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11/04/2004: "Whiny people"
I don't get where people get the nerve to march around with "He's not the President of me" signs after this election. He got the popular vote. He got the electoral vote. What in the world more do they want? And of course people are still complaining about the electoral college, which as my darling boyfriend pointed out, the people who are complaining now probably didn't find a damn thing wrong with it back when Clinton was elected and then re-elected. So your candidate didn't win. Guess what? Every time there's an election, someone's candidate doesn't win. What would my thoughts have been if Kerry had won? Not mass suicide or revolution or "He's not the President of me!", but rather simply, "Uh oh. I hope he picks competent people for his cabinet."
I also love the sentiment that suddenly the world is going to explode now that he's been re-elected, or that we just gave up all our precious rights. Our rights don't go anywhere - they're in the Constitution.
As far as people who complain about things like the Patriot Act that makes us give up some of our liberties in exchange for making criminals easier to stop...well, anyone who knows me knows how I feel about that, having a criminal justice degree and planning on going into federal law enforcement. Laws that were enacted because the people feared their own government more than they feared Osama prevented the FBI and the CIA from sharing information that could have predicted 9/11 (I glean this information from actual federal law enforcement officers who have spoken to my classes).
Which right would you rather give up - the right to know that the FBI peeked at what library books you took out, or the right to your life that a criminal (or terrorist, as the buzzword these post-9/11 days seems to be) would gladly take? You can't keep both, you can't ever be completely protected from both the government and the bad guys.
As someone whose future job is going to be protecting the country, whether it ends up being with the FBI or the DEA or another agency, I know I'm a little resentful about peoples' unwillingness to let the government protect them (and bitterly, bitterly bitter at the girl who looks like one of the Munsters and can't wait to be a public defender because those guys she talked to in jail were simply the nicest people she'd ever met), especially since a lot of people put their own life on the line to do so.
As a further note, I simply can't reconcile the fact that Democrats are generally for every possible government program to do things for them, but they're against government intrusion when it comes to fighting the bad guys.
Replies: 3 Comments
AMEN! Brooke you hit it directly on the nail mind if I post that on my xanga?Matthew Bauer, Thursday, November 4th
Well said, Brooke! Its good to know at least SOMEONE in this family has a brain.Lindsay, Sunday, November 7th
Mom and Dad voted Bush too, they're not hopelessly lost. : )Brooke, Sunday, November 7th