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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
The founder of the Webby Awards, Tiffany Shlain, is a San Franciscan who will be driving voters to the polls in Nevada on Election Day
I think that there will be outrage if Kerry doesn't win. If this election gets stolen, it's not going to go quietly like it did in 2000. The Internet has really linked all of the people together to have a much stronger message whatever happens on Nov. 2.
This election, it's not one person, one vote. Why aren't we talking about that? If we win, or if we lose, we need to absolutely restructure the way we choose our president.
No matter what happens on Nov. 2, the Electoral College is antiquated. The fact that votes in California and New York hardly count is not right. If we win or if we lose, the Electoral College needs to be updated.
Barry Deutsch, a cartoonist in Portland, Ore., writes at Alas, a blog
Nov. 2 I'll party with my friends and make a lot of jokes about how the voters have parted ways with the reality-based community.
Nov. 3 and beyond, I'll do pretty much what I've been doing all along.
If Bush wins, the active engagement of feminists and lefties will be essential to protect abortion and other civil rights, by (among other things) pressuring the Senate Democrats to block any Supreme Court nomination to the right of Kennedy or O'Connor. Fighting right-wing attacks on global women's healthcare, on marriage equality for lesbians and gay men, and on whatever other good causes float your boat won't go away just because Bush gets another four years to screw the world up.
Look at what's happened to same-sex marriage under Bush; activists at every level have pushed this issue so far forward that even Bush feels that he has to say something in favor of civil unions. Remember two years ago, when favoring civil unions was a radical left-wing position? Just because Bush is in the White House doesn't mean that progress is impossible.
Bush isn't the all-powerful tsunami of evil that many liberals make him out to be, and the world doesn't end if he's elected on Nov. 2.
"Pam Perd" of Billionaires for Bush
The billionaires will rejoice, and realize that our relationships with the government have continued to pay. And we hope for four more wars.
"Sepoy," a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Chicago, who blogs at Chapatimystery.com
If Bush wins again, he will really go for the jugular in terms of judicial appointments, welfare and Social Security reform. Will the Democrats stand up to him this time? I really have my doubts. It is up to the online community of thinkers/activists/bloggers to provide the necessary bulwark against Bush's second-term policies.
Only a press kept on its toes by the online community can deter or hinder the expansion of the Middle East theater. At least, the New York Times and the Washington Post, etc., will not play along as they did in 2003.
The other great development is grass-roots mobilization for congressional and Senate races. The level of enthusiasm and support for such races is unprecedented, and I think blog collectives such as dailyKos and Atrios as well as ACT, etc., would be a great springboard to launch the Take Back Congress in 2006 campaign.
So, while I will be disappointed, I will not be disheartened. At stake is something greater than the White House. It is truth, dignity of human lives in this country and justice everywhere. I must continue to raise my voice against what I see is unfair and wrong. To fall silent will be deadly.
Blogger and Web developer Cameron Barrett, who spent a year working for the Clark and Kerry campaigns, and blogs here
I have said in the past I would move overseas, but these days I feel that statement is too reactionary. America is still a great country, and the country of my birth. I dislike Bush's policies and feel they are too shortsighted when it comes to foreign policy and maintaining America's reputation, but it's not going to stop me from loving this country.
Bush tends to polarize politics, kind of forcing people into one of two camps: "either you're with me or against me" and phrasing like that, which I now realize is intentional. So, moving to another country would be like giving in to it. It is easier for Bush to realize his fantasy of him being a great world leader if he can dismiss all those people that are "against him" and ignore the damage he is doing to America's reputation and the world. So, moving overseas because of Bush is a reactionary answer and an escape from the real problem; which is that Bush is bad for stability in the world.
Jessica Valenti, executive editor, Feministing.com
Make sure that young women's voices continue to count. In the lead-up to the election, the frenzy around young women voters made our issues visible -- for a moment. If our votes aren't successful in ousting Bush, we want to ensure that our voices are heard in the fight to come. The focus on young women and our political participation needs to continue, especially if Bush wins -- his war on women is disproportionately affecting our lives.
Professor John-Paul Spiro blogs at everythingsruined.com
I almost feel that smart people should go on strike for four years just in a kind of "Atlas Shrugged" way, except with the opposite politics.
If you are a thinking person it's becoming impossible to go along with this program. And if he wins it's not even left vs. right, or red vs. blue anymore. It's thinking vs. not thinking, and the thinking people should go on strike.
On a personal level, I think that I will live in absurdity for four years. If Bush wins again, it will be this triumph over rational thought. Rational thought will have been demonstrated to have no efficacy, and no application anymore, and the only choice left will be just to become absurd in the way a lot of Russians did for decades. They had no choice but to find it all ridiculous.
In my blog, I would no longer address events. I would either create my own fantasies, or treat everything like it's a fantasy. I would no longer be a member of the reality-based community, because they will have lost. To make claims about reality will no longer be valid.
Where do we go from here? We stop taking things seriously. Whatever people say about Kerry, what I've always liked about him is he takes things seriously.
Seriousness will have lost, so we'll have to go for the opposite.
