For those of us who disagree with a corporate top-heavy America, replete with overturned Roe vs. Wade, blurred lines between church and state, and all but nonexistent middle class, and extreme tax-cut gifts to the rich and powerful, we have often turned to the Democratic party for help.
The Democrat’s final farewell to America was Clinton, and even he wasn’t respected that much. Instead, when moderates and liberals turned to the Democrats to provide us with an awe-inspiring and charismatic candidate, we are offered a dry, statistic spewing geek, replete with pocket protector and goofy, geeky grin, to try and win our votes.
Tuesday has shown us, once and for all, that the Democratic party has failed America for the last time. I’ve grown increasingly concerned with the Left for a while now, as I continue to hear the same rhetoric that I’ve heard in public education, such as “Everybody’s equal, nobody’s different, and we have to protect everyone’s self esteem.” Unfortunately, in America, we can’t simply ignore the differences between all of our different demographics, but we can’t discriminate against them, either. Our differences, our “melting pot” if you will, is what makes America the unique, strong country that it has been known as, and celebrating that fact, instead of minimizing or down-playing it, is where our strength lies.
This party, which bases itself off of old, exhausted principles, holds fast to liberal economics and taxation in a time when financial moderation and complete tax reform is blindingly necessary, supporting a health care system that other countries have proven does not work (sing it with me now, Blame Candada… Blame Canada), and otherwise, just completely fails to address the growing radical middle, of which most of our demographic, the 18-30 crowd, actually believes in.
Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not angry about Kerry’s concession. I think it took a lot of guts to lose gracefully in a time when people were screaming for a fight, therefore preventing an even more hair-pulling bout with mass insanity than what we saw in 2000, and let’s face it, that was pretty hair-pulling. As a matter of fact, on November 1st, 2000, I wasn’t balding. By the end of Bush’s second term, I expect to be putting Jesse Ventura’s chrome dome to shame.
So, in following with Kerry and the rest of the Democratic party, I gracefully concede to the majority rule that is the foundation of American politics. However, simply because I submit to the majority, does not mean that I have to assume a posture of respect. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy who created the bumper sticker that reads “Don’t blame me, I voted for the other guy” gets a giant boost in business over the next four years. In lieu of a new paint job, I’ll probably just coat my entire car with these.
In all situations in life, I try to find the silver lining, and in doing so in this situation, the silver lining I’ve found is that the Daily Show with John Stewart, will continue to be the most informative, hilarious, and downright inspiring news program on television. With anyone else, John would have had a much more difficult four years.
And hopefully, throughout the next four years, this failure of the Democratic party will be the impetus that turns our society into a three-party system. As others join with me, disgusted with the Republicans’ pandering to big-business, strong-armed, compromise-free, imperial military mindset, and basically just being self-serving jerks, and exhausted with the Democrats’ inability to provide a pragmatic solution to our financial problems, provide a candidate that the populace actually wants for four years, and basically just being pie-in-the-sky, “nobody’s different” hippies, the vaccuum for a third party “middle” will finally grow into a burgeouning, viable group that caters to people’s politcal needs and will help drive American politics.
Today, I wear all black, mourning the death of the Democratic party. And of course, since it’s a cool day, a hat to cover my now severely balding head.
Originally printed in The Daily O’Collegian, November 10th, 2004.
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