I was going to write about my experiences in NH yesterday and the wonderful people I met (especially Roger the Catholic postal worker and veteran who was anti-war and pro gay rights) and the not-so-nice people I met (including the voter who called me "socialist scum" because I was holding a Kerry sign), but it all seems rather irrelevant today. I guess I can feel good that we delivered New Hampshire, which may be the only state that voted for Bush in 2000 and switched to Kerry in 2004. But I'm so, so depressed that the rest of the country didn't see the light. I am not entirely sure that there wasn't some sort of voting fraud perpetuated. Even without outright fraud, it is so hard for working people to vote when the lines run more than 2 hours and polls are only available on a workday. We have got to change our voting system to ban electronic machines with no audit trail and to expand voting to more hours and more polling places. Anyway, my head is pounding due to lack of sleep and my legs are sore from standing at polls and canvassing, so I'm going to spend today doing nothing and feeling depressed. Maybe tomorrow I can look past this to what we need to do next.

The one small consolation I can find (if the election goes to Bush in the end) is that it really would have been hard for Kerry to clean up Bush's mess in Iraq, and now it's Bush who is going to have to live with it. I think over the next few months there will be many revelations about the Bush administration that will make some people regret that they voted for him. But it will be too late. And of course with the congress and supreme court on his side, there will be no way to impeach him, whatever horrendous things he chooses to do.

I wish the blue states could secede and form their own country. It would be a country I would like to live in. I'm going to shut up now....

Comments

[Bob Devney]

Leslie:

Thanks so much for trying.

Now ... It's morning in Mordor.

[Laurie Mann]

Wow, talk about your roller coaster ride yesterday.

Bob - But if we're in Mordor, doesn't that mean that the sun won't rise?

[Ro]

It would be messy, and a long, hard trial, but there are no rules that say the blue states CAN'T form their own country..... but I think you would be hard-pressed to get it organized. Most people are unwilling to really work for/fight for what they believe is right. I think that has as much to do with the election results today as anything else.

[Becky]

A friend quoted this today:

I was making coffee with one eye on CNN when the news broke, and I called my dad, a man who's spent many years fighting for good things, sometimes at great personal cost. "Get over it," he said, "The way you feel now is exactly how I felt when Nixon won a second term -- crushed. I couldn't believe America was that stupid. But remember what happened to Nixon that term."

We can only hope.

As for myself, I'm looking a lot closer at Germany and India...

[Janet]

If we're in Mordor, that means I have a chance to escape and meet the elf of my dreams!

[Kevlar]

"I wish the blue states could secede and form their own country. It would be a country I would like to live in."

Yeah, screw this whole democracy thing.

[Eric]

I haven't been this depressed in four years. I live in Mordor. Well, Texas, home of Sauron. I'm seriously thinking of moving at this point, but I don't know where I can go. Maybe Boston? I've never felt so sick without actually being sick.

I might actually support secession. Blue states form one country, red states form another. The red states can go ahead and form the fundamentalist christian dicatorship they've been dreaming of, start more irresponsible wars, destroy their environment, repress gays and minorities, put an end to civil rights, run up trillions more in deficit, offshore all their high-tech jobs, and pretend their president is a devine emperor. Oh, wait, that already happened except for the secession part. I'm going to throw up now. :(>--

[Debbie]

Regarding your comment "I wish the blue states could secede and form their own country" -- So does the rest of the country.

[michiganvoter]

Yup, bye y'all. Seceding from the union is a great choice for you, being pro-choice and all. Take Kerry with you....and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.