"John Kerry's speech was previously scheduled for one, but has been postponed to two..."

And that's when I yelled, "I skipped class for no reason you fuckers!! John Kerry, you're just trying to disappoint me, aren't you??" and turned sullenly back to my computer.

It's not the man. I'm not knocking the man. I'm sure George W. Bush is the nicest guy in the world. He loves his wife, he loves his family, he loves his country, he loves his religion. My problem is that the majority of my fellow countrymen are extraordinarily more conservative than me, and those are the people that are in power. Those are the people passing laws and Patriot Acts, promising Clean Air and swearing that No Child be Left Behind... and all the while I'm looking around with my beat up copy of 1984 and wondering when they'll start promoting themselves as doubleplusgood while they flash pictures of Osama bin Laden for our Ten Minutes' Hate..

And it's the people that like it that way. It's the people that favor "morality" over acceptance. It's the people that believe with all of their being that modern marriage is still a sacrament, no matter what you believe, and that gay people are apparently second-class citizens, and that a woman's choice is not her own.

Why can't everyone just leave everyone else alone? Why can't we hate each other for who we are, as opposed to the things we do and the life choices we make? So Sally wants to get an abortion. So Jim and Seth want to start a life together. So Doctor Johnson wants to research Parkinson's through stem-cells. What say should I have in it? It doesn't affect me; they're not dangerous people in society. Their doing what they want to do will not hinder the way I want to live my life, so why should I pass laws cutting their rights short?

I'm ranting now, I know. I just don't understand it, and I suppose I never will. The Kerry camp made a lot of mistakes in the beginning and he paid for it later, and that's the end. I just don't understand how people can pass legislation preventing other people from living the way they want in the eyes of the law. I don't want to move to Canada or Europe; I love my country. I'm even fairly conservative when it comes to the government's role in the lives of individuals (which, of course, also contrasts with the current administration, but that's another rant)

I just wish my peers could relax their views enough to realize freedom is not supposed to be a priveledge afforded to tradition.

It's going to be a rough four years, kids. Let's just try to get along.

ink :: graphite