For? Or Against?

I had the most interesting exchange on the train this morning. There was a woman sitting near me with a "Kerry for President" button on her backpack. She also had two boxes of aroma-emitting pastries, but I wasn't interested (Hah. Yeah. Right) in them.

I asked her if she'd heard many comments about her button. She said no, not so much, yet.
I asked her if she was FOR Kerry, or AGAINST Bush. She said, oh man, against Bush. In fact, she said, she had become an American citizen after the 2000 election just so that she could vote against him this year. "I come from Brazil," she said "and so am used to a certain amount of bad stuff, but that? I had to be able to vote to stop this."

She went on to say that there is a fine line between anarchy and democracy, and she sees Bush heading towards anarchy, where he does what he wants and there is no one to stop him. We talked about "The Handmaid's Tale" and how close to the present state of affairs it is. Then we talked about "Wag the Dog" and how it, too, is too eerily close to the truth of our current administration.

I wish more citizens felt like her. That it is our duty, our obligation, to vote. Every time I hear someone say that they don't vote because they don't like the choices, or because they don't believe their vote counts, I could just pull out my hair. Or theirs. Votes don't count only when you don't cast them. Or if you allow them not to count.

In Florida, in the 2000 election, our votes were disallowed by a state government run by the brother of one of the candidates. When the propriety of this was questioned, we were drowned out by the paid voices of the Republican operatives brought in from around the country. The brother in question was appointed President of the United States, and every time he is questioned, the questioner is drowned out by the paid voices of the right wing media. It has become a crime in effect, if not in actual law, to question the government.

But read your constitution. Read your Thomas Jefferson. It is not a crime, it is the duty of every citizen to question the decisions made by our government. If we, as citizens, do not agree with those decisions, then it is our obligation to remove the people speaking in our name.

Regime change begins with you. If you aren't registered to vote, then go out and register. If you don't want to belong to either of the two major parties, then register as an independent, or a Libertarian, or a Green. Just register. Then, just vote.

Until you do, don't complain to me that your vote doesn't count, or that you don't like what's going on in Washington.