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Ah. Ohio.

So, I'm not going to bitch and complain. I'm not going to say I'm moving to Canada. Yes, I am scared what the next four years will bring. Yes, I am terrified about who Bush will appoint to the Supreme Court. However, leaving won't do anything but just let it get worse. No, that isn't what I want to do. I want to figure out what /I/ can do to lessen the impact of another four years with this man as President.

I don't have any ideas yet but there must be something. There has to be a way for someone to get involved and ry to make a difference. I just haven't figured out which way I want to go yet. If anyone has any ideas that don't involve leaving the country, anarchy or a civil war, I'm up for hearing about them.

In an entirely unrelated note, I hate head colds.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

thezzyzx.livejournal.com

What I'm trying to remember today is that if things are as bad as I think they'll be, the Dems will gain in the midterm elections and 2008. If they're not, then that's a good thing right?

It is possible that I'm wrong on these issues after all.

88 was much worse than this IMO because it was such a landslide that future victories seemed impossible.

From:

deqlan.livejournal.com

They have the House, the Senate, the White House, a majority of state Governors, and there's a stong chance they can stack the Supreme Court.

Gerrymandering, blocking election reform, ability to appoint the administrators for elections... It would take a massive public backlash to move them out now. The backlash I thought must come for this election. But no, over half this country is too blind, too stupid, or too greedy to save us from the distopia to follow.

O Discordia!

From:

deqlan.livejournal.com

Get involved in local politics. Run for Alderman. Read up on your local candidates. That's all I can think of in terms of working within the system. At least your state went with Kerry. If I lived in Florida right now, I'd be rioting.

From:

mizkit.livejournal.com

I can barely concieve of Florida having gone for Bush. I mean, I really can hardly wrap my mind around it. If I were paranoid, I'd say those electronic voting machines did their job, all right...

From:

deqlan.livejournal.com

No need to be paranoid. The facts speak for themselves. Find yourself a fact sheet on the voting machines, and you won't be paranoid, you'll be certain.

From:

jeditigger.livejournal.com

I hope you feel better soon. :/

The problem goes beyond having a President like him...it goes to the fact we have a strongly Republican-biased Congress and will soon have a Republican-biased Supreme Court.

Ugh.

From:

lithera.livejournal.com

Well, yes. That's part of it. We'll see what happens. We will see what happens.

From:

cleverusername2.livejournal.com

I think I'll see if Alabama has a local Green Party, if that doesn't work I'll (yessh!) go hang out with the Dems. My grandmother is an ol yeller dawg southern Dem so she would be proud of me.

From:

c-jyd.livejournal.com

I'm in about the same camp as far as trying to look ahead, and hope for the best the next few years.
As for what can be done in the next four years to lessen the damage - my #1 thing would be suggesting showing support for local more liberal candidates. Write to those who did win to express support. Gather signatures for local initiatives you support, etc.
Every minute a future presidential candidate doesn't have to spend defending their turf in Washington is time and resources they can spend elsewhere. For a state that leans fairly leftist, Kerry had to spend a lot of time here, and we weren't taken out of contention until really pretty late in the election. I know having candidates here is cool for getting to see them and all, and it brings in money... but we're also a long way from the core battleground states. It takes a lot of valuable time and resources for outside candidates to come here. If we can find ways to strengthen the people who can go out and stump for a presidential candidate in their stead, and increase the visibility of the political left/moderate left here, it makes a big difference later. In the time it takes to make a visit to Washington and Oregon to defend this territory, a candidate could visit most of the midwestern battleground states.

Write to candidates you feel would have a good chance in 2008 and urge them to run. Knowing they have some support outside circles they usually travel in makes a difference. Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama have both emerged as strong figures who now don't have Kerry's problem of risking being 'defined' by the opposition.

The other thing I'm strongly considering - in the later going in the campaign, a number of moderate Republicans expressed some serious concern over the direction Bush is taking their party. I don't know if it would do any good, considering we aren't in any of their states, but figures like McCain, Schwartzenegger and the senator from Nebraska whose name is escaping me at the moment do have their own following. If they were to get enough feedback from others asking them to stand with more moderate voices on some of the big issues in America, they may be more inclined to listen in the hopes of trying to regain more control in their party, and return some degree of dominance of those who are socially moderate, but fiscally conservative, which I much prefer. If you know of some of these in our state, write them. If you know people in Arizona, Nebraska, California, etc., places known to have a moderate Republican in p a power position, urge those people to write their senator/rep./Governor.

Finally, if you get the chance, volunteer for charities that don't have religious backing. One of Bush's big issues is his support for funding faith-based charities at the expense of secular ones. Women's health and reproductive freedom is about to take a big hit. To remain running for 4 years until we can hopefully draw a more moderate or liberal voice into office, a lot of them are going to need help.

Just my ideas and thoughts so far.

From:

pamc.livejournal.com

Lobbying.

From:

jinian.livejournal.com

I really don't see what we can do about people who don't give a fuck about reality. There is a fundamental difference of axioms that I just don't know how to address. Will billboards that say "'We’re not going to have any casualties' -- George W. Bush" make people think a little, or will they blow it off as more from those people who are against their beloved president?