A2K political junkies after the US election .

..... Rather than whoo-hooing and high-fiving all over the place, have one thread for each side to speak freely and then gather themselves and act civil elsewhere.

Both sides could do that, then commisserate in one and celebrate in the other and stay civil everywhere else.

The 2004 general election is simply an event swathed in a process we call representative democracy. It is but a step, not the journey itself.

If one thinks that voting is the end all, then they have no understanding of this great experiment in the human experience we call America.

What I will do, what I will continue to do is work in my local community to make it better. Whether volunteering at the food bank, doing rescue work with abandoned animals, acting as a gadfly at local government meetings, and calling, writing, and emailing my government representatives to let them know what I think they should be doing; all entail community activism that does not cease on the morning of the second Wednesday in November.

Ours is that fortunate group of humanity who have freedom granted to us by birth and passed to our hands by those who sacrificed before us. It is their efforts we honor by continuing to endeavor to act responsibly and with concern that we leave this world a better place than was given to us.

Ours is a "....call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself." JFK 1/20/61

"I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." MLK 4/3/68

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

One nation, One world filled with liberty and justice for all.

Welcome Rodeman. I'm a political junkie and a Kerry supporter. I hope he wins and by a sufficent margin (electoral votes) to make moot any notion of vote rigging. If Mr Bush wins, so be it, and I hope he wins by a substantial margin for the same reason.
But I fear that that isn't going to happen. This could be so close and it could get really, really messy for awhile.
In normal times I would move on to college basketball. -rjb-

..""For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

.... The comforting thing about us Oz folk here was that we all felt exactly the same.

msolga wrote:

.... The comforting thing about us Oz folk here was that we all felt exactly the same.

Explain, please. Surely there must have been someone happy with the result.

msolga wrote:

..""For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

they were ted kennedy's words at the close of his 1980 convention speech.

i did not cut and paste very well. sorry.

Not here at A2K, Gus. If there WAS someone, they kept it to themselves .... wisely!

msolga wrote:

Not here at A2K, Gus. If there WAS someone, they kept it to themselves .... wisely!

Ok, msolga. So you're inferring that the majority of Aussies on A2K, like their American counterparts, are of the liberal persuasion?

No, msolga, b-ball could be far away. As of tonight, it looks like Mr Kerry with 268 electoral votes and Mr Bush with 270.-rjb-

I wish I'd had a strategy to cope with the hideous result in Oz.