Some unsolicited advice for the DNCC about political ads because they OBVIOUSLY need some

Dear DNCC,

I am a progressive. I will vote because I keep myself informed and I understand the importance of this election. Many people in this country, however, do not.

I don’t understand why you aren’t bombarding the general public with ads about the health care bill. Are you afraid there’s not a favorable opinion? You may be right. But that’s only because you have allowed the Republican party to lie, fearmonger, and contort the facts. In fact, every time people learn more about what the bill is actually doing, its favorability goes UP in the polls. Isn’t this your job? Isn’t it your responsiblity to inform and educate the public? Isn’t it in your best interest as well?

In case you just don’t know how to do it, let me offer you some suggestions. First, use real Americans in the ads- one on one to the camera. Don’t use politicians. Let them tell their stories… real, actual, true stories about how the changes in the health care laws will affect their families. Find the person whose infant with a chronic illness will now be protected from denial of coverage. Find the college students who can now be covered on their parents’ policies until they are 26. Find the parents of a child with a lifelong illness that requires constant and expensive treatments to manage, who will now be able to receive those treatments without annual or lifetime caps… I can give you a name if you need someone. It’s really not that difficult.

Why are you not only NOT running on your accomplishments, but running away from them? Why are you letting the republicans run the conversation with lies and distortions? You need to take charge and start telling the truth. Talk about the health care bill. Scared of the republican rhetoric? Remind people that they said the same things about social security and medicare (socialism, government takeover, blah blah blah). Ironically, now, these are the same programs that people now hold dear. And, thanks to republican policies, they are also for many people the only source of income for our senior citizens. Remind the country that your opponents would abolish the minimum wage, privatize veterans’ benefits and social security, and abolish the Department of Education. Show pictures of Republicans posing for photo ops with giant checks from the stimulus bill, taking credit for the positive results. And discuss the stimulus. Lay the FACTS out. Talk about what would have happened without it. Remind people that the new crop of Republicans, the “Tea-Party” (I have yet to find ONE that votes democratic) would outlaw a woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy even if she is raped or a victim of incest. And as Lizz Winstead suggested on Twitter, show ads of the new work force that would be created if Republicans get their way in raising the retirement age to 70. And you could have a hefty slide show highlighting the hypocrisy of the party who wants to run on “family values” (read: anti-gay rights) with the plethora of extra-marital affairs, rentboys, hookers, teen pregnancies, gay scandals, and multiple divorces.

I GUARANTEE you that these same people touting signs about the evils of “Obamacare” will be waving signs in 20 years saying “Hands off my Obamacare”. You know it. I know it. Make your case so that the American public will realize it too. Stop being cowards. Stop letting the republicans call the shot in this debate. Stand behind what you’ve accomplished. The country is depending on you, whether they realize it or not.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

One day.

One more night’s sleep.

I will be getting up in 5 1/2 hours to go to the polls when they open and cast my vote. Then I will spend the rest of the day holding my breath and hoping beyond hope that all of the youth got off their asses, turned off their x-boxes and went to vote.

This time tomorrow we will hopefully know who our next president will be. If it’s Obama, I will have a new found hope for our nation and will walk proudly through the streets of our country. If it’s McCain, I will curl up in a ball in my shower and cry while trying to scrub away the vile stench of shame for my country and their inability to elect a truly inspiring and positive leader.

So America, what will it be?

Hope, prosperity, change, and unity…

or fear, division, inequality, and more of the same damn crap that got us to this dismal point we are at now….?

Please choose wisely. I just bought a house and don’t think I will be able to unload it in this economy to move to Canada. So it looks like my gay partner and my gay self are stuck here in this country for a while. We would really love it if our rights weren’t tossed out the window. We would really love it if this country could progress in acceptance and come together for the good of all instead of continuing in its divisive, narrow-minded, quest for inequality for its citizens.

We gays pay taxes. We gays work jobs. We gays contribute just as much as you straights. We gays love our partners and our families just as much as you straights. We gays deserve respect and equality just as much too. We probably appreciate what we have a lot more than you do because we know it can be taken away in the blink of an eye on the whim of some lunatic right wing religious nutjob that has nothing better to do than protest the granting of health insurance benefits or marriage to same sex partners. I still don’t understand why you care and how you think it is your right or even your business to protest?

Go spend the same amount of time and energy on working on your own family and on issues like poverty, hunger, and unemployment. Maybe then the difference you would make would be one to be proud of. Do something to benefit the greater good, not to punish people you find morally reprehensible because of your irrational fear.

So, tomorrow. What a big day it will be. I hope America takes a stand and says, “Enough.” I hope America is ready to really start worrying about the things that really matter. I hope America sees each other and realizes we all have the same dreams. Let’s make them happen together. Get out there and vote for someone who wants something better for us all.

I will be hosting an election night party at the nation’s oldest lesbian bar. Truly has the potential for a history making night… assuming we can get any of the lesbians to actually leave their houses to go out that night. I hope if you don’t hear from me the day after the election it’s because I’m nursing the hangover from the celebration of finally having a president to believe in and not because I’m hiding in my closet crying. I guess we will see.

5 days…

In only 5 days, our nation will elect its next president. As we speak, polls show Obama with a slim margin and a decent chance to win. I still can’t believe it’s even remarkably a close race.

I heard a poll today surveying voters in Texas who *actually* believe Obama is a muslim. 24%. 24%!!! You’ve gotta be kidding me. Come on people. Seriously? Don’t you think if there was some conspiracy to send a muslim in to be elected President of the United States they would’ve picked someone who didn’t have the middle name Hussein? Don’t you think they would have been a little smarter?

What do you think is going to happen anyway? On inaugaration day, the flag will be burned and a decree will go out to all in the land to don turbins or face penalty of death? Are you people that ignorant? Really?

You cry for your freedom and country you love but if you vote for McCain you will be condemning it to more years of corruption, war, loss of the basic rights guaranteed to us by our Constitution, further damaging our relations with other nations and our standing in the world not just as a power, but as an example. We are a nation, still united, but on the verge of collapse over basic human rights such as equality, tolerance, and acceptance of those that are different than ourselves.

This country was founded on the principle that all who came here could have a chance to pursue their dreams, be treated fairly and equally, and not be discriminated against. We are turning into the very nation our founding fathers fled so many years ago to escape the narrow minded, unaccepting views of the religious majority so that we could have the freedom to worship as we choose.

I can not believe that those same brave men and women who moved their entire families and lives overseas for that great dream would condone what has now become of this country they founded I can not believe that those same brave men and women wouldn’t hang their head and cry to know of the persecution that is perpetrated in the name of religion, morality, and God.

This country was founded by people who wanted something better than what they left behind. They wanted freedom. For all. Even those who differ and do not agree. They did not fight to form this nation only to see it become a mirror image of the same oppressive, unaccepting monarchy they left behind. All that they believed in and fought for would be in vain. We have become a country bitterly divided over religion, politics, and morality, with the strongest and loudest drowning out and stifling the minorities, the weak, and the poor. We have become a country that thinks it is acceptable for a group to claim moral supremecy, and to use agendas based on ignorance, fear, bullying, and discrimination to quiet those who have different views and beliefs.

It is our responsibility to stay the course they laid out for us. It is our responsibility to unite, even in our differences, especially in our differences. If we fail and continue down the dangerous path of self-proclaimed righteousness, refusing to celebrate the wonderful possibilities that our diverse nation has to offer collectively, then we have failed as a nation. We have failed our founding fathers. We have failed ourselves and our children.

Racism, sexual discrimination, homophobia, religious persecution, violence, and silence. These things are alive and well all around us. These are the things that will keep us from ever realizing our potential as the nation that was founded so long ago on the principles of freedom. For all. Not just those that look or think or love or worship like you. For all.

Get your heads out of your white cloaks, your pants, your asses, your bibles, your anger, and the sand. Look into your hearts. Look at the people you love. Look at the people around you. They are just like you. They love their family and their friends and their country. They don’t want anything more than you do. Respect, equality, a chance to pursue their dreams. A chance to live their lives. No one person is more entitled to that than anyone else around them.

Share. Dream. Open your minds. Open your hearts. Close your mouths until you’ve really had a chance to think about what you might say and why you might be saying it. Stop living in fear and hate. Start living like you deserve it. Like everyone else around you deserves it too. You don’t have to take away from another to get what you want. If we all work together, there’s enough for us all. More than enough.

Compassion. Hope. Understanding. Charity. Joy. Laughter. Passion. Love. Respect. Kindness. Curiosity. Open-mindedness. Acceptance. Growth. These are the things that will unite us and remind us that we are all one nation of people with the capacity to be united even in our differences. These are the things that will show us the way to celebrate, not fear, those differences and move forward together.

But if 24% of the people in Texas really think Obama is a Muslim, hell, I just don’t know. That’s pretty grim. Fear and stubborness are one thing. Racism, sheer stupidity and willful ignorance are another. Those are taught at a young age and reinforced in a rigid, unyielding environment. Reason and sanity are no match for such frightening traits. And where reason and sanity fail… well… I just don’t know how progress is ever made. And progress is our only hope for survival.

Well, that and ramen. You can live a long time on ramen. It’s cheap, man.