The New York Times Magazine: Without a Doubt

I'll write more on this, but this NYT magazine article is required reading for anyone seeking to understand how we got here and why the Bush administration must be removed from power.

Read it. It's usually something of a comfort to inhabit the world of mainstream politics, where there are all kinds of stories and "reasonable explanations" for things. There are ways to rationalize horrible news of death and destruction -- a few marines here, a score of Iraqis there -- and other ways to gloss over sometimes more horrific statistics -- several million people living in proverty. There are ways to believe that all this business with our country lately is just little rough water, that nothing is seriously amiss or going wrong.

But as my mother quipped in a comment somewhere below: "I was tear-gassed by Nixon. Bush makes him look like a saint." Read the article.

This isn't "Bush Hatred" (which by the way is a made-up idea created by the spinmeisters in the west wing to supress reasonable dissent), it is the truth; and there's a fear that comes with that truth that all of this -- the faith-based president, the debased state of journalism, the world of 24-hour talking heads jacked up on the sickeningly stimulating death-juice of 9/11 -- it all might just be more that our country can handle. I do believe we run the risk of coming apart at the seams. I do, really, but I don't like to think about it because it's very frightening.

The article is very frightening. Here are some things we can do:

Voter X
MfA Get Out The Vote
ACT (massive grown-up GOTV)
Where's my polling place?

Please vote; and please tell everyone you know that you're doing it. Send an email to all your friends and let them know how you feel. Call everyone you know on November 2nd. Call them next week and tell them to vote early.

The most important motivator for new and unlikely voters is being asked to vote by a friend or peer. Do it. Lobby your friends and your family. There are no good reasons not to vote, and a million and one really important things on the line in this election.