There is money flowing and flowing and flowing into our national dialogue. Our airwaves are crammed with negative ads financed by the big guys. Wealthy corporations and fat cats are swelling the coffers of the Rovian right. So it's all over for democracy right? The Democrats don't stand a chance against this outpouring of treasure. The midterms are going to be a smackdown of the people's party... those poor, dear Democrats silly enough to believe in governance. It's curtains for the environmentalists and woe unto the education reformers. A woman's right to choose? Sorry, yanked. Green jobs? Um no, not this year. The separation of church and state -- merely a quaint historical notion.
No, say the pundits, this one is for the grand old parties, tea and otherwise, that would-be plutocrats are feting.
Or maybe not. A funny thing is happening at early polling sites all over the country -- folks are voting. America has apparently not gotten the memo that our democracy is for sale. The saps are just proceeding right on with it as though the millions spent to dismay them have somehow failed to do so. It seems they plan to have their vote counted, and last I looked it is votes that we count here... not coins.
I hope at least for Meg Whitman's sake that money can buy you love, because an election? Turns out, not so much. Bless her heart, she spent $120 million of her personal fortune on her race for governor of California and could not even win the endorsement of her hometown paper.
This is very good news for our country as a whole. We are exercising our right to self-determination. Bully for us. I voted today at 1:30 p.m., Central Standard Time, so there, Koch brothers -- you can take your gold and shove it, or what the hell, give some more to Christine O'Donnell... the girl's got rent to pay.
If you have time to read this, you have time to vote. If you are angry about all the anger out there, good, go ahead and be angry -- there is a lot of anger to be angry about. But you must vote. If you need a ride, ask for one, but get to the polls. If you lost your cat, put up posters of her on your way to the booth and vote. If your cause has not yet been taken up by the country, remember that it never will be if you do not vote. If you think that the outcome of this election is a foregone conclusion, then you need to think again, because every election is ours to win or lose, which is why we vote.
They have endless streams of cash, but they do not have you. You are a resource that cannot be monopolized. If they win you lose. It is that simple. You are all you've got, and that is all you need.
Vote.