Tuesday, May 25, 2004

I'm feeling really good

I ended up pulling an all-nighter (my first I might add) to write paper about Emma Goldman. Then this morning I wrote a speech for the college Dem's "Bush Bash." I gave it, the end was a bit impromptu, sort of Howard Deanish.
What follows is the speech.

Friends. Come November we will be faced with a stark choice. A choice between George W. Bush and John F. Kerry. A choice between two visions of America. A choice between two American Dreams.
A vote for Bush is to dream a dream that affirms a policy of voodoo economics founded on ballooning our budget for the sake of corporate welfare. A dream which uplifts the prosperous and throws the poor down to the gutters.
A vote for Kerry is to dream a dream in which tax cuts aren’t used to get re-elected, but to target specific soft spots in our economy. A dream where our tax dollars will be spent educating our children, making sure people don’t die for want of healthcare, and keeping America strong.
A vote for Bush is to dream a dream were national forests are simply resources, rivers are dumping grounds, and the sky is the limit when it comes to smog and other pollutants.
A vote for Kerry is to dream a dream were hydrogen, the wind, and the sun will replace wrecking ANWR for oil. A dream in which forests, rivers, and the air we breath will be protected.
A vote for Bush is a vote for a dream of a world of black and white, where the enemy of our enemy is also our enemy. Where you are either American, or a terrorist. His is an American dream where diplomacy and rule of law does not apply to the powerful. His is an American dream where millions of people around the world, myself included, protesting against a dangerous policy of needless death are called nothing more than “focus groups.” His is an American dream that refuses to admit mistakes.
A vote for Kerry is a vote for a nuanced and realistic foreign policy that sees the world in gradients of gray. This is an understanding that Americans make up only a small percentage of the world population. His is an American dream of coalitions that truly are willing, and allies who are amiable. His is an American dream of a country that will fight not because it wants to, but because it has to. His is an American dream that is willing to admit when we are wrong, and fix the problem.
On this coming November 2nd you, God willing every one of you, are going to do one of most significant things in your life. You are going to vote to end this American nightmare! Years for now you will be able to tell your children, and your grandchildren that you stood up and stopped the squandering of America’s resources, as well as it’s good will abroad. You will be able to tell them you saved America’s trees, and American lives. You will be able to tell them you lived through an America on the brink of madness. You will be able to tell them when fate gave you the vote, the power to change thing, you, you lived the American dream.

1 comment:

Fearsome Pirate said...

A vote for Kerry is a vote for NAFTA, unless it's on a day he decides he doesn't like NAFTA.

A vote for Kerry is a vote for the Department of Homeland Security, unless he's changed his mind that day.

A vote for Kerry is a vote for tracking down those terrorist murderers and destroying them all, unless he doesn't feel like it today.

A vote for Kerry is a vote for extending the right to marry to all couples and groups--gay, straight, man-boy, polygamous, whatever, unless maybe he waffled again.

A vote for Kerry is a vote for more bureaucracy, more government, and less freedom, because, hell, let's face it, that's what you get no matter who you vote for.