"We were all orcs in the Great War."

I watched the election returns last night with Branna and Raven and Raven's six-year-old son Robin, who fell asleep on the couch between us.

Raven said her mother's gardener (or mechanic or something) had told her that he was voting for Bush because "Bush loves Jesus, and I don't want the Antichrist in the White House."

As it became obvious that Bush was winning, I said, "Way back when Sauron first ran for office, forty percent of the orcs were sitting around watching the returns come in and saying, 'How can orcs vote for that man? Do they really think taking over Middle Earth is a good idea? And now no one will ever remember that a little less than half of us did out best to stop him.'"

When Branna and I left, depressed, we ran into a young man shouting into his cell phone, "FUCK the Midwest! FUCK Middle America!" This slightly cheered us up.

So. I'm not blaming election fraud. I'm sure there was some, but I think Bush would have won without it-- that he really did win, win legitimately. He got a little over half of the orc vote. The vote to hold prisoners without trial or recourse, the vote to invalidate marriages, the vote to send American soldiers and reservists overseas without proper equipment or training to kill and die and come home maimed, the vote to kill more Iraqis than than even their homicidal dictator managed, the vote to destroy America's last remaining wilderness, the vote to suppress women's rights and harm women's health, the vote to give every other country in the world perfectly legitimate reasons to hate us and feel that killing us is self-defense, the vote to ignore global warming until island nations drown (as is happening already) and our coastal cities flood, the vote to start a few more wars, the vote to elevate two frozen cells above a grown person's life.

I hold everyone who voted for him or didn't vote when they were eligible personally responsible for the death and destruction they voted for.

And I hold myself and the rest of us minority orcs personally responsible if we say, "Well, we did our part," or "It's all hopeless now anyway," or "See, I told you we couldn't make a difference," and go back to our apolitical lives instead of resolving to pour even more energy into trying to hold back the oncoming tide. Work with the ACLU, Greenpeace, Planned Parenthood, gay rights, women's rights, immigrants' rights; start your own organization; work with whatever cause is closest to your heart.

Sappy as it may sound, it's one thing to watch your country go to hell as a lone adult, and another to watch it with a six-year-old child's head in your lap. America isn't just mine to give up on.

"We were all orcs in the Great War."

I watched the election returns last night with Branna and Raven and Raven's six-year-old son Robin, who fell asleep on the couch between us.

Raven said her mother's gardener (or mechanic or something) had told her that he was voting for Bush because "Bush loves Jesus, and I don't want the Antichrist in the White House."

As it became obvious that Bush was winning, I said, "Way back when Sauron first ran for office, forty percent of the orcs were sitting around watching the returns come in and saying, 'How can orcs vote for that man? Do they really think taking over Middle Earth is a good idea? And now no one will ever remember that a little less than half of us did out best to stop him.'"

When Branna and I left, depressed, we ran into a young man shouting into his cell phone, "FUCK the Midwest! FUCK Middle America!" This slightly cheered us up.

So. I'm not blaming election fraud. I'm sure there was some, but I think Bush would have won without it-- that he really did win, win legitimately. He got a little over half of the orc vote. The vote to hold prisoners without trial or recourse, the vote to invalidate marriages, the vote to send American soldiers and reservists overseas without proper equipment or training to kill and die and come home maimed, the vote to kill more Iraqis than than even their homicidal dictator managed, the vote to destroy America's last remaining wilderness, the vote to suppress women's rights and harm women's health, the vote to give every other country in the world perfectly legitimate reasons to hate us and feel that killing us is self-defense, the vote to ignore global warming until island nations drown (as is happening already) and our coastal cities flood, the vote to start a few more wars, the vote to elevate two frozen cells above a grown person's life.

I hold everyone who voted for him or didn't vote when they were eligible personally responsible for the death and destruction they voted for.

And I hold myself and the rest of us minority orcs personally responsible if we say, "Well, we did our part," or "It's all hopeless now anyway," or "See, I told you we couldn't make a difference," and go back to our apolitical lives instead of resolving to pour even more energy into trying to hold back the oncoming tide. Work with the ACLU, Greenpeace, Planned Parenthood, gay rights, women's rights, immigrants' rights; start your own organization; work with whatever cause is closest to your heart.

Sappy as it may sound, it's one thing to watch your country go to hell as a lone adult, and another to watch it with a six-year-old child's head in your lap. America isn't just mine to give up on.