Why it's all going to be okay

From an email to my friend, Jorge...

Dearest Jorge,

Yes, things do seem bleak, but the perpetual optimist inside me (her name is Marie) assures me that something wonderful will be born of this. Despite their best attempts, the Republican party could not depress us into apathy. People are engaged and begining to think critically. Rather than resigning that our votes do not count, the election has had a sobering effect of sorts, forcing us to come to terms with America as it truly is. For a sizeable portion of the population, fear of the terrorist boogiemen and of the dissolution of Judeo-Chrisitian morals is enough to keep a facist despot in office. Yes, it's a terrible thought indeed, but it's our reality. But if forces us to realize that we can not blame things on hanging chads or grand conspiracy theories. This was not a stolen election.

The American public has spoken. It's said to me, "Larry, if you and the academy and the DNC don't do a better job of actively engaging us in critical dialogue about the domestic and international impacts of the policies of the Bush administration, we will continue to be hoodwinked/frazzled/blinded by/subject to the heavy-handed and morally irresponsible propganda that the Republican party will be pumping into our telephones, televisions and newspapers for the next four years.

So, here's to four years of more expansive and resourceful organizing... Of no longer assuming that the circles in which I run are representative of the voting public at large. Of supporting more Fahrenheit 9-11s, more OutFoxeds, more MoveOn.orgs. I hear you America. You're scared. You want to feel safe. You want to feel moral. And I love you for that. My only hope is that my peeps and I can do a better job of showing you how none of these require an extension of the reign of a self-interested tyrant.

Larry D. Lyons II