’s interesting what you call “far left”, could be still “right” for someone else ;)
I had a very lengthy conversation with a Catholic voting for Obama about the same thing- he gets shit about the pro-choice issue (which interestingly, he is pro-life).
And w/r/t LvGurl’s comment- where I live it is FAR LESS socially acceptable to be liberal/democrat. FAR LESS. As in, I can’t deal with some of my friends anymore less.