still angry?

a) our choices are all poor ones, so of course we're going to complain.

b) we do not live in a democracy. we live in a representative democracy, or a republic. democracy, on this scale, is nearly impossible. furthermore, democracy is mob rule. it is truly majority rules. thus, if 51% of voters wanted everyone to wear clown pants, then everyone would have to wear clown pants. if your religion prohibited you from wearing clown pants, or if you just simply didn't feel like wearing clown pants, too bad, the majority has spoken.

or

what, you don't want to have an abortion? that's too bad, because the majority just decided that no one under twenty can have children, so if they get pregnant they have to abort it.

in america we have a constitution that protects certain rights and freedoms, and in the process protects minorities against the whims of the majority. it protects people with different viewpoints, it protects people from unreasonable search and seizure, it establishes a system by which people vote democratically for representatives, and have their vote diluted by an electoral college for president, which in theory is a masterful arrangement of checks and balances. don't blame our form of government for the corruption rampant in the present system. don't blame the constitution for the failure of people to respect it. the system may be broken, but that is a political problem, not the fault of the founding fathers.

as i was saying last night, people are concerned about their own personal problems, their own personal space, and not concerned enough with the public good. and the people who are concerned about the public good are determined to force their views on others. so those of us who want to be left alone aren't willing to push that stance on others, while those of us who want to control everyone else are, well, trying to control everyone else. whose fault is it gwbutthead is president? yours. mine. it is the fault of everyone who voted for him. it is the fault of everyone who didn't vote but could have voted against him. it is the fault of everyone who doesn't stand up and speak out, who doesn't fight oppression, who doesn't do anything about the current state of affairs in our country. why is america collapsing? why is it falling? because no one reads history and no one does anything about it. read about the fall of the roman empire. see the parallels between that and our present situation. this fall can be avoided, america can recover, but not if ignorant people vote and run the country, and not if intelligent people are too cynical and apathetic to do anything about it. you have to believe in the system for it to work. you have to approach your idealism naively, or you'll never be able to pursue it to its necessary end. if you can't do this, you will forever be repressed. you will forever be a failure.

just as i am.