As a white woman, attorney, from southeastern Ohio in the racist part of the state, but a current resident of NYC, I'm thoroughly convinced that Hillary is the one playing the race card while Barack refuses to play the game. It is appalling to me what Geraldine Ferraro said. She should not only be fired, she should be flogged.
I have dear friends, lesbian friends, who are incredibly well-educated, but who are voting solely on the basis of a vagina and it appalls me. It's a matter of not paying attention, of not really researching and finding out which candidate will make a difference. I'm sick of the politics of divisiveness. I'm sick of the money controlling what we think. Barack has built a grass roots machine that will not be denied. It is time we take back our constitution and our country.
This is the first time in my life that a politician has made this promise and the people are doing it -- through our votes and through our donations. Barack is refusing to take lobbyists' money. Amen! I'm sick of corportists brainwashing us to believe that jobs are "created" only by corporations. Without labor, and my father was a factory worker at DuPont, there is NO wealth. It's time we made that known. And it's happening. Corporate America pays my paycheck, but I owe them no allegiance.
I owe my allegiance to the people of this country -- those who helped me through public education; those who helped me have jobs in college so I could pay for my education, those public high school teachers and state college professors who taught me how to think instead of repeat; those employers I had afterwards who gave me some crappy job -- assistant in a brokerage firm, medical transcriptionist, a street race in Columbus, paralegal, and legal assistant. I had a degree in psychology and political science and couldn't get a well-paying job, until I finally went to law school in my 40s.
My student loan made it possible to be closer to what I want to do, but still remains obscene to the point that I can't work for election law or civil rights law where I want to be, but I've found a place where I can make good money and not have nightmares, live easily, and get out of debt except for my student loan. I have no qualms about this -- if I die before my student loan is paid, fuck 'em.
Finally, for the first time in my life, I'm seeing a campaign and a candidate that at least professes to be independent of corporatism. I will work by calling my senators, including Clinton and Schumer, and my representative to destroy the influence of the neocons and the corporatists and the religious reich. I will donate and volunteer, going door to door and poll watching to make these things happen.
We are truly at a crossroads, and we must all make a difference. I'm fired up and ready to go. What was begun with this website and others must be continued. This country is liberal. I'm absolutely convinced of it. We must mobilize all those who want the government out of our uteruses (uteri?), certainly our bedrooms, and out of our intimate family decisions, like Terri Schiavo's family.
Ultimately, our democracy depends on each of us and we must not let each of us down. Mobilize, canvass, telephone, poll watch -- whatever you can contribute. Barack is the only candidate in this race giving us such an opportunity and Kos has recognized it, as well as other leaders in our communities.
Hillary must be stopped not because she's got a vagina, but because she cannot change America the way it must be changed.