curmugeon | Rekindled..

I have lived in the days of Nixon and Watergate, I lived the protests of the Viet Nam War. I have lived in Berlin, a few miles from The Wall. I am a veteran.

The current regime (Dubya and Company) are but one more phase of a country that is still learning about democracy. We've had our own share of despots and empire builders, only change is today we have expanded our reach outside our hemisphere.

We'll weather this storm, we won't change, and we'll do it all over again. Change is something people talk a lot about, but few act on. We get comfortable in our little world, earning our pay, paying our government, watching the trash on TV, talking big, yet doing nothing.

I wonder how many people I know will vote this year I wonder how many will actually know anything about the candidates or issues that they are voting on? If you ask most people they think they elect the president, we don't. I know that the people I talk to will vote, many of my co-workers will vote. Some will vote their conscience, some will vote their religion, some will vote because the candidates name sounds American. Many will vote for a candidate, some will vote their prejudices.

The protest spirit has been rekindled. I will vote for change, even though I know that change may not happen. I will vote my conscience, because that is the right thing to do. I will work to get out the vote, because we need to be a participant in our government. I will not vote a party line.

Tis is 2004, we must start now to rekindle the American spirit.