Thank you...

Sadly, there was an annonymous comment on my blog that really needs to be addressed. Sad because it's annonymous, not because it was posted. I'm genuinly thankful that this was said:

"If you honestly believe that then I am glad you are an 'outsider'... you truely don't understand the fundamental concept of American democracy.

Everyone... regardless of opinion, level of education, race, creed or color... should have the right to vote. It is not up to you to decide for them how to run their lives. That is the essential tenet of democracy.

Freedom of will. Freedom to decide your own fate. Not have someone decide it for you because they THINK they know how to do it better.

-TK"

You're right, I was speaking out of my ass. It was a bit of frustration coupled with a good, healthy dose of "one bad apple" syndrom.

I do want to point out, however, that I get the basic principles of American democracy. I'm not that much of an outsider, just a Canadian.

The problem here is not what I get, it's what your government gets. Your government truly does not seem to understand it's own tenets, and if it thinks it does, it's seriously misleading itself.

Allow me first to say that I don't hate America, or the people who live there. Being Canadian, I do suffer from a good amount of "little brother" envy, and so I tease and joke, but none of it's for real. I do, however, greatly dislike your current government and a good deal (but not all) of it's public supporters. I also greatly dislike the sham they've managed to make, yet again, of democracy.

Yours is a country founded on free speech and acceptance, and yet I'm not seeing any. If you take into consideration that I know personally approximately 20 people and two of those were turned away from the polls for what truly seems to be false pretences, that's a ratio of about 1:10 people who were turned away for bogus reasons.

That's not democracy.

When people vote for a party not because they believe in what it's preaching but because their father and grandfather and great grandfather voted for that party, that's not democracy.

When people vote for hate mongering under the guise of enforced Christianity, that's not democracy.

When people vote for someone because they haven't done the research, or have had falsehoods and pretence shoved down their throat, when the most common avenues of learning and education are controlled by one side or the other, when people are too lazy to do the leg work themselves and actually learn for themselves, that's not democracy. When people are told what to believe and what is right without the chance to figure it out for themselves, that's not democracy.

My version of democracy and your version of democracy sound very similar, so at least we have that as a jumping-off point. The place we seem to be disagreeing is where you think what happened last night was democratic and ended the way it ended because people were given the chance to think for themselves. I admit that people thought for themselves, but a lot of those people didn't get heard.

I guess what I should have said is something along the lines of what Cos said: People should listen, read, watch and learn for themselves. If you're given the chance to be able to make up your own mind, you should do it. If you don't like what you're hearing, don't listen. It's up to you to look to yourself. And a lot of people either didn't, or weren't allowed to.

Instead, what you ended up with was a long line of hatred and lies:

Marriage, in my opinion, means two people love eachother and can stand eachother enough to make a life together and wake up together every morning without killing eachother. It's not like straights are making such a good job of the right to marry, as far as I can see.

A woman should have the right to make her own choices about her body. If, god forbid, she were raped or was having a child she knew she couldn't care for, she has already lost control of her life. Abortion can't be an easy decision, and having to cross (government sanctioned) picket lines must be even more demoralizing.

A person should have the right to decide what happens to their own bodies if they're incapacitated. If they make their views known, there should not be a lengthy fight against the government to have their wishes followed. The government should not be able to step in and say "This is what we believe, you must follow it." If you're not sure what I'm talking about, there was a case in Florida last year where a woman had been in a coma for eight years, but had previously left a living will. Her husband finally gained the right to let her go, but at the last minute the government (Jeb Bush specifically) stepped in and told the husband that he didn't believe in living wills, therefore the woman must live on, with no brainwaves, with her heart barely pumping, and against her will, indefinately.

Parents should rest safe in the knowledge that their kids can get a decent education or health care when they need it. Old people shouldn't have to choose between heating their houses in winter or being able to afford their heart medication. Ketchup is not a major food group. Children should not be able to kill eachother with the cock of a gun just because 200 years ago when your country was founded it was a wild and dangerous place. Highschool is hard enough without wondering if the greasy kid next to you is going to snap one day and pick you off because your shoes are better than his or seem to have more friends. And in a country that lauds itself for being founded on and supportive of freedom, none of these things should ever come into question. Furthermore, people should be allowed to voice their opinions on these things.

So, I'm not gay, but I believe that gay people, who pay the same taxes as me, should be allowed to marry if they want to. I don't know that I could ever choose abortion for myself, but I do believe that other woman who are strong enough to make that decision should have the right to do so if they choose, and that the doctors who perform them are human beings and deserve to live, regardless of what they do at the office. Having to pull the plug on a loved one is, to my mind, one of the scariest and saddest decisions a person can ever make. I may not like drug use, but in the case of cancers, AIDS and other terrible diseases, pot can be helpful in easing the pain.

But I understand that whether or not I like these things, they are basic human rights that should be granted. I also understand that if I don't believe in them, I don't have to do them. I don't have to like, condone or understand them, but I don't have the right to take someone else's right to them away. I don't like guns and what they stand for, so I don't carry one. I don't like Rush Limbaugh, so I don't listen to him. I don't like drugs, but I don't need them, so I don't use them. That's me knowing my rights and following them. That's what democracy really is.

Last night I witnessed the loss of those rights and the negation of democracy. I witnessed a government founded on hate, anger and fear win under what I considered to be false pretenses. The votes haven't even all been counted, and Bush was wetting himself with excitement to give his victory speech.

Of course, I'm just a socialist from a country that didn't follow him into a blood-feud, money-driven war against the wrong people, so you really should take my opinion with a grain of salt, which I'm sure you did.

Honestly, though, thank you for your post - You were right, but sadly I think the principle you clearly hold dear was missed by the powers that be. So mostly I'm sad for the States tonight, and the rest of the world, because the repercussions will be felt round the planet over the next four years.