"We'd rather hold onto the myth than fight for the reality"

Another disheartening film about how screwed up everything is.  I think it's interesting to compare the way the media portrays the fringe left vs. the fringe right.  And Cynthia McKinnon in all reality isn't even that much of a fringe person.  How do right wing pundits get people to do what they want them to do? 

I was struck by the scene where McKinnon is looking at her computer screen and Bush is winning by a landslide in the 2004 elections and she says something to the affect of, "they're very good at what they do, you have to give it to them."

I was horrified by the political strategist who was intent on decimating her reelection, it was as if she was a piece of game that he was hunting in one of his matching Hummers.  I don't think the media talked enough about people who weren't allowed to vote.  I remember the talk about hanging chads to the point that it was mind numbing. 

Apathy doesn't only happen to the young or black.  I feel like most Americans don't feel like the government truly represents them and it's a mystery as to how people get into office and then they seem incapable of solving the simplest of problems.  It is ironic that after this election Obama did manage to get elected -- but one of the reasons that Obama did manage to get elected is that he's Christian.  I know conservative Christians and others who voted for Obama and against Proposition 8.

While Republicans are currently fighting tax cuts for the middle class unless the wealthy also get tax cuts, they've blocked unemployment, and they're decimating health care one has to wonder what it is that makes poor people vote for them.  If people really examined the issues they wouldn't support these people. 

There was a study that came out right before election day that said young people weren't going to vote.  They were disenchanted.  They got all excited about Obama and allowed themselves to believe in him and then nothing seemed to happen.  Personally, I feel like things would be a lot worse if Obama had lost and don't think that people should criticize him because if we do we're leaving ourselves open to a Republican win in 2012, but then I wonder if that's fair. 

Sometimes it seems like the smarter people are the more they feel confused.  I did a radio news piece about young people not voting in this last election after I learned that a 19 year old smart woman that I know didn't know who was running for Governor.   I interviewed her and she said she didn't feel like she truly understood the issues.  I hope she ended up voting but the process is really broken. 

 Here is the college students guide to voting. Which appears to have been written before the 2008 elections.  It provides a useful guide about what the voting requirements are in every state.   The League of Pissed Off Voters is cool, it appears to be in San Francisco only and founded in 2003.  They're actually going to have a holiday party on December 8 which is a good example of using the virtual to facilitate face to face interaction.

There are also some resources here:  the Freechild project  and Millenial Politics and Mobilize.org.