Dying by the Sword
I'm watching North Carolina Governor Mke Easley on the Charlie Rose show. It sounds like he's implementing some really interesting initiatives towards getting North Carolinians educated -particularly low-income citizens. One of the other topics up for discussion is the impact of the Iraq war on North Carolina's citizenry. The state has had to use state funds to equip soldiers headed for Iraq as the federal government has been notoriously lacking. Governor Easley also discusses the impact of having a significant portion of N.C.'s workforce fighing overseas and not at home building the economy. This matter of fact is a particularly trying issue for many states particularly with the federal government's penchant for recalling troops who already served. This is awful and sad and I feel really sorry for all of those North Carolinians having a rough time of it and I'm almost ready to write the state of North Carolina a letter of support and redouble my efforts to be vocal about the shoddy job the Bush administration continues to do and then I remembered something....
North Carolinians get to vote too. How did they vote? In 2000, North Carolina voted 56% in favor of Bush with Gore getting 43.1% of the vote. Well, that's not so bad. They couldn't have known what an idiot Bush was then. Right? It's a pass. In 2004, Bush received 56.1% of the vote with Kerry receiving 46.5%. So .1 percent of the population actually changed their mind in the affirmative towards Bush after 4 years of lying, disenfranchisement, high gas prices, dubious energy dealings, and a war started under false pretenses. In both cases all 15 of North Carolina's electoral votes went soundly in favor of GWB.
Suddenly I realize I would never truly make a good president because my first reaction upon confirming these suspicions is juvenile and not stately at all..."Too bad, so sad!!" If someone has to suffer because of Bush's bad judgement it should be someone who voted for him. Twice.
I'm frustrated, bitchy, concerned, frustrated, disillusioned, embarassed, frustrated, disappointed, disheartened and did I mention frustrated!!!?
North Carolina, I'm doing my best to get past the dirty, but some days it's hard. I am so tired of this damned administration and their bad judgment. On betters days I don't want you to have to die by the sword, even though you made it a point of helping make sure Americans live by it for the next few years. None of us is as strong as all of us and if Nelson Mandela can forgive his jailors and both prisoners and jailors can work together to build a better South Africa, surely we can find a way to make amends.
Please forgive me for being bitchy, North Carolina. I'm doing my best to forgive you.