hope, yes. hope for not having john mccain as our president, but it it's also hope for the guy who unconditionally supports the terrorist state of israel, extended the patriot act in 2006, is more than willing to continue violating the national sovereignty of pakistan and send more troops to afghanistan, only disagrees with the invasion of iraq for tactical reasons (not ethical reasons), holds the direct company of laissez-faire economic advisors from milton friedman's school of thought, has clearly stated his position against the basic right of same-sex couples to marry, and supported fisa in order to ensure that kids like me may someday look forward to getting their phones tapped by the government without a warrant. I don't disagree that he's the obvious better choice of the two, but nothing will really change until we get our heads out of our collective asses and stop developing a cult of personality around obama. one day he's gonna not be president, or he'll be dead, or something will happen, whatever. the point is that no
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my belief is that he will be a much more effective president than john mccain - which is essentially, what we're voting to decide right now. i'm not denying that obama is, first and foremost - a politician....or that he is imperfect, or that we have a LONG, LONG way to go before our country (and the people in it) are truly free and "democratic" - in every aspect of our lives (myself def included). i agree that creating a "cult of personality" around him (or anyone for that matter) is a huge mistake - that expecting a figurehead to create miracles is ridiculous. but where you and i can't seem to see eye to eye is that i do not believe that large-scale-change is going to happen overnight. you are constantly trying to get people to become more aware of the injustices that exist in the world, and for the first time since we've been alive, people are PAYING ATTENTION! i find it inspiring to listen to 9 year old kids talk to each other about what they think about same-sex rights, or what they think would be "such a cool change" about
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I am a gradualist and don't think changes will happen overnight. that's a misrepresentation of my views. I am just sick of people claiming obama represents that change without looking at his voting record in congress and without acknowledging the fact that protesters exercising their right to free speech were unnecessarily beaten and arrested outside of the democratic national convention, but only the police brutality at the RNC was covered. rights aren't bestowed unto us by the almighty government and its benevolent friends in the corporate world, we have rights naturally as human beings, and neither mccain nor obama fully respect them. so all this enthusiasm is for something that isn't even respectful of people's right to think differently and present new ideas outside of the system, which should be fundamentally possible in a healthy democracy. These past few months I've been told to shut up and been treated by total shit by obama supporters (not necessarily you, but my entire family just ganged up on me at the dinner table,
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Re: on hope.vivantvivantNovember 5 2008, 07:49:10 UTC
however accurate/inaccurate this view may be, i just don't believe that one person's imperfections are enough to destroy a country - just as i don't believe one person is enough to solve all of its problems. i understand you don't believe in this system, but that isn't the aspect that i find cynical. in andrew-brain, i understand that its probably the opposite, as it requires more faith in people's ideas as individuals to expect them to participate directly (and i believe i have always said this). i do, and have always greatly respected your world view, as you often educate me about injustices that exist within our current system that i am often unaware of, including the censorship of important/fucked up events like @ the democratic convention (which is fucked up and wrong). I hope you continue to express yourself and voice what you believe is right (because it IS your right - and im sorry that your family reacted that way), as i have always greatly benefited from these types of discussions with you, and i think others do too . i
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