| Across the blogosphere, it's not at all uncommon to see repeated declarations by "liberal activists" that they're going to withhold their donations from Democratic candidates or organizations this year, usually accompanied by complaints about the Democrats not addressing this issue or that issue quickly enough, or not getting it passed, or not passing what the person wanted.
I, too, am not donating cash to Democratic candidates this year. Not because I don't want to. Because I can't.
In 2008, I donated about $1400 to Obama. I donated about $750 to my chosen congressional candidate (who lost). I donated about $250 to my State Senate candidate. And a couple hundred more to local county committees around the area.
I lost my job at the end of 2008 thanks to the Bush economy. And thanks to the Republicans, aside from a couple months spent working a temp job at a foundry, I remain unemployed 21 months later. It's been the worst 21 months of my life. If you've never been unemployed, you can't possibly understand the constant, crushing sensation of fear and uncertainty that comes with it, lurking under the surface of every day. It's the realization that your old job isn't coming back, and you have no idea how you're going to find another one. It's the feeling that finding any job that features dignity and fair pay, let alone being in your professional field, is too much to hope for.
The Republican Party has done everything within it's power first to crash the economy--whether they knew that would be the result or not--and then knowingly done all they can to prevent any kind of recovery from happening on Obama's watch. The Republicans would rather that people like me worry about how we're going to make it through the winter, and be subject to the pain, fear, and depression that comes with being unable to make a living, rather than give one inch in their quest for total power in this country. I had six years of hard work building a career as a technology journalist taken away from me, and now I have someone trying to hold my entire future hostage.
People sometimes wonder why I take such offense at the bashing of Democrats, or the periodic announcements on the blogosphere that so and so isn't going to vote, or give money, unless their pet issue is handled immediately. It's because I see one set and one set only of enemies, who are the enemies of everyone here. It's not Barack Obama, it's not Harry Reid, it's not elected Democrats of any stripe. It's not even the spineless Blue Dogs, but rather the people who the Blue Dogs are afraid of.
The simple truth is this: everyone who isn't pulling together and fighting the Republicans is helping them, one way or another. The Republican Party is a threat to our entire way of life, a rabid animal that needs to be put down, and anyone who can't or won't make common cause for that purpose cannot be taken seriously in this political climate. The 2000 election and eight years of Bush has made the belief that "they're all the same" a laughable soap bubble, no matter how much some might try to spin it otherwise.
The ideological differences between Democrats are microscopic in comparison to the single, unified ideology that drives the Republican Party: opposition to anyone and anything that isn't them. If we ever want to insure that Americans can have decent jobs that provide for a future, let alone achieve serious progress in this country, then there is nothing more important.
I would rather be working a decent job, any job. But because I can't, I'm devoting all the time and energy I can muster into volunteering to get more Democrats elected, and I ask you to do the same. |
