Californian Stories.
i wrote a note to my cousin tonight. I wanted her to experience a “real” election for the first time in her life as she just moved from HK to New York. She lived in Europe when she was little but she was too small to remember or understand the significance of all that. So this will be the first time she as an adult actually get to see a universal suffrage take place. I understand that there are a lot of irregularities that will pop up on this, but it’s the process and what it’s supposed to be achieved. We should be so lucky in HK that we can complain about the irregularities under having a direct election.
I wrote her because wanted her to be aware what was going around her because I remember so well the day Clinton was elected, Bush (I) lost and how the people in my life at the time (mostly gay men, admittedly) just exploded in this joyeous celebration all around me. I can’t even describe it. How much hope, dreams, and expectations was felt when the democratic president was elected for the first time in 15 years… and it was a sigh of relief for mostly Californians, Los Angeloes in particular, and well West Hollywood for sure.
Anyway, what I did write to my cousin was this.
“Just a reminder that tomorrow is the election. now if Kerry wins, run out of the streets and walk around all of NY. I remember Clinton being elected and it was this crazy joy all around us. Now if Bush wins. Maybe find yourself a bunker. :)”
After i pressed send. i thought. “You know it’s not really funny. If bush win, the world gets more dangerous. More weapons will be lost, fundemental muslim thought will be given even more reasons to continue, and she is in New York.”
That thought really depressed me.
In my mind there really is only one choice… but it’s not the only possible outcome
LA Weekly
For some anti-Bush Guerilla Art: www.freewayblogger.com
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 
Hi Yan,
I know it’s been a while since I left you a comment. Things have been heating up here with the election and everything.
I noticed you said it was a slow news day in HK. I heard that there were labor strikes in Shenzhen on Oct. 10, and recently a big protest out by the 3 Gorges Dam. Any repercussions in HK yet? I have to say, that the CCP can only shaft the workers and peasants for so long…maybe Kang Youwei was right about his historical cycles. I sure hope not.
Wish us luck tommorrow in the States. We need it.
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Well I certainly hope Bush loses, and I’ll let out a sigh of relief and smile if Kerry wins, but there’ll be no celebration or renewed sense of hope yet. In my opinion, it’s time for people to start changing their mind-sets of accepting a two-party system as anyway being equated to democracy. Also, the US-form of democracy is anything but a “direct” election.
The democrats are as much to blame for a lot of what has led to the current world order. In fact, the label of democrats and republican is now largely a misleading label by the media, as I doubt many could actually match each party’s position and stance to their supposed ideology.
Yes, I certainly hope Kerry wins. But no matter who wins, it’s only the beginning of a VERY long road to meaningful change in the US gov’t and foreign policy. I hope Americans continue their enthusiasm and participation for change long after the election is over.
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I’m feeling like I’m on the same page as K above me.
I’m rooting hard (praying even) for the defeat of George Bush, even though I’m not overjoyed with John Kerry. But I can easily see how Bush’s preoccupation with what half of America thinks is good security policy might just lead to an unprecedented level of danger in the world.
It never ceases to amaze me how many of my neighbors think that Bush’s aggressiveness is a great thing, regardless of the fact that he’s helped create many more terrorists than he’s caught or killed.
I think (as I sense you do) that the saddest outcome would be four more years of the Bush doctrine, four more years of leadership that can’t see its own faults and won’t allow anyone else to point them out.
Our fingers are all crossed…
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bush is a reckless man.kerry is yet to be tested.im with K,their has to be a rethink on the two party system.good luck america!the world is watching.
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If douchebag wins, what will the world think? That Americans are so stupid and sheepish as to vote for such a isolationist unilateralist unaccountable misrepresenting pinhead as Bush? Are Americans really that narrow?
I can’t divine a reason for a Bush vote – not on the basis of safety, nor integrity, nor reason, nada. Yet half the country thinks he’s the best man to lead it. Makes no sense at all to me.
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I’d like to point out that during the “magical” Clinton presidency, Al Qaida attacked New York in ’93, bombed a US warship in ’99, and destroyed three US embassies in ’98.
Al Qaida was buoyed and strengthened because of Clinton’s political cowardice.
But you don’t care, do you? Your nostalgia blinds you to snakes that lurk in the grass.
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Bin Laden was trained by the CIA through the previous Republican adminstration. Al Qaida gained a lot of recruits through the Anti-American feelings whipped up by the first gulf war which was lead by the first president bush. But you don’t care do you?
Your current lack of understanding blinds you to the snakes that was planted in the grass by people YOU support.
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Hmm. I kinda regret engaging with that person now. I mean, like just because he came here and used the bully-and-attack communication strategy practiced by his presidential candidate, doesn’t mean I have to pay any attention. Sigh…
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Rob’s clearly an idiot who confuses diplomacy with cowardice, and stupidity and narrowness with integrity. You can’t argue with a person whose reason is twisted so tightly around neck as to squeeze off oxygen flow to his brain.
Too bad we can’t vote his goofy ass off the internet. Oh well.
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Yan, I’d say it was you who is showing a broad misunderstanding of geopolitics.
Al Qaida is a radical Islamist organisation whose stated goal is the replacement of secular Middle East governments with a pan-caliphate. That’s a real political goal not far different in ambition from the fasicists of the 1930s. National Socialism was popularly elected in Germany because they blamed the Jews for empoverishing the nation. Bin Laden is doing the same, by blaming the poverty of Muslims on a cabal of America-Israel.
The US successfully engaged Communism through the Marshall Plan. The infusion of reconstruction funds rebuilt Western Europe and prevented the metastasis of Soviet Communism. This is how Reagan won the Cold War- by offering poor people a better life.
Al Qaida and the satellite terror cells operate on grassroots support from oppressed peoples all over the Middle East. The spread of liberal democracy will drain Al Qaida of popular support as living standards and political liberty rise.
You can’t negotiate with terrorists or dictatorships. Look at the Basic Law- how long did Beijing honor that?
oh, and rob? a spine is an important bone to have in life.
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whooops. that was a typo, i was trying to referring to tom, not myself in that last line. my bad.
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Hahahahaahahaaa.
Okay.
Giving people a better standard of life will solve most problems in this world pretty much straight away.
In what way do you think Bush is doing that both domestically and through their foreign policies?
Domestically, he cuts afterschool programs, funding to education, and puts moral guidelines to women health clinics where for some its their only way to access health care. What about the environment? Isn’t that got something to do with quality of life too?
In Foreign policy, If iraq is justified (although there has never been found any WMD, Sadamn and Al Quida links has never been proven). Shall they also attack North Korea? Iran? China? Saudi Arabia? So liberal democracy can spread?
Yes, the Marshall plan was a great idea. After the war it helped not just Europe rebuild but also Japan. I don’t see it happenning in Afganistan. Although they had their elections today, but the general standard of living of the people there are still very low. It’s been two years, if Afganistan was so succesful don’t you think the Republicans would have trotted it out for all to see. No, in fact Bush seems to have forgotten all about that place.
No one here said one should negotiate with terroists and dictators. I don’t see that referenced anywhere what so ever? Because the asumption is Kerry would? I don’t think that was his policy either. Where does that come from?? Oh, it’s a line from Bush. Not a reality of what most of us feel.
I agree with pretty much everything you say about terroism and how to drain its support. But I bet you, you won’t see any of what you are saying, to materialize with this adminstration.
And if there is another attack in the next four years, will you blame clinton for not having a backbone? Or will you be able to say that Bush did not protect the country well?
That’s the question.
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Lets look at Afghanistan.
According to the US State Department, since 2001 we have spent $4 billion on reconstruction projects. This has funded paving the 300 mile Kabul-Khandahar highway that serves 35% of the population. In a country of 28 million people, the US has vaccinated 4.3 million children against polio and measles, and distributed 25 million school textbooks.
Infrastructure facilitates a growing economy, right? The US has rebuilt the Pyanj bridge that allows travel between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and the Salang Tunnel that links the northern and central provinces. The US has repaired the Khandahar-Kajaki Dam that supplies over 30% of the electrical capacity.
The Republicans don’t trot this out because the tax-paying middle class is sensitive to news about spending American money on foreigners. In fact, it’s ironic that back in 1947 the Republican controlled Congress was against the Marshall Plan. It took the violent overthrow of democratic Czechoslovakia by Communists to pressure Congress to pass the Marshall Plan.
One argument against the Iraq occupation is that the Middle East is incapable of democracy. Look at South Korea and Japan. Back in the 1950s a lot of racist Americans felt Asians were incapable of democracy. Regime change by military force, an American occupation, and 50 years has resulted in Pokemon, Korean dramas, and Playstation 2.
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Rob, I’ve been called many things, but never spineless. Clearly you’re talking out of your ass. Which makes sense.
I love the bit about Pokemon and Playstation 2. You’re all over the map, but no where in particular. Harai alek!
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I’m gonna wade in here for a bit…
First of all, Al Qaida is not a radical Islamic organization…a too commonly held misconception that has spawned this whole ridiculous idea of a “war against terror” that can be fought and won by military force. There is no such physical organization called Al Qaida in which Bin Laden is the leader and they have subsidiaries throughout the world that reports to him. It’s an ideology that was labeled by the US who used the name Al Qaida to take the shape of an organization because it’s easier to conceptualize and provides a target and excuse for the US gov’t to go to war in foreign countries without being attacked. Notice that Al Qaida never existed before 9-11, Bin Laden was simply referred to by name. If you want evidence to support this e-mail me. Other militant islamic groups including the ones in Indonesia have somewhat similar political and religious views, but they are in no way part of “Al Qaida” or report to Bin Laden. Having trained in campls run by Bin Laden does not equate to being under him.
Second of all, “liberal democracy” means nothing unless you define it. The US brand of liberal democracy of course would not work in the Middle East for economical, cultural, social, etc. reasons. You can’t transplant a system…plus we all know that this form of democracy is a far cry from true democracy. Anyone who even thinks that the elections in Iraq and Afghanistan are a step forward have their head in the sand…it’s like the CIA supported coups in South America. The US puts up the candidates for the public to vote for…any takers for this kind of democracy?
I haven’t looked into the numbers, but a sweeping generalization that the US have put 4 billion into reconstruction is misleading…how much went to fixing up pipelines? To infrastructure destroyed by the US? Besides, what’s the use of pouring money into US contractors when there’s no policy for reforming the government? The US has no interest in really rebuilding Afghanistan, it’s a frontier land with no law still, in fact more chaotic than when the Taleban were in rule. As for the textbooks, it will help the few that can actually go to school a way of putting down in words how their country has be ravaged by outside interests.
Just look at Iraq, and how the Kurds repeatedly get used and shafted by the US.
I have little love for either the Democrats or Republicans. The democrats did not address terrorism and foreign policy effectively, but the current administration’s policies are downright dangerous and leading the world to more violence.
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Text books and vaccines are great except what about schools and food, water and electricity (FOR ALL)?? All the briges and roads are only rebuilt so the US troops can move around better and it has nothing to do with helping the lives and stablility of the people. Most people in the country didn’t have a stable power supply to begin with. So rebuilding the dam doesn’t actually help the distribution of it to the whole pop.
I didn’t say middle east isn’t capable of democracy! I in my own way, as I do not support the reasons for the invasion, still think it’s a good thing for the iraqi people in the long run… and boy did I get heat for saying that!
However I do not agree with anyone saying that anyone is “incapable of democracy” that argument is trotted out all the bloody time about Hong Kong.
Although I would not venture to say that having a democracy is not a step up even if it’s run by the CIA, the US used to put in “dictators” instead after helping “regime change” I give the republicans that. And K I don’t think I have my head in the sand thank you.
Tom.. lets not mud sling ya?? Thanks.
Rob. You didn’t address the fact the US domestic policies isn’t improving the life of americans either. i am not suprized people don’t want to know about how they are funding improvements of foreigners when bush is consistently underfunding those things at home. How do you justify closing down some of the fire houses in new york due to cost cutting??? 5 million people have lost thier health insurace sinec Bush came into power.
Anyway, the way many people are saying. America deserves the president they chose, who is going to hurt them. Too bad for the 48% of people who didn’t vote for him.
yan
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Sorry.
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Yan, not sure why you think I said your head’s in the sand, as I made that reference in a completely different thread on Joi Ito’s blog.
Regardless, in an imperfect democracy, when the population is almost completely divided in two, yes it sucks for the 48% that lost. But that’s the system they have in place. It’s now up to how that 48% responds and acts.
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K
Refering to this.
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