sigerson | (no subject)

Clarifying...

I don't think it's the end of the world. I'm not moving to Canada. I'm not convinced that we're doooooooomed. And I'm extremely happy for the gains that did happen, and that things could have been far worse.

I'm not any less angry or upset, either. I've been doing the hoping-for-the-best thing for so long that I want a day of depression and gloom to break down in; then I can go back to putting one stone atop another, one good deed, one person helped, one victory won. But today feels pretty damned bad, regardless of the limitless potential we still have, the power in change and anger, the things we've accomplished and the things we can accomplish.

In spite of all that, today still feels damned bad. And I do the (comparatively) Happy Shiny Optimist thing a lot, so I don't think I'm being irrational by taking a day to bellow.

This anger is real. This sorrow is real--even if Kerry ultimately wins. Today, they're what I can feel.

Tomorrow I will put them aside, shrink them down, and use them to make things different.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

the gains that did happen

What are the gains that did happen?

Well, MA seats were not lost to Republicans campaigning on the anti-gay-marriage ticket; thus, if gay marriage control stays in the state, it stays in Massachusetts. Kerry got a very large percent of the vote--enough to push on, enough to wield in other causes. The international community began to poke us about our own election process (which is painful, but I'm glad it's happening.)

Not a lot, in other words. Mobilization, anger, activity, and a few things not lost. Ask me on a day that I haven't devoted to despair and you might get a better answer.

Zell Miller lost. Barack Obama won. Evan Bayh stays in Indiana.
Still feel like crap.

Craig Benson was not reelected in New Hampshire; New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania went for Kerry (whoops — almost said Gore; anyone read today's Borowitz Report?).