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I wanted to move this out from a separate thread into a separate post:
Someone else wrote:
your conscience should take into account the actual effect of your actions, not just your hopes and ideals.
I agree with that, that's why I'm voting for Kerry. Because conscience should and must take into account the long term picture, not just what is immediately gratifying.
It may feel good to "stick to principle" and vote a third party this year, but there are those of us who feel four more years of Bush might be so horrible we just can't take that chance. Not everyone feels that way, and if you don't, then you might vote differently. But Because I believe in "strategic idealism" - meaning that idealism must be counter-balanced with a healthy understanding of reality, short term gains vs. long term games, immediate costs vs. long term benefits, and risk - I believe I must vote for Kerry this year, in order to vote my conscience. Because my conscience at heart tells me that four more years of Bush is a disaster from which we might never fully recover.
I also believe that while real change in this country does involve a breaking up of the two-party monopoly, I don't believe that will ever be effectively achieved in a top down manner - starting with the Presidency and working your way down. Even if such a person did by some miracle manage to get elected, he or she would have no constituency in Washington, and therefore no mandate - no one would take his or her calls, nothing would get done and the country would spend four years spinning its wheels, because revolutionary change just doesn't work that way.
I believe if we really want to radically chance the country, we start be electing independent grass roots progressive to school boards, and city councils, then to mayorship, then to state legislatures then to congress then to the white house - you build up a strong grass roots popular movement that transforms communities first and expands ever outward, until enough momentum is gained to change the landscape of the nation.
That's why I believe local elections are as important if not even more important (many times) than national ones. Change begins at home.
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