George W. Bush has been an unmitigated disaster for our country, and at the risk of sounding self-righteous, I don't know how any rational person could disagree with that. He has consistently spat in the face of the ideals that made this country what it is, and he has made us pariahs throughout the world. That said, we all have a chance tomorrow to go to the polls and do something about it. My old jazz teacher, of all people, once likened every national election to an organized revolution, and that really sums it up marvelously well. The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they wrote the Constitution (which, if you haven't read it, you really should). Jingoistic as it may sound, the US system of government is the best out there. All of us have probably been frustrated by its bureaucracy and inefficiency in the past, but efficient governments tend to lie frighteningly far down the road to despotism. I think that the greatest testimonial to the foresight of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and the rest of their cohort is that a would-be despot like George Bush has been able to get away with relatively little. It's sometimes hard for those of us of the liberal persuasion to find things about the US to be proud of anymore, but the fact that we have a chance to go to the polls tomorrow and affect the course of world history should be enough to make us all feel optimistic.
06 November 2006
Vote!
George W. Bush has been an unmitigated disaster for our country, and at the risk of sounding self-righteous, I don't know how any rational person could disagree with that. He has consistently spat in the face of the ideals that made this country what it is, and he has made us pariahs throughout the world. That said, we all have a chance tomorrow to go to the polls and do something about it. My old jazz teacher, of all people, once likened every national election to an organized revolution, and that really sums it up marvelously well. The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they wrote the Constitution (which, if you haven't read it, you really should). Jingoistic as it may sound, the US system of government is the best out there. All of us have probably been frustrated by its bureaucracy and inefficiency in the past, but efficient governments tend to lie frighteningly far down the road to despotism. I think that the greatest testimonial to the foresight of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and the rest of their cohort is that a would-be despot like George Bush has been able to get away with relatively little. It's sometimes hard for those of us of the liberal persuasion to find things about the US to be proud of anymore, but the fact that we have a chance to go to the polls tomorrow and affect the course of world history should be enough to make us all feel optimistic.
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