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in the drone of afternoon traffic, on a slope that's slippery
I've been jotting down things on my mental list, things that make up for the legitimate first election of this deeply misguided administration. At the top of the list is my old home state New Hampshire, which not only gave the Northeast a corner of solid blue, but ousted its asshole governor Craig Benson (who during the press conference on the State House lawn during the Clothesline Project display during Victim's Rights Week this past April, made mumbling, incoherent remarks about car crash victims, and then turned and walked away when the Coalition director came up to speak (NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence), that being a mere example of how disgusting the man is.
I miss New Hampshire fiercely. And at the same time I don't miss it at all. It's a conflicted sort of place like that.
Second, there's been a lot of (justified) worrying over what Bush will do with the power to appoint up to 4 Supreme Court justices. The security of Roe v. Wade is certainly a legitimate concern. (I'd add Lawrence v. Texas, particularly given the sweeping success of the anti gay marriage ballot initiatives, even in blue states like Oregon and Michigan. No, they're not the same thing -- many more people support the right to privacy than support gay marriage -- but it's indicative of the increased pitch of anti-gay-rights sentiments.)
I do think there's a silver lining there, though. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was reelected to the Senate, and he's up to be chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter is, surprisingly, pretty historically and solidly pro-choice, and has a pretty good history of diverse state judicial appointments, and is pretty well remembered (and disliked) by much of the political right for his blocking of one of Reagan's nominees to the Supreme Court back in the eighties. He's in a good position to provide a check for the any of the more extreme nominations Bush tries to push through, and he's likely to seriously scrutinize any nominee who has expressed anti-choice views.
I admit I felt guilty for voting for the guy on Tuesday, and not just pulling the straight Dem ticket lever, but in this case I think I can be forgiven for voting for a fairly centrist, pro-choice Republican.
Third -- it was a good fight. It could have been better. But I gained a lot more respect for Kerry as the campaign played itself out; like Gore before him, I think he's a good man who would have made a competent president. And while it's a sickening disappointment, and we're all imagining all the diverse horrors that the next four years could bring, and we're certainly entitled to feel that for a few days - I think the worst thing we could do is languish in that state, indulging in self-pity.
I still believe in this country, and I'm still proud of the original vision that made us what we are, even if a majority of Americans scare the hell out of me with how severely misguided or just plain hateful they are. I think a whole lot of God's followers are small-minded and hateful, too, but I still believe in some version of God.
Go re-read the Bill of Rights. Then marvel at how, more than two hundred years later, it's still relevant, a living entity, evolving. Change is never easy and it is often painful, but this country has gone through worse. We will get through this.
I miss New Hampshire fiercely. And at the same time I don't miss it at all. It's a conflicted sort of place like that.
Second, there's been a lot of (justified) worrying over what Bush will do with the power to appoint up to 4 Supreme Court justices. The security of Roe v. Wade is certainly a legitimate concern. (I'd add Lawrence v. Texas, particularly given the sweeping success of the anti gay marriage ballot initiatives, even in blue states like Oregon and Michigan. No, they're not the same thing -- many more people support the right to privacy than support gay marriage -- but it's indicative of the increased pitch of anti-gay-rights sentiments.)
I do think there's a silver lining there, though. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was reelected to the Senate, and he's up to be chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter is, surprisingly, pretty historically and solidly pro-choice, and has a pretty good history of diverse state judicial appointments, and is pretty well remembered (and disliked) by much of the political right for his blocking of one of Reagan's nominees to the Supreme Court back in the eighties. He's in a good position to provide a check for the any of the more extreme nominations Bush tries to push through, and he's likely to seriously scrutinize any nominee who has expressed anti-choice views.
I admit I felt guilty for voting for the guy on Tuesday, and not just pulling the straight Dem ticket lever, but in this case I think I can be forgiven for voting for a fairly centrist, pro-choice Republican.
Third -- it was a good fight. It could have been better. But I gained a lot more respect for Kerry as the campaign played itself out; like Gore before him, I think he's a good man who would have made a competent president. And while it's a sickening disappointment, and we're all imagining all the diverse horrors that the next four years could bring, and we're certainly entitled to feel that for a few days - I think the worst thing we could do is languish in that state, indulging in self-pity.
I still believe in this country, and I'm still proud of the original vision that made us what we are, even if a majority of Americans scare the hell out of me with how severely misguided or just plain hateful they are. I think a whole lot of God's followers are small-minded and hateful, too, but I still believe in some version of God.
Go re-read the Bill of Rights. Then marvel at how, more than two hundred years later, it's still relevant, a living entity, evolving. Change is never easy and it is often painful, but this country has gone through worse. We will get through this.
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