Participation on Fark

Conservatives are already whinging, using the retort "well, we listened to you for eight years."

Here's my reply to them, under my "elemenopy" username there:

Here's the irony - the stuff we complained about? We were right about, for the most part. We went into Iraq under false pretenses. We failed to get bin Laden. The "No Child Left Behind" act was not funded, and schools are ridding themselves of music, sports, and other activities that help develop children's minds beyond teaching to a test.

You did not listen to our concerns. Our concerns were brushed off and we were called terrorists, traitors, and anti-American. Since you refused to work with us, we worked together - community organizing, if you will - to change the direction of this country.

Now, we'll welcome you to work with us and find compromises. You'll find that despite some hard feelings, many of us want to work together. And if you don't feel you can work with us to improve our great nation, you're welcome to wait it out, do your own community organizing, and vote another candidate into office.

And we, unlike you, won't mock you or your candidate for doing so.

Your call.

Thread: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3997520

CONGRATULATIONS TO BARACK OBAMA

The black cloud is lifting, and I feel wonderful. Redeemed, even, as I watch Freepers scream they're running away to Canada (how... ironic). I pray that the Republican party, as it currently stands, evaporates. I pray that the Republican party regains its roots of actually being a party of small government and fiscal conservatism, and that it casts off the leadership by the terrifying "religious right."

I do believe the Republican party has a future. But not as it is now - it needs return to its TRUE values.

In the meantime, the energy of this nation is tremendous right now - so many people are excited, and people have hope for the future... an emotion that has been kept blanketed by screams of "traitor" or "unamerican" or "unpatriotic" since 2001. We move forward together, and I'm proud again to be an American.


Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Rhode Island Voting Report

I came, I saw, I voted. And if you're a U.S. citizen, you should today as well.

Rhode Island polls are open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. With our work/commute schedules, we always go first thing, as the polling place is right around the corner from our house.

We arrived at 7:10. Short wait - people had definitely been there for the door opening, as there were a stack of the ballot privacy folders on top of the optical reader already (signifying that people had already cast ballots, for those of you not familiar with them). Rhode Island votes the basic way - pen and paper, draw a line to connect the head and tail of an arrow toward the person you're voting for.

There were six different candidates, plus a write-in line, on our ballot for President. I voted straight Democratic Party ticket, plus yes on both of our budget concerns - we have bridges crumbling (notably... I-95, which now has a severe weight limit on it) that need to be fixed. I pay taxes for civilization - and fixing crumbling infrastructure is a big part of that.

I'm glad I'm done, I did my part. Now I just have to sit back and watch the results. While yes, it looks good for Obama, I've learned never to take anything for granted with some portions of American society.

And I'm damn proud to 1) have survived the nightmare of George W. Bush, and 2) voted for Obama. The last dark eight years are almost over.

Thank Gods.