I Thought I Knew America
I was recently disturbed by a message left on a fellow student's computer, including several links to Web sites to buy plane tickets, find housing and gain Canadian citizenship. It read: "For those of you planning to leave the country if Bush wins, here's help! Get there faster; you should probably plan on staying; we don't really want you back; application for Canadian citizenship."
So for her and the rest of you out there who voted for Bush, I have a special message: I want you to think long and hard about your decision. Think about the memo given to President Bush on Aug. 6, 2001, stating that Osama bin Laden was planning an attack. Then think about Bush tossing it into the garbage and continuing his already long-overstayed vacation. Think about the families of the victims of 9/11 who could have possibly been spending the upcoming holiday season with their now-deceased loved ones, only if Bush hadn't acted so incompetently. Think about the millions of men and women in Iraq and elsewhere who have sacrificed so much for you, your freedom, your precious tax cuts for the rich.
I want you to think about the families of these soldiers, who spend every waking moment wondering when they'll see their brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter or friend again. Think about them wondering why the hell Bush got us into this mess, without a plan or even an honest justification to invade.
He lied to us, to you — think about that.
And if you're saying to yourself right now, "Bush didn't lie to us, he's doing the right thing in Iraq," I challenge you to leave your home, your family and friends, all that's comfortable to you and go to the nearest recruiting office and enlist. If you believe in this administration and its war enough to go into the polls and cast your vote Bush's way, then you should believe in it enough to fight for it.
To all of you "value voters," thank you for ignoring every other issue out there simply to support beliefs written 2,000-plus years ago in a world so entirely different from the one we live in today. I have news for you: My body is my body. It's not God's or the government's, and it's especially not yours. As a woman, I feel it is necessary to tell you that even if abortion is outlawed it won't go away. Has anyone ever heard of the "War on Drugs?" Abortion will become a black-marketed procedure, becoming more dangerous and leading to more crime.
What's most upsetting to me is the issue of gay marriage. It deeply concerns me that so many people went to vote motivated primarily by this issue. This country is in dire straights if we're ignoring sky-rocketing health care costs, a record-high deficit and a dishonest administration for the purpose of preventing two people who love each other and want nothing more than to be united for life the right of marriage.
What happened to America? I thought I knew America as the land of opportunity. This country was so bravely settled by victims of religious persecution, and as their descendents you should be ashamed of yourselves for not allowing America to be an advocate for religious freedom. Forcing your religious beliefs on the rest of the country is not what I call freedom.
And finally, for those of you telling us Democrats to "go on and move to Canada and never come back," I commend you for being even more narrow-minded now after your so-called "fearless" leader has been re-elected. Thinking back a few years to when I first realized how unbelievably untrustworthy our president was and is, I was attacked by many of you for being unpatriotic.
But suggesting to myself and my fellow Democrats that we leave and never come back seems to be the most upsetting and unpatriotic thing I've heard in my 23 years of life. And to think Bush is expecting us Democrats to unite ourselves with Republicans. This is supposed to be my incentive?
America's future doesn't fall in between an unjust war and Christian fundamentals — it remains right here in the heart of a Democrat. Our future should be about bettering the lives of the less fortunate, not cutting government-funded programs that help these people. It should be about setting a global example, not leaving our allies behind because they didn't want to do things Bush's way. It should be about offering the oppressed in foreign nations a better place to call home, not killing innocent Iraqis and calling it liberation.
It should be about tomorrow and not about yesterday. It should be about peace, not power.
Kerry Was a Liar
Get over it. The Republican Party embodies all the values listed in "Red State Blues (issue of Nov. 10-16), except for one major difference: A woman does not have the right to take another person