The Grown-Up Person Club talks about the U.S. elections

Joined: 25 Jul 2008 Posts: 6011

Miles wrote:

SO ANYWAY OBAMA WON

***SPOILER ALERT***

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:37 am

so guys, i'm an anarchist.

at the party i was at tonight i was with a bunch of obama supporters. some very die-hard and some a bit reluctant (like myself). i made jokes about anarchists taking care of mckinley, and about how the middle class that all the campaigns love talking about was created by the labor movement. but i have seen quite a bit this election season that has really moved my heart. this is as close to a transcendent moment in u.s. politics as i have ever witnessed, and i have been involved in u.s. political at the grassroots level since i have been an eligible member of the u.s. citizenry.

some things that obama has said have really spoken to me. he came out and questioned u.s. free trade agreements and publicly questioned u.s. support of countries like colombia, with rampants human rights violations. while obama said that labor related assassinations in colombia were unacceptable, mccain rolled his eyes. obama did not need to speak out on this issue in a debate to win any votes or support.

yet obama has also refused to support issues like gay marriage, a u.s. troop withdrawal from central asia, an end to the war against drugs, a reduction of the embarrassing inmate population, an end to the use of the american military for imperialistic means.

obama and i disagree on most things. but i voted for him. i'm not really sure the point of this post. i am quite drunk on mezcal and tecate right now. i guess i think obama opens up a space for action. this is not a victory in itself, but it allows people like myself a space in which to fight for the changes that we see as necessary. in a cheesy way, obama's campaign is over, and mine can now begin. i don't really know what obama will do, but given his history as a community organizer, his ties with people of a radical political persuasion, and his mobilization of an historical disenfranchised population, he will be a good things for those of us that really want to move this fight to another level. a part of me that had become a bit disillusioned with collective action may have become reinvigorated. presidential politics mean very little to me. electoral politics are nothing. representative democracy is a sham. yet i feel like i can act. i am moved.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:45 am

roquentin wrote:

obama has also refused to support issues like gay marriage

Obama supports a civil union solution that grants same-sex couples all the rights of married couples and leaves it to each religion to redefine at their leisure what the word "marriage" means, mostly because they want to own the word so damn badly. (Even though, you know, marriages have been civil institutions almost as long as they have been religious ones.) Please don't say he doesn't support gay marriage. It doesn't matter what it is called. He supports it.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:52 am

if he supports it he should shout it out loud

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:53 am

I agree with that—it's just a fucking word—but if I am getting the same rights I don't care.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:55 am

tyler, i'm am drunk. and i am happy that you bothered to read my drunken rant.
i voted against arizona's version of prop 8. i hope it fails here, even if it looks like it'll pass in cali

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:57 am

I know you're drunk :]

Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 430 Location: on the laptop

i'm moving to canada

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:25 am

Hey so I guess Indiana is maybe still up in the air? I may have to eat my hat on that one.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:39 am

I went and bought a celebratory blueberry muffin this morning. I lied; I just really wanted a muffin.

Anyway I was looking at the old electoral maps from the eighties and I realized I had no idea how republican the nation voted back then! Even New Jersey went republican in one of the elections.

Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 1065

it is because the eighties were horrible

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:39 am

And Democratic presidential candidates in the eighties were especially horrible.

Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 1065

worst three years of my life, I'm sure

Joined: 25 Jul 2008 Posts: 6011

Dukakis was the real deal, but he ran one of the worst campaigns against the representative of one of the most popular presidents of all time

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:16 pm

and he looked like a doonesbury character (liberal elite)

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:28 pm

Xyloart wrote:

I went and bought a celebratory blueberry muffin this morning. I lied; I just really wanted a muffin.

Anyway I was looking at the old electoral maps from the eighties and I realized I had no idea how republican the nation voted back then! Even New Jersey went republican in one of the elections.

take a look at the map from 1972 if you want to see a real blowout

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:03 pm

Looks like some of you may need to visit a haberdasher to select a hat to eat. Indiana went blue.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:45 pm

Luckily for me my favorite hat is made out of cookie dough, chocolate chips, and M&Ms.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:01 pm

I remember seeing Indiana turn blue and thinking "I hope Beth is wearing dark pants right now!"

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:10 pm

I honestly don't know what to think of that state anymore. Next time I'm driving to Chicago I don't want to stop at my favorite diner off I-90 and find out it's now some kind of combination hookah bar/tapas restaurant with $9 beers owned by a homosexual couple.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:13 pm

roquentin wrote:

take a look at the map from 1972 if you want to see a real blowout

I wasn't alive then so it doesn't matter! T-Rex - OMG!

Since the results were so close maybe you should only have to eat half a hat.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:16 pm

don't worry boorishly

we will never have $9 beer

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:23 pm

I wish I could believe you, steam, but last time I was there, they let me order wheat toast with my breakfast. From there it's a steep and slippery slope leading to the jagged liberal rocks of egg-white omelets, cranberry juice, and Canadian bacon.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:26 pm

They probably won't even secretly think I'm queer when I order hot tea anymore! I'm gonna have to start ordering English muffins.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:28 pm

wheat bread rules

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:32 pm

Where is Beth? She'll call me queer.

Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 5828 Location: Los Angeles, CA

only mexicans order white bread in ca

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:52 pm

Aww, honey, you know that I'm a crazy bleeding-heart liberal Feminazi who loves having abortions (the later, the better). You're not queer.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:02 pm

I'll still call you queer Boorishly!

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:04 pm

Dude you're from a hippie state! It's like a compliment when you say it!