The Art of Dissent

Since Ohio has officially been placed in Obama’s corner, I’m going to go ahead and call church on this election and declare Barack Obama the next President of the Untied States of America. As a proud American citizen, I will support and honor President Obama, but I will let him know that “dissent” is an active word in my vocabulary.

 I guess I learned the true meaning of the word “dissent” on September 12, 2001.

I remember listening to ABC Radio’s coverage of the 9/11 attacks and almost immediately, pundits on both sides of the aisle began discussing the ramifications of the attacks and an inevitable loss of certain civil liberties we once enjoyed. As the world came together to mourn, the Bush administration preyed upon these fears and launched a campaign that would forever change the landscape of our nation and our world. It took me less than 24 hours to realize that the response was far more dangerous than the attacks.

I voted for Bush in 2000. I’m not proud, but it’s the truth. On September 12, 2001, I began to regret my vote and began to take actions to rectify it. On campus, I spoke out against efforts to invade Afghanistan. I called into conservative talk radio programs and tried to convince hosts and listeners that the Bush administration’s response violated the most basic tenants of the Republican Party platform (e.g. limited Federal government). I wrote letters to the local newspaper in East Texas, a land redder than red, denouncing the Bush administrations response, causing many of my friends to distance from me because dared to question.

In 2002, fed up with the Republican Party, I began to campaign for Green Party and Democratic candidates. I started a chapter of College Democrats on my college campus and wrote letters to the school newspaper, denouncing it as a “right wing rag.”

During the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, I became even more radical in my dissent, staging walk outs on campus and organizing campus activities denouncing the Bush administration’s plans. I even used my slot on a local sports talk radio program to veer the topic from sports and focus on what I saw as unjust war led by an unjust administration.

In March of 2004, I voted for Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic Primary. By August of 2004, Barack Obama’s keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention had lionized him my eyes and convinced me to campaign for Kerry and not waste a vote on Nader.

I worked phone banks, work votered registration drives and used my car as billboard supporting John Kerry and criticizing George Bush and the Republican Party. On November 2, 2004, I was the first person in line at my polling location to cast a vote for John Kerry. That night, I watched in horror as the returns came in and it became clear that Bush would remain in office. The only hope I had the whole evening was Obama winning a seat in the U.S. Senate.

I was so upset over the election returns that I refused to talk to my parents, family members and friends who voted for Bush for over a week. I covered high school football games for my radio show and for a website and at games-in East Texas-I would stand with my back to the flag during the national anthem to protest the Bush administration and the state of our nation.
I bought t-shirts, bracelets, bumper stickers-all expressing me frustrations. I began a blog with the sole purpose of ripping everything Republican-from Tom DeLay and Karl Rove to the Terry Schiavo fiasco and attempts to legislate homophobia on the part of the Republican Party.

Along the way, my crush on Barack Obama wore off and I can no longer support him in good faith. I stand by my convictions-a smaller government is a better government and taxes are not fair no matter how much you earn. Taxing the rich will not solve our economic woes, neither will expanding the size of our Federal government. Bush expanded the size of the government, allowing the government to go where it doesn’t belong.

 While in different ways, Obama will seek to expand the powers of the Federal government even further. The minute Obama tries to raise taxes on my wealthy brothers and sisters; I’ll be here to fight the Democrats’ attempts at socialism and fascism in our great nation. If Obama tries to nationalize our health care system, I’ll be here to voice my dissent.

In short, I’ve been dissenting for almost 8 years; I can dissent for 4 more. Stay close to my blog gentle reader and I’ll teach you the art of peaceful, but effective, dissent.

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