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Hello Bev,
I’m a 51 year-old guy who put my heart and soul into removing George Bush from office. Like thousands if not millions of other Americans, I realize this election was a farce, bought and paid for before a single vote was cast. DenyTheVote 2004 was as much a part of Bush/Cheney’04 as was anything else, and as I and untold others watched in disbelief we all wondered when and if we could ever prove it.
As the coronation was broadcast ad infinitum on network TV, a bunch of crazy little elves on computers who were looking at exit polls and phony Buckeye Terror Alerts started singing “do you see what I see” to each other and started saying “BBV – they stole it” to anyone who would listen.
I knew it, too. I was in Ohio, and I saw middle-class precincts with 25 machines and poor precincts with two. I heard the stories of the magical Kerry=Bush machines, and the phantom counts, validated by a grinning Republican holding a switchblade across the throat of democracy. I wondered where you would be, and how you would fight it. It did not take long for the answer to arrive.
The struggle is simple – does the vote count, or does it not? As we sit steps away from fascism we must find a way to let the willfully ignorant know that their vote now is nothing but a number to be played with – manipulated by private citizens who see a hallelujah chorus inside every little black box. You have chosen to try and prove this, and for this all of America thanks you.
I care little for theatrics, be they on paper or in person. I look instead at actions, at those who not only speak to the barricades, but man them. To those who find the energy daily that I find weekly, I give thanks and watch in awe as they find their place in the common good. Each time I reach behind myself to pat my back, I find hundreds more deserving, and I defer. Each time someone moves us forward, no matter how they do it, I applaud and wonder where I was.
I cannot speak to your methods, for your reasons are myriad and I am sure reasoned. For me to speak ill of them when I sit comfortably hundreds of miles away is a foolhardy ploy, and one that (speaking for myself) interests me not at all. Instead, I will choose to watch and measure my thoughts carefully. We sit in darkness now, and I take no joy in stopping the move toward daylight. You began with a match light in the deepest gloom, and as we speak today you hold the lantern. We ask if it is enough, and we answer that we do not yet know. But we know that we hold a lantern, and that others see the light that before was confined to us alone. There is joy in this, and as we move invariably forward the beam will widen, as the others find their own lights and walk with us.
For now, I offer my thanks as you try and slay the beast. As you crawl some demand you run, and as you whisper some demand you scream. I choose to not demand, but to thank, for I believe to my soul that you act not for you, but for us. Should praise come to you, so much the better. Should you find yourself in the public eye, be faithful to yourself and speak truth. When it happens that others find you wanting in some respects, take a deep breath and realize that those people, like myself, are found wanting as well. As I looked at my reflection this morning, I saw no halo. Take both their praise and criticism under advisement, for there is value in both.
In closing I speak for many in wishing you safe travels in these dangerous times. Should you need help, we are here – the martyr role is not yours to play. When you see fit, open your arms to us and we will come running, many of us, to carry the yoke for a while. If we can’t be there in person, we will work from wherever we are. If we find ourselves able, we will give the dollars that are vital to the fight. We will use the skills we have to further the cause, and while we yearn for swift justice we realize it is covered in garbage, and may take a while to find.
What the hell – we’ll just bring more lanterns.
Thanks, Bev.
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