PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

November 3rd
by Fred Pohlmann Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 at 1:27 PM
pohlmann@ihwy.com (email address validated)

What will you say to yourself on November 3rd?

You wake, perhaps to sunshine, perhaps to rain. You slide into your robe and head to the kitchen for morning coffee or tea. Your newspaper’s bold headline greets you: “Bush For 4 More.” And then it hits you. You didn’t vote. You struggle to grasp the significance of what will unfold in the next four years. You know that your civil liberties will be curtailed even more in the name of the war on terrorism. A “preventative” invasion of another country is not only possible, but likely. You foresee a spike in the world’s frustration at our retaining such an arrogant foreign policy team. You worry about the increasing influence of religious fundamentalism in our government. You fear an escalation in the assault on the environment. You feel sorry for the next generation for its burden of debt. And it hits you again and again. You didn’t vote. You get up from your chair to dress for work. Your feet seem somehow heavier, your walk slower. For four years it has been so easy to blame the Bush administration for so much that is wrong. But now you have only yourself to blame. You did not vote.

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