re: #286 No Depression

Not necessarily. American politics can change drastically in the course of a few years. For instance, take 2004. Things looked pretty grim for the Democratic Party. Bush beat Kerry and the “Democrats in disarray” narrative was in full force (sound familiar?). But then in 2006, a blue wave swept Congress and in 2008, a black man whose last name rhymes with Osama became president. You think anyone in 2004 saw that coming?

This is where I’m at. I understand the pull towards doom, gloom, despair, and defeatism. I mean, hell, the GOP just rammed through a bill that NOBODY HAD READ AND WAS BEING WRITTEN ON THE FLY. That’s partisan politics at its logical extreme - “you will vote for this because I, the party leader, say so, and without any hesitation whatsoever.” That fucking sucks, and it is extremely depressing, but you know what? WE CAN’T GIVE UP OR GIVE IN. It’s not over yet. The damage might be terrible - who knows? But there is nothing, literally nothing, short of a nuclear apocalypse, that we can’t undo in time. And who knows? Maybe the complete disaster that is the state of our country right now might spur another Renaissance in our culture. Maybe, just maybe, we will emerge on the other side of the Second Dark Ages as a more enlightened country. I might not live to see it… but I fight and I endure in the hope that my kids will.